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Museum Educator-led Programs
Pre & Post Visit Resources
Aquarium Exploration

Grades 3-5

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Program Description and Frameworks
Program Outline
Key Terms and Concepts
Classroom Activities
Print and Web Resources
Go to the Aquarium Gallery Page

Click here for printable version of all resources listed above

This activity-based program focuses on the traits and behaviors of aquatic life in the Aquarium. Through observation of corals, local and exotic fish, and live invertebrates, students investigate environmental adaptations.

Location: Aquarium
Length: One hour
Grades: 3 - 5

Massachusetts Frameworks
Science and Technology/Engineering Strand 2

New York Standards
Standard 4 Science The Living Environment

Introduction
Students are given a few moments to look around the Aquarium to observe the variety of marine life and habitats.

Fish Discussion
A lively discussion to elicit and illustrate the fish characteristics, fish adaptations and fish anatomy.

Fish Lips Demo
Models and props demonstrate the way fish feed, including several different feeding methods like filters, suckers, scrapers, and gulpers. Types of food covered include krill, plankton, algae, and other fish.

Fish Hunt
Fun rhyming riddle clues on colorful fish cards help students locate specific fish species in the Aquarium. A discussion follows the activity, in which students name their fish and describe what they observed about the fish's habitat and characteristics.

Touch Tank
Students form small groups to handle invertebrate tide pool animals. They will learn proper handling techniques, observe the characteristics of sea urchins, sea stars, horseshoe crabs, and hermit crabs, and learn about their adaptations.

Conclusion
Groups review and share their discoveries.

• Fish have gills, fins and scales.
• Fish live in salt, fresh and brackish water.
• Fish have adapted over a long period of time to be able to live in their environments.
• Fish have mouthparts and feeding methods that differ from one another. Fish eat a variety of foods, including krill, plankton, algae, and other fish.
• There are forms of marine life that are not fish. Fish are vertebrates (have spines and backbones). Sea stars, crabs, snails, and sea urchins are invertebrates (do not have spine or backbone) and are not fish. Marine invertebrates have adapted to their environment in unique ways.
• There are similarities and differences between fish and other marine life.

Key Terms Used During the Program
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• Adaptation
  an alteration in structure or behavior by which a species of organisms (living things) improves its condition in relationship to its environment.
  
  
• Coral
  is an ocean animal that lives in colonies. Some corals leave a hard, stony skeleton when they die.
  
  
• Camouflage
  concealment by protective coloring or pattern. Brackish water containing a mixture of sea water and fresh water.
  
  
• Algae
  a group of plant-like aquatic organisms (living things) can carry on photosynthesis, though they are not plants. Includes the familiar fuzzy, slippery algae that can grow on rocks in ponds, as well as various types of sea weeds, and others.
  
  
• Plankton
  very small organisms (living things) of any kind (plant, animal, or other) that float in the water Krill small shrimp-like, marine crustaceans.
  
  
• Gill
  an organ (as of a fish) that gets air (oxygen) from the water. Vertebrate animals that have a spinal column (and often segmented) backbone.
  
  
• Invertebrate
  animals lacking a spinal column.

Gyotaku: Japanese Fish Printing
(Pronounced ghio-ta'-koo) is the Japanese art of fish printing. It is an excellent interdisciplinary marine education activity. Click here for complete directions.

Ocean/Pond Cross-Section
Draw a cross-sectional view of the ocean or a pond on a large piece of paper and introduce the idea that different living things have different adaptations that allow them to live in different places in and around the ocean/pond. Ask students to research a living thing that lives in or at the edge of the ocean or a pond. Encourage students to focus on different areas or levels of the aquatic habitat, so that organisms from the edges, the surface and the deepest depths of the water are represented. You may want to create a list of organisms for students to choose from to facilitate this. Students draw and color a picture of their organism. They should be able to name it, tell what part of the water it lives in, and what adaptations it has that helps it to live there. Ask students, one-at-a- time, to tape the picture of their organisms onto the ocean/pond cross-section chart in the appropriate place and then to share their findings with the rest of the group.

Pond Habitat Model
Students make their own individual pond cross-section models. Cut paper bowls in half and give one half to each student. Students can cover the bottom of the pond with natural, self-drying clay. Then students can create all sorts of pond organisms like fish, turtles, plants and insects out of colored clay, paper, beads, and pipe cleaners. To add the surface of the water, stretch a piece of blue or green plastic wrap over the top and tape it to the sides of the bowl.

