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Lesson at sanctuary with Besser 3rd-graders

News Photo by Jordan Spence Nevaeh James, 9, and Danyelle Daniels, 8, try an experiement where they sift microbeads from water. The third-graders from Besser Elementary were learning about marine debris at Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary Wednesday.

ALPENA — For Besser Elementary third-graders even lunch became a lesson about the impacts of marine debris.

The students had a field trip to Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary Wednesday to learn about water stewardhip.

“We have everything set up in different stations,” Meaghan Gass, Northeast Michigan Great Lakes Stewardship Initiative network coordinator, said.

One of the stations took place during and after lunch.

First the kids watched a movie about trash created by fifth-graders in New York. Gass then showed students the different ways they can reduce lunch trash.

They were shown how to sort food bags, plastic bags and drink containers. Any scraps of food were saved to be used as chicken feed on a farm in Atlanta, she said. Gass then weighed the trash that remained. She said it totaled about 4.1 pounds.

They also looked at stomach contents of the threatened bird species the albatross.

“They looked at boluses (stomach contents) of these birds seeing firsthand how these birds confuse plastic as food,” Gass said. “They also discussed the source of marine debris, any humanmade product that can end up in our waterways. Students also visualized the global impact of marine debris through a community partner-led Science on the Sphere presentation. They saw how it spreads from the land to the sea and the big impact it can have our earth’s systems.”

Students also played a game about how to reuse, reduce and recycle and learned about the harms of microbeads in the Great Lakes.

Students, teachers, and community partners are all linked through NEMIGLSI regional network and partnership, Gass said. United States Fish and Wildlife Service connects with these students on a monthly basis to teach them about our Great Lakes and natural resource stewardship. For the month of February, these students learned about marine debris and how humans impact our Great Lakes and ocean.

Fish and Wildlife Service volunteer Karen Enterline volunteered for an experiment where they learned about where microbeads come from, how wildlife consumes them, and the damage done to wildlife.

Enterline helped the children sift the beads from a water mixture, so the microbeads could be examined under a microscope.

Students Nevaeh James, 9 and Danyelle Daniels, 8, had a good time as they worked together on the experiment.

James said the microbeads are bad for fish.

“We also looked at pictures of fish that ate the microbeads,” Daniels said. “It was gross.”

After the experiment the volunteers talked about what the students can do to protect water.

Zachery Slater, 10, was particularly interested in what he learned.

“This is like amazing, and it blows my mind,” he said.

Jordan Spence can be reached via email at jspence@thealpenanews.com or by phone at 358-5687.

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