What animals and plants are parts of the marine ecosystem of Puget Sound?
” Family visits to Puget Sound are a starting place for many, but as might be expected, students’ ideas and knowledge contain some misconceptions of the organisms living in it. Field guides, use of the Internet, and other resources open a window by which a new picture of the marine ecosystem begins to emerge. To guide field experience, students use individual journals to record observations, inferences, and conclusions. One community partner captures the day in the following paragraph: Being on the beach at low tide with one hundred and ten sixth grade students working in groups of four or five along with and an adult, is an amazing experience. For over three hours the students explored the gravel beach making endless new discoveries. One student exclaimed, “I’ve been to this beach a hundred times, (perhaps an exaggeration) and I’ve never seen any of these critters!” Frequent shouts of “Here’s a moon snail,” “What is THIS?”, “Come and see the star fish,” “It’s not a star fish, it’s a s
