What can a species “older than dinosaurs” teach us about the importance of citizen science in the modern world? For eighth-grade students from RSU 24’s Sumner Learning Campus, all it took was a visit to the mud banks of Taunton Bay to find out.

Atlantic horseshoe crabs have been around for over 450 million years, making them one of the oldest surviving species found on Earth. Maine’s coastline represents the Northern end of the horseshoe crabs’ range, making population monitoring especially important to understanding species trends.

As part of a “Fun Friday” adventure, eighth-grade citizen scientists from Ms. Sarah Hooper’s 8^th grade Middle School Life class and a high school mentor from Mrs. Ellen Hall’s High School Biology class visited the Bay recently to count horseshoe crab populations and learn more about the species. While observing the arthropods, students learned how to conduct field studies, collect data, and evaluate trends over time.

Dr. Frank Dorsey, a retired biostatistician, talked to the students over lunch about the value of collecting and monitoring population data and answered students’ questions. He stressed the value of population data to a broader understanding of the impact rising water temperatures and an increased presence of green crabs could have on the horseshoe crabs.

The elusive creatures are rarely seen outside of a short mating season in May and June. This makes the late spring an especially important time to research on the species. The warm water temperatures meant that students were able to spot the arthropods moving around and feeding. In total, students observed 15 solo horseshoe crabs and two pairs during their trip.

In addition to collecting data on the living population of Taunton Bay, students also got a close-up look at dead horseshoe crabs to learn about the species’ anatomy.

The data students collected on the trip contributed to a decades-long effort by researchers to monitor populations of horseshoe crabs in Taunton Bay. “These are the types of learning experiences that we hope to establish throughout all of our classrooms – real-world applications that get our students involved in active learning,” Principal Jackson Green said about the experience.

The Maine DOE encourages all schools and districts across the State of Maine to learn more about opportunities to expand access to outdoor learning. Department initiatives including the RREV Outdoor Learning Accelerator Program and Maine Outdoor Learning Initiative help to fund innovative projects involving students in outdoor and environmental learning.

This story was submitted by Sumner Middle & Memorial High School Principal Jackson Green in collaboration with Maine DOE Intern Ryan Hafener as part of the Maine Schools Sharing Success Campaign.

This article was written and submitted by Caribou Community School 8th graders, Elizabeth Robbins and Kaydence Hafford with the help of their teacher Heather Anderson.

(Pictured: Students Katelynn Thibodeau, Liz Robbins, and Sadielee Violette pose with Senator Susan Collins)

What could eighth-grade students from Caribou Community School learn during a Mock Legislator Day? On Monday, May 22nd, there were many things that these students learned about the legislative process and about Susan Collins.

At around 8:30 on Monday morning, eighth-grade students started their Mock Legislature Day. They began with a public hearing over their specific bill, either LD 156 or LD 1002, in their designated classrooms where mentors with experience in Maine’s legislative process guided them through the hearing. Mentors included David McCrea, former Representative from Fort Fairfield; Cary Olson-Cartwright from UNUM, and Dr. Holly Blair from the Maine Principals Association. Students wrote testimonies for, against, or neither for nor against and then read those testimonies aloud. Afterward, the students, assigned roles as Senators and Representatives, worked in committee during a work session, where they spoke about the bill. These select students voted on the bill and all of the eighth-grade students moved on to one of the biggest parts of the day, the House session.

During the House session, students traveled into the cafeteria where they debated the two different bills that they were assigned, LD 156 and LD 1002. Bill LD 156 was an act to require outdoor recess time for students from Grade 6 to Grade 8 for at least 20 minutes for no less than 3 days a week. LD 1002 was an act to require a lunch period of at least 30 minutes for
students and reduce food waste.

“The students were so engaged and had so much to say,” Heather Anderson said about the students during the House Session. “They realized how much of a voice they can have and how they can make the world a better place.” This is one of many things that these eighth-grade students learned during their Mock Legislature Day. Students learned even more
from Susan Collins’ speech later in the day.

At 1:30 in the afternoon, Susan Collins arrived in the cafeteria to speak to the entirety of the eighth graders. Susan Collins spoke about many things. She spoke about her time in Caribou, and what she would spend her time doing. She also spoke about her career and how she was elected to the U.S. Senate. Seth Dubay, one of the eighth-grade students who saw Susan Collins, stated, “ It takes a lot of dedication to do what Senator Collins does.” Susan Collins was also asked a few questions by a select group of students, one of these questions being what advice she would give someone going into the Legislature, which she answered in great depth by stating “I’m counting on your generation to help us get back to the way politics used to be. When people worked together for a common cause.”

