Passport to Texas

Texas Aquatic Science Teacher Handbook

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This is Passport to Texas Back to School Week

Of all the things that students study this year when they return to the classroom, Texas Aquatic Science may be among the most important.

Texas aquatic science is the study of anything aquatic. Whether it be the habitat, the plants, or the animals that live in it.

Melissa Alderson is the conservation education manager with Texas Parks and Wildlife. For most living things, water is life.

So, it’s really important that we look at water as a resource and protect the water that we have here.

Melissa and her team train middle school and high school teachers in this hands-on aquatic science curriculum. Educators impart the information to students both in the classroom and in the field.

And if they don’t have any water in their backyard, they can always contact a certified field site. Those are agencies that have programs that do water quality monitoring, watershed activities…where they can take a field trip to do Texas aquatic science.

The benefits of Texas aquatic science curriculum are far reaching.

If we get the kids, at a young age, to protect those resources through science investigations, games, models, internet projects, then when they get older, they’re going to be the ambassadors for the water here in Texas.

Bring Texas Aquatic Science to your classroom; learn how when you click the Education tab on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

The Sport Fish Restoration Program Supports our series.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife, I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Examining marine life in sein net.

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We call searching the Internet surfing. But, we call searching a net that’s been in the surf, seining.

Seining is dragging a long net through the water, catching small fish and aquatic animals.

Hans Haglund is superintendent at Galveston Island State Park. He says the bay waters are teaming with all kind of life. And he’s taken more than a few visitors seining in Galveston Bay.

We do it to help educate about the bay, the wetlands, the environment out here; to show people how important they are, how productive they are, what these areas do for us, why we might need to protect them and look out for them.

Abundant, healthy wetlands can help to mitigate potential flood damage, as well as serve as nurseries for marine life. Haglund describes visitor reactions to what they catch in their seine nets.

Oh, I never know that was out there, and I never knew you could get so much in a little area. Even people that have been using the bay a lot – a lot of fishermen – don’t realize how productive these areas are.

Some of the more unusual fish Haglund says they see include the pipe fish and lizard fish.

Summer’s here, and Galveston Island State Park offers a great coastal getaway. Learn more at texasstateparks.org.

The Sport Fish Restoration Program supports our series…and works to increase fishing and boating opportunities in Texas.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

The Texas Aquatic Science teaches educators how to present the topic to their students.

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The Texas Aquatic Science curriculum covers a lot of ground, I mean, water. AmeriCorps Vista Volunteer, Colin Findley, coordinates the program for Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

It’s getting people access to the outside world, and understanding the outside world in terms of water.

The program helps middle and high school teachers raise students’ awareness of the importance of water to life, aquatic ecosystems, and the effort necessary to conserve it all.

With Texas aquatic science, there’s the classroom capacity, and then there’s also what are called Texas Aquatic Science Certified field sites, which are state parks and other organizations that have access to water tied to the curriculum. So, you know, once an educator teaches the curriculum in the classroom, they can then go out and get full support from these aquatic science field sites.

Findley says Texas Aquatic Science is a full curriculum.

From sixth grade all the way up to twelfth. It’s TEKS (Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills) aligned. The greatest thing is that it’s completely free. So, the student textbooks online at texasaquaticscience.org, the teacher guides on the Texas Parks (and Wildlife) education page – it’s all there for any educator to have.

The program starts by identifying communities of greatest need, and then cultivates a core of facilitators.

That then teach workshops to spread the curriculum to educators throughout the state.

Find more information on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

The Sport Fish Restoration program supports our series.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife, I’m Cecilia Nasti.