Journals 2008/2009

Zamaria Rocio
Horace Mann Middle School, San Diego, CA

"Marine Biodiversity of the Great Barrier Reef (Heron Island Research Station)" August 25 - September 14, 2008

Journal Index: August 24 - 25 - 26 - 27 - 28 - 29 - 30 - 31 September 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 10                  11 - 12 - 13

September 4, 2008
Rain, Rain, and More Rain

The rain did not stop all day.

I had another coral head to work up this morning but it did not take me long to do it. I think the reason is that it was cold outside on this deck where I had to work. The weather has changed today to a much colder day. I would say about 10 degrees (F) colder. However, construction on the new buildings did not stop. The birds seemed to enjoy this wet day. I am told that Australia needs all the rain they can get because there is a drought. I wondered about this because when I was on the mainland I saw signs to conserve water and to not waste it.

This is a perfect day to take a bath.

A suggestion was made to me to have a teleconference with my classes back in San Diego. I started contacting my substitute and colleagues about it. They all agreed it would be a great idea. I even teleconferenced them to make sure it even worked. Then I thought, "Why only do it for my classroom? Why not make it available to any classroom in San Diego county?" I franticly started emailing people I knew that had connections to teachers in San Diego. I got hold of the lead educational technology resource teacher for San Diego City Schools who sent an email message on his list serve about this unique opportunity for teachers. Another person that got the word out about this was the director of education at the San Diego Natural History Museum, Dave Massey. He has many connections in the science community. He helped write up the announcement to send to all teachers. A science teacher's organization that helped the most was the San Diego Science Educators Association (SDSEA). They are an organization committed to helping all educators in the area of science. Through out the years SDSEA has had workshops and conferences for all levels of science teachers. I plan on presenting a workshop about my Great Barrier Reef experience to their members when I return to San Diego.

I had two coral heads to work up by myself today. One was done in the morning and the other one after lunch. It has started to get routine for me. Which was ok with me because I felt I was getting good at extracting all the living creatures on and in it. Somehow I got pleasure from seeing the whole polychaete removed from its home inside the dead coral. Or when I chased down escaping crabs and placed them in containers to bring back to the laboratory. Maybe I believed it was all for the name of science and I was doing my small part to help.

A polychaete extracted from inside one of the dead coral's branches