More than 100 Flour Bluff Intermediate
School sixth graders were enraptured by the honking, squeaking
and snorting noises that poured from the library speakers.
Professor Lee Fuiman explained that the students might
consider it music if they are fluent in "seal."
When several students asked
Fuiman to translate the "seal talk," he grinned and said he
does not speak "seal" either.
Fuiman, a research scientist and professor at the
University of Texas Marine Science Institute joined fellow
professors Paul Montagna and Hedy Edmonds at Flour Bluff
Intermediate School Tuesday, where they each gave an hour-long
presentation on their field of specialization.
After the National Science Foundation awarded $1.52 million
to the Environmental Science Institute at the University of
Texas last year, half the money was earmarked for Port Aransas
and Flour Bluff independent school districts and the
university's Port Aransas marine science institute.
The money funds new classroom activities, workshops and
field projects for Port Aransas and Flour Bluff students.
It also funds a scaled-down version of graduate-level
learning with the regular presence of graduate students in
classrooms and some lessons from professors like Fuiman,
Montagna and Edmonds.
Even with the inter-species language barrier, Fuiman is
still an expert on seal behavior. He has worked on several
research tours through Antarctica to study them.
He shared pictures and research video of Weddell seals
catching and devouring fish under mile-thick Antarctic ice.
Montagna discussed animals and plants that live in the mud
in Texas coastal bay bottoms. He is an estuarine ecologist,
studying the relationship of animals and plants with their
environment in certain coastal eco-systems. He said lecturing
to younger students was a nice change.
"I love this," he said. "There is really no purpose sitting
in my lab doing the research I do if you cannot share it."
Edmonds told stories about her time in the deep-sea
research vessel Alvin and about her research on hydrothermal
vents, the cracks on the ocean floor that emit jets of hot
water that are loaded with minerals and _bacteria.
Sixth grade science student Kayla McCloud said she was most
interested in Edmonds' lecture. Her science class studied
hydrothermal vents Monday. She said it is "cool" that Edmonds
has seen and researched the real thing.
"It does make me feel special, because I don't think most
sixth graders are getting this sort of thing," she said.
Graduate students Marc Russelland Amy Townsend-Small, who
are assigned to Flour Bluff Intermediate Science classes, also
bring a fresh teaching perspective to the classroom that is
good for students, sixth grade science teacher Lori Veteto
said.
"It exposes them to a lot of materials and experiences that
they might not be exposed to," she said. "UT has also bought
equipment for our lab and we take great field trips to Port
A."
Contact Jaime Powell at 886-3716 or by email at
powellj@caller.com
)
