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Students from a dozen area schools measured oysters, dissected squid and learned why plastic is called “ocean smog” during the annual High School Marine Science Symposium at Curry Student Center on Northeastern’s Boston campus.
The 250 students got a chance to talk with fledgling and experienced scientists during the event, which was sponsored by Northeastern and the Massachusetts Marine Educators.
“This is just a really great event to reach a large audience of high school students across Boston and get them inspired by marine science,” said Katie Lotterhos, associate professor of marine and environmental sciences at Northeastern’s Marine Science Center in Nahant, Massachusetts.
During an “Oyster Doctors” workshop designed by Lotterhos Lab Ph.D. candidate Madeline Eppley, students measured oysters with calipers and opened the mollusks to look for shell-boring worms and other infestations.
“Dissection is cool because it’s hands-on and you get to learn about the biology of marine life,” said Cemiah Pulley, a senior at John D. O’Bryant School of Mathematics and Science in Roxbury.
When people think of marine life, they typically call up images of megafauna such as sharks and whales, Lotterhos said.
“We’re trying to get them excited about other organisms as well,” she said.
Oysters not only remove excess nutrients from the water, they “provide habitat for a lot of juvenile species,” Lotterhos said.
About 50 students played “squid bingo” during a dissection workshop run by Joe Miceli of the Seacoast Science Center in New Hampshire.
“Squid are an excellent medium for hands-on science,” Miceli said. “We’re opening the squid like a book. That way we can see what’s inside.”
Students used nail scissors to dissect the 6-inch-long creatures and remove fins, tentacles, eggs and hearts, and place them neatly on what Miceli described as “bingo cards.”
Tori Merlo of St. Mark’s School in Southborough located the siphon that propels the squid to go in the opposite direction in water and delicately sliced the squid open.
“I really love anything sea-related, especially sea animals,” Merlo said. “I’ve never seen the inside of a squid.”
“It’s very intriguing to see how other living organisms function,” said Merlo’s lab partner, Ziad Shawaf, a junior at St. Marks.
In a section set aside for exhibitions, Elizabeth Lowney, a sophomore at Westwood High School, talked about scuba diving with Ashland Aguilar, a Northeastern graduate and research assistant at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and Ashley McCarthy, a dive safety officer at the New England Aquarium.
“I thought it was kind of interesting to learn about that,” particularly as a way to study marine ecosystems, Lowney said.
Aguilar said students entering Northeastern’s marine research field program, Three Seas, must have some recreational diving experience, but that’s just the beginning of their scuba diving adventures.
“Three Seas will teach you how to be a scientific diver” and to use catch bags for specimens, handle tools that measure water temperature and hoist lift bags that bring items safely to the surface, Aguilar said.
McCarthy told Lowney there are organizations that provide scholarship assistance for expensive diving programs, including the Women’s Divers Hall of Fame.
Some dive shops also are trying to make diving more accessible, Aguilar said.
The idea of studying marine science abroad through programs like Three Seas, where students spend time at tropical coral reefs, appealed to O’Bryant junior Keyshon Wright. “I’m curious about that,” he said.
Undergraduate and graduate students in the accelerated Three Seas program divide their time between Northeastern’s Nahant campus in Massachusetts, Panama and Washington state.
Northeastern has been part of the symposium for over a decade, while its partner, Massachusetts Marine Educators, has run it for over three decades.
“It’s important that students, no matter what they go on to do, (realize) that they are part of this coastal ecosystem and that’s what they can learn here today,” said Sierra Munoz, outreach program coordinator for Northeastern’s Marine Science Center.