AP Environmental Science classes do real-world research

The students set out aboard the school's research skiff on Oct. 14 for three locations in the Coral Gables waterway and one at a Biscayne Bay station near Mercy Hospital. RE science classes have done similar sampling previously, but never as part of real-world research projects.

The students have agreed to help with a Biscayne Bay water-sampling effort that recently saw a funding cut, volunteering to collect samples for the Biscayne Bay Water Watch, a community-based non-profit devoted to the environmental health of the bay. The organization has organized volunteers throughout Miami-Dade County to ensure a continuation of the critical water-quality sampling. 

The students also will contribute to an entirely new sampling effort in the Coral Gables waterway, partnering with the Coastal Systems Program at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth School for Marine Science and Technology and Biscayne Bay Water Watch. The goal is to learn more about waste seeping into that waterway in the hope of implementing protective measures.

Roland Samimy '86, senior research manager at the UMass Coastal Systems Program, and Lisa Krimsky, director of the Biscayne Bay Water Watch and Florida Sea Grant agent with University of Florida/Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Extension in Miami-Dade County, have assisted RE’s classes, teaching students how to properly collect and catalogue the samples.

"The students get to use this data for the purposes of their classes, but at the same time they put it into a real-world context," Samimy said. "This has to be done a very specific way. They have to do it correctly, otherwise the data becomes meaningless."

The students will take measurements monthly throughout the school year. They are collecting data on temperature, pH, salinity, and dissolved oxygen. Water samples will be analyzed for total nitrogen, total phosphorus, ammonia, silica and chlorophyll A.

"We need multiple years of data in order to show trends," Samimy said. "We're looking to have the AP Environmental Science kids do this year after year after year."