Then cover the edge of the plastic with colored clay. Note: Wait until after the plastic has been attached to add plants and animals to the edge of the pond.

Aquarium Math
Give each student a blank piece of paper and ask them to draw their own fish tank. Once they have drawn the tank, give them time to draw the contents of the tank, and ask them to label all of the parts of their picture (good diagram-labeling practice). When students have finished their tanks, ask them to answer some math questions about their tank.

Word Searches and Crossword Puzzles
Provide students with an assortment of challenging puzzles with the help of Puzzlemaker.

Design-a-Fish
Encourage students to draw a fish with an unusual adaptation à la science fiction (ex. a cell phone embedded in it's body for communicating with other fish) Have students explain how this would help the fish to survive. Would this type of adaptation actually be possible or likely? What real adaptations do fish have that help them to do the same thing?

Assessment: Make a K-W-L goal sheet
What I Know about Fish. What I Want to Learn about Fish. What I Learned about Fish. Pre-visit, have the students compile ideas for the first two columns of their chart. Post-visit, ask the students to share what they have now learned and have them record their new information. As a group create a graph representing the three columns.

Fish Autobiography
Choose a fish you have learned about. Write a story or a series of "diary entries" as if you were that fish. Describe your life and your habitat. Try to imagine a fish adventure and write it convincingly.

Use the Berkshire Athenaeum’s on-line catalogue to search for these print resources in Central/Western Massachusetts.

Print Materials for Students

Arthur, Alex. Shell. (A Dorling Kindersley Eyewitness Book). New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1989. Many beautiful images of different kinds of shells, and very accessible but specific text about the animals who create them and dwell in them. A great resource for information about aquatic invertebrates.

Morris, Rick. Mysteries & Marvels of Ocean Life. London: Usborne Publishing, Ltd., 1989. An image-rich book with lots of information about interesting sea life. It also includes challenges readers to think about their own answers to true/false questions, and answers questions like "How do dolphins communicate?" and "What doe the lionfish use its spines for?"

Nadeau, Isaac. Food Chains in a Tide Pool Habitat. New York, N.Y.: PowerKids Press, 2002. Shows the relationships among producers, herbivores, omnivores, carnivores, and decomposers. Each page of text faces a full page of photographs that include some of the flora and fauna mentioned.

Parker, Steve. Fish. (A Dorling Kindersley Eyewitness Book). New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1990. An easy-to-understand book filled with photos, illustrations, and explanations of how fish function.

Sill, Catherine. About Fish: a Guide for Children. Atlanta,GA: Peachtree, c. 2002. Introduces various species of fish, describing their food needs, body structures, protective mechanisms, habitats, and reproduction

Print Materials For Educators

Haslam, Andrew, and Barbara Taylor. Make It Work! Oceans. London: Two- Can Publishing Ltd., 1997. Lots of great, easy-to-understand explanations of the structure of the ocean itself. Covers how oceans, coral reefs, and deep sea vents are formed, how waves are created, what creatures live in each level of the ocean, how scientists explore the ocean. There are also many great ideas for hands-on approaches to use with students.

Powell, David. A Fascination for Fish: Adventures of an Underwater Pioneer. California: UC Press, 2002. Beginning with the pioneering "do-it-yourself" days of scuba diving in the late 1940s, Powell guides us through his career at several of the best aquariums.

Web Materials for Students

International Year of the Ocean Homepage
Games, puzzles, trivia, mazes and more. These resources were created by the National Marine Fisheries Service and the Alaska Fisheries Science Center for the NMFS 125th Anniversary Activity Book Series.

New England Aquarium
Link to the New England Aquarium, located in Boston, MA. This site offers activities and a guide to the Aquarium itself.

Web Materials for Educators

National Geographic
A complete lesson plan in which the students will be introduced to different ocean depths and to the ways in which animals have adapted to live at different depths.

National Museum of Natural History, Algae Homepage
Includes an introduction to algae and an online database of the many different types of algae in the Museum's collection, including their taxonomy, information about the species, and images. Also includes information on collecting algae and links. New England Aquarium
This site offers free curriculum consultation and loan materials, a link to a ListServe and Educator Enrichment Programs.

Puzzlemaker
Puzzlemaker is a puzzle generation tool for teachers, students and parents. Create and print customized word search, crossword and math puzzles using your word lists. A part of the Discovery Channel's Discovery School Web Site.

 

The Institute of Museum and Library Services, an independent Federal grant- making agency dedicated to creating and sustaining a nation of learners by helping libraries and museums serve their communities supports the Berkshire Museum.

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