Senator Susan Collins sharing about her life from Caribou to Washington D.C.

From left to right, Kamsi Akalaha, Lindsey Ouellette, Dean Gibson, Mason St. Peter, Serenity Fuller, Joel Ouellette and AJ Mierzwa serve on the Education and Cultural Affairs committee during the work session.

Emma Dowling presents testimony for the Education and Cultural Affairs Committee during the public hearing.

Dr. Holly Blair and Heather Anderson serving as speaker and clerk in the House Session portion of the day.

Students learned an exponential amount from Senator Susan Collins, and not just about the legislative process. “I learned to respect people’s opinions,” says Xander Jamieson, another student from Caribou, “even if you don’t agree with them.”

Four Camden Hills Regional High School students won a sustainable energy technology competition and received a $15,000 grant to jumpstart their plans to replace polystyrene buoys with a sustainable mushroom-based product.

The students, Maggie Blood, Tula Bradley-Prindiville, Olivia Huard, and Laura Riordon, participated in a business internship through the Hatchery, Camden Hills’ innovation center that enables students to innovate, create, problem solve, and pursue their passions. They joined five other teams from the Energy Institute High School in Houston to participate in the Energy Project internship sponsored by the Puranik Foundation. Camden Hills instructor Danny Salomon, director of the Hatchery, served as the team’s advisor and mentor.

“Our mission is to reduce the amount of microplastics we consume and improve the health of us and our planet by reducing plastic floats with our mushroom floats,” the team said during their pitch to judges.

Throughout the internship, the students engaged in coursework on design-thinking, prototyping, marketing, and business planning, all the while perfecting their plans and pitch to a group of judges in April. The judges selected the Camden Hills group as the winners of not just a transformational grant but also a two-week trip to a sustainability school in India.

The team wanted to use the business and sustainability skills they were learning to address a local sustainability issue. According to the students, there are an estimated 6 million buoys in use off the coast of Maine, and more than 30,000 are lost every year. When these petroleum-based buoys break down, they can end up in the food chain and in our bodies.

Their alternative? A new business called Refoam Maine, which will grow buoys naturally, using the root system of mushrooms, known as mycelium.

“As a team, we approached the Energy Project challenge by trying to assess what area in our community needs innovation. When we looked around at Maine – through the lens of what looks bad for the planet — we saw a lot of Styrofoam. If you go walk on beaches or islands, there is polystyrene everywhere … we identified our ‘problem space’ to be expanded polystyrene breaking off of dock flotation units,” Laura Riordon told the Camden Herald.

During their pitch to judges, Tula Bradley-Prindiville told the judges “to think of our business like a mycelium network” with their strong team at the center and a network of local businesses, experts, non-profits, advisors, and students who they are connected to.

“We have grown and developed with connections to our community, helping us conceptualize and design our product. We have also received support from our school board, and the community at large which is what has driven us to pursue this research,” said Riordon. “This project, along with other Hatchery projects, have built a space at school for students to follow things they are passionate about while learning skills for how to make a real impact. Over the next few months, our team plans to research mycelium growth in 55 gallon drums, and then expand next school year working with more students and community members.”

According to the team, their prototype “will be applicable to a variety of ocean uses: docks, mussel farming rafts, and aquaculture mooring buoys being our most promising areas. The beauty of the product is that it’s not produced in a factory, rather it is produced in the team’s local shop. Once fully grown, and cooked to stop the growth, the buoyant skeleton is ready for takeoff in the ocean.”

The students were recognized by their School Board in May for their vision, leadership, and success in the competition, and told the Board they were focused next on perfecting their prototype and getting projects into the water for testing. They are also talking to local marine companies, which they hope will one day purchase and use their products. The students told the Board that even if they hadn’t won, they were committed to finding a way to turn their business ideas into reality.

The Refoam Maine team looks forward to advancing their product research within the Hatchery, with continued support from its mycelial network, and seeks to grow the business by on boarding more students interested in participating in this exciting venture starting next school year.

You can follow their journey on Refoam Maine’s Instagram page.

