Salinity Lab!
In this lab, the students started with making a hypothesis determining which cup, A, B, C, or D, was the saltiest, without tasting or touching the liquid. After, they used 4 different tools to test which cup was actually the saltiest. They dropped a pencil in a graduated cylinder full of the different liquids to see how dense the different liquids were. They then used a plastic and glass hydrometer, and finally a refractometer to get the most accurate reading.
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| Plastic hydrometer, glass hydrometer, refractometer and pencil in graduated cylinder |
After they finished collecting their data they reflected on their hypothesis, they concluded by writing what they learned and what problems they ran into.
Gorilla ogo lab!
Their second lab was picking out creatures from gorilla ogo and looking them up in a book to figure out what creatures they had found. They also learned about gorilla ogo and how it is taking over the endemic algaes and animal habitats. Along with brittle stars and little crabs, some kids found mantis shrimp! A video of the shrimp is included at the bottom.
Mr. Jenkins brought in a box jellyfish he found while walking around the beach in Waikiki, he brought it in and asked the kids to look at it and use their different resources (the internet and various books from the library in the classroom) to determine what this mystery creature Mr. Jenkin's brought in was. Here is the jelly he collected.
Squid Dissection!
All the kids got to dissect squid! Each kid got a small squid that they got to dissect using scissors and a knife. They started by removing the pen and then cutting open the mantel on the squid so they could find the squids internal organs. The students also got to find and pop open the ink sack and write with it if they wanted to. We cut the legs off and examined them using microscopes and magnifying glasses. After looking at the squid, the kids cut off the meat and took it to Mr. Jenkins to fry up with onions and eggplant to get delectable tempura!
Shark dissection!
The University of Hawaii sent two people from their shark research team to talk to us about sharks. We learned about different species, their life cycles, feeding habits and a lot more. After the presentation, the two people actually dissected the shark! It was a smelly, but super fun and a rare experience.
