West Hartford Education Association Grant: Enhancing Student Learning with Coral Reef Aquariums
- School Year: 2019-2020
- Applicants: Anthony Wasley, Lead Teacher & Mike Rollins
- School: Hall High School
- Subjects: Science, Technology
This grant funds a 300 gallon saltwater aquarium system for housing and breeding live corals at Hall High School for the use of science classes and an after school club available to all students. Students apply all of the NGSS science engineering practices (SEPs) to help build, maintain, and care for corals that are facing coral bleaching across the world due to anthropogenic climate change. Corals provide an ecosystem to 25% of fish in the ocean and, as of 2016, half of the world's corals have died. The goal of this project is to promote awareness of corals and coral bleaching for students and other members of the West Hartford community. This ongoing project will be a fundamental part of the science curriculum for marine science for several years as the corals are grown and cut into pieces in an effort to increase their numbers. Corals will be "farmed" and then sold to hobbyists or donated to other schools with similar coral projects in New England. In addition, students will conduct long-term research projects on the corals and eventually present their findings to other schools.