Photos courtesy of Camden Hills Regional High School

(Pictured: South Bristol students with the Farms at the Y director, Leslie Wicks)

What do you get when you combine a nutrition program, a historical society, and a middle school ELA/Social Studies class? A four-course Civil War meal of course!  In March, a group of middle school students from the South Bristol School came to the Central Lincoln County YMCA to cook a Civil War meal.  Volunteers from the Lincoln County Historical Association came to help students chop and cook, as well as share interesting historical facts.  This was part of a Civil War unit that teacher Kayla Wright and her students were learning about.

On this particular afternoon, the students huddled around the kitchen island as Leslie Wicks, the FARMS at the Y director, explained the four recipes the students would be working on.  The students would be cooking navy bean soup, vegetable hash, fried apples, and gingerbread.  Before sending them off, Leslie talked about cooking safety and techniques and the differences between cooking at home and cooking in a commercial kitchen. For example, there would be a lot more hand washing involved.  Louise from the historical society explained why these recipes were appropriate for that time.  In fact, the gingerbread didn’t have any ginger in it!

In short order, the students were chopping, stirring, and whisking their way to a meal that people during the Civil War might have eaten.  Historical society volunteers were there to guide students and to talk to them about what life might have looked like in the mid-1800s.  To wrap the class up, the teams set tables and everyone sat down to enjoy their well-cooked meal.  Gauging from the empty plates, their fellow students did a great job cooking the meal.  The class was an example of the power of interdisciplinary experiences since the students learned about history, literacy, math, career readiness, and health.

The FARMS at the Y program provides nutrition education with a focus on nutrient-dense, Maine-grown vegetables with the aim to broaden program access and reach through expanded collaboration with local public schools and local farmers.  They offer hands-on experiences for people of all ages in cooking, gardening, and a passion for healthier living. The hands-on food programs developed by FARMS at the Y have reached students in every grade from childcare to K-8 public & private schools in Lincoln County. Currently, this program serves all 3^rd (and some 4th) graders in the AOS93 district and is free to schools through grant funding.  In addition to working with school groups, the FARMS staff also provides professional development workshops for teachers.  For more about the FARMS at the Y program, contact Leslie Wicks at lwicks@clcymca.org

The Maine DOE encourages all schools and districts across the State of Maine to learn more about interdisciplinary instruction on our website or by contacting our Interdisciplinary Instruction Team Coordinator at Kathy.bertini@maine.gov

Can guinea pigs make a difference to student engagement and achievement? Well, we haven’t conducted the research yet, but if teacher observation is a strong source of information, the answer is yes.

Michelle Reesman, Old Town Elementary School Librarian, connected with a family because they desperately wanted to donate a guinea pig to the school. With hesitation, Michelle approached the administration about the idea and wondered if the students would enjoy having a school pet to care for. Up until now, the library has a 34-year-old turtle housed in the library space and the students have always enjoyed the turtle over the years. But, let’s face it, turtles are tough to snuggle with.

Adopting a guinea pig was a whole new experience for librarian Michelle Reesman, but her instincts were telling her this could be a good thing for the students and school. The guinea pig was delivered by the family before the April vacation and immediately the school was a buzz with excitement. Mrs. Reesman, the outstanding teacher that she is, found a way to involve all the students with the naming of this sweet guinea pig and hosted an assembly to vote by noise a few days before the April vacation started. The students voted and “Dumbledorable” was named, and he now sits proudly in our school library.

As adults, we tend to shy away from such an undertaking as sheltering or adopting a pet for our schools or classrooms. But, the reaction of our students and staff has been amazing. Mrs. Reesman noted a few remarkable moments since Dumbledorable has arrived at the school. First, a student that is new to the school this year and has only uttered a few words to the librarian, immediately struck up a conversation with Mrs. Reesman about caring for gerbils at her home. Mrs. Reesman was awestruck by the interaction since the child has never even said hello to her during library classes. Other students, struggling with self-regulation have dropped in at the library to watch, observe, and visit with Dumbledorable as part of their daily routine. These students are so amazed by our little friend and want nothing more than to just sit quietly with him. Students with anxiety cuddle him for a few minutes in the morning to start their day with a calm feeling.

When you think one more thing will send us over the edge, think about the power of that one thing and its impact on our students. Connecting with nature and furry friends may be the key to a student’s success—It can be as simple as saying yes to a guinea pig for the library. One lesson we have learned; “Don’t let adult hang-ups get in the way of making good experiences for your students.”

This story was submitted by Old Town Elementary School Principal Jeanna Tuell as part of the Maine Schools Sharing Success Campaign. To submit a story or an idea, email Rachel at rachel.paling@maine.gov.