1 minute read
Where the River Flows
Last fall, Trinity’s eighth grade students packed their bags, turned in their phones and headed to a remote island in the Chesapeake Bay. Following in the footsteps of several groups of Trinity eighth graders before them — along with generations of students from across the region at the Fox Island learning center — they studied the ecosystem, practiced independence and bonded as a class.
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Trip leader and science teacher Ned Trice shares that this trip really helps students understand how the ecosystem of the Bay is tied to the rest of Virginia and beyond. In addition to learning about species interdependence and food webs, Trice says they learn about subsistence fishing and crabbing and climate change. Students also have the opportunity to wade through saltwater marshes while learning about their role in preventing erosion. To understand how local organisms find protection in this muddy barrier, students play hide and seek in the marshes.
“We have a creek [near Trinity] that flows into the James River,” says science teacher Dylan Norvell. “We can physically see the watershed each day and the organisms that live there.” Harder for students is making the connection between that tiny creek and the huge Chesapeake Bay almost 100 miles away. “You can put it in a slideshow, but until a crab reaches around and pinches your finger, it’s hard to have respect for that,” Norvell says. “Until you have set the pots and caught them yourself, it’s hard to appreciate that.”
TITAN TRAIL 3
