The JASON Project started inspiring future scientists almost 30 years ago when Dr. Robert Ballard found the RMS Titanic. After locating the remains of the fateful ship using a remotely operated vehicle called Jason (after the mythological hero), Dr. Ballard returned to find thousands of letters from students asking to go on his next voyage of discovery. Ever since, the JASON Project focuses on one area of the world each year, taking students there through curriculum and live broadcasts.
Fund for Teachers Fellow Candace Morgester also wanted to go where the learning is, so she used her grant to research in San Francisco, Monterey Bay and Hawaii concepts presented in the JASON Project's "Resilient Planet" curriculum to promote student behaviors of conservation and ecological restoration.
“While I have a passion for my curriculum, I have not had the opportunity or means to visit the ecosystems presented in my text first hand,” said Candace. “ In an effort to make the curriculum come to life, and so that my students understand that college degrees in science and engineering are attainable, I will be working hands-on to preserve and restore species and ecosystems presented in the "The Resilient Planet” which are under threat.”
Specifically, Candace researched:
How biotic and abiotic factors define and impact ecosystems
How degraded ecosystems can recover, and
how personal action can defend Earth’s biodiversity.
The sixth grade teacher began her fellowship volunteering with the Hawaiian Wildlife Fund for a week, where she assisted biologists working with sea turtles, coral reef health and water surveys. Afterwards, Candace turned her attention to the sea lions of San Francisco. She explored the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito and she slept outside with its night crew to experience sea lions in a small group setting. A hike to ecosystems of Rodeo Lagoon and Rodeo Beach included a visit to the California Academy of Sciences, one of the largest museums of natural history in the world. Finally, in Monterey Bay, Candace paddled Elkhorn Slough, a protected tidal estuary teeming with sea otters, seals, sea lions and shorebirds. The Monterey Bay Aquarium, Carmel River State Beach and the Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History rounded out her odyssey.
“Through my participation as a volunteer and my activities with researchers and biologists, I became an actual, functional part of the curriculum and content I teach,” said Candace. “Being able to observe, document and discuss the phenomenon of Green Sea and honu turtles "basking" and protecting Hawksbill turtles as they return to their birthplaces to nest is something I never could have hoped to share with students without this grant.”
“The opportunity to participate in restoring ecosystems first hand will change my perspective on how I present instruction,” she continued. “I will no longer be teaching in the abstract; I will be able to share what it feels like and what can happen when you get involved. And students will get involved by applying my learning to the Hockanum River ecosystem on which my school site is directly located and to The Long Island Sound, the dynamic estuary the river system feeds.”
Dr. Ballard believes that all explorers are driven by a dream, a vision, an idea. Candace certainly falls in that category. Driven by her desire to engage low income, inner city youth in ecology, she will now model activism and curiosity to grow resilient learners.
Enjoy photos from Candace’s fellowship here.
