Adriane here-
Every year, University of Massachusetts Amherst hosts hundreds of local Boy Scouts on campus through the program Merit Badge University. This is an awesome program that introduces the boys to different careers and fields of study. Most years, the UMass Geosciences department participates in the event. In previous years, we have helped the scouts earn their Geology and Mining in Society badges. In addition, we have also hosted local Webelos Cub Scouts in the department to teach them about local rocks and geologic processes.
This year, a small group of graduate students, including myself, worked with the boys to earn their Oceanography badges. The Merit Badge University program is spread over two Saturdays: one in February, and another in March. The boys are required to attend both weekends to fulfill the requirements for their desired badges. The first week was co-led by our Time Scavengers collaborator, Raquel, who focused on teaching the boys about our oceans and the different properties of these huge bodies of water.
I participated in the second week, along with two other graduate students, Benjamin and Caroline, and my two undergraduate students, Adam and Solveig. We taught the boys about climate change and its effects on the ocean, marine life, and plankton, and they learned about seafloor features and the different branches of oceanography.
The first activity included the boys breaking into 4 small groups. Each group was assigned a branch of oceanography (physical, chemical, marine ecology, and marine geology) to research. Then, each group presented their findings to the rest of the participants. We also had the students come up with reasons why they think oceanography is important to study.
The second activity included a short presentation on climate change, and how increasing atmospheric CO2 is affecting our oceans and marine life. Topics we discussed included ocean acidification, ocean warming, and ocean stratification, as well as the effects of pollution on marine life. We were all pleasantly surprised with how well-versed the boys were on the subject, and many had their own climate change or pollution stories to share.
The third activity of the day included teaching the boys about the different types of underwater features, or topography. Benjamin gave a short presentation, then we had the boys draw their own underwater scene with the most common seafloor features included. The boys had a great time drawing their underwater scenes while chatting!
The last activity of the day included teaching the boys about marine ecology. For this section, the boys were required to learn about marine plankton, food webs, and how the ocean produces and holds so much life. To get the boys thinking about what makes up the food chain, we set up microscopes around the room with samples of marine sediment and pond sediments. This way, the boys could see the vast number of marine plankton that make up the sediments. These plankton also make up the base of the food chain in marine systems! We created a short handout with pictures of some common plankton, such as planktic foraminifera, benthic foraminifera, and radiolarians. We also encouraged the boys to look for other odd things, such as echinoderm spines, ostracods, and fish teeth! Everyone (including us graduate and undergraduate students) had a blast looking through the microscopes!
We ended the event by quickly talking about the ways in which scientists can study the ocean. Unfortunately, we had so much fun doing our other activities, we didn’t have much time to discuss the various ways in which we do this! However, we were able to complete all the requirements for the Oceanography badge, so all of the scouts we taught earned this badge this year!