Ruston High School Brings Humpback Whales and Sea Turtles on Tour

In 2010, Amy Guerin's Marine Science Class at Ruston High School in Ruston, La. piloted an outreach activity and traveled to local elementary schools in the Ruston area with a life-size inflatable humpback whale named Humphrey.  Elementary students observed blubber experiments, walked through the inflatable whale and took home informative color sheets created by the high school students.  Guerin's class presented to the younger students on issues negatively impacting the oceans and emphasized the importance of being ocean smart on a daily basis by reducing pollution. 

The blueprint for the inflatable humpback whale was ordered from Wheelock College in Boston, Mass.   Guerin had become familiar with Wheelock College by using a feature on their website to track marine animals with previous classes. Over email correspondence, Wheelock College's outreach program coordinator advised Guerin's class on where to begin in terms of humpback whale organ size and placement.  Guerin's students used mathematics, science and technology to create life-sized organs for the elementary students to discover during their walk through Humphrey.  Students started constructing organs by first going online and researching humpback whale organ placement.  This included reviewing whaling reports and necropsy results.  Students used math to measure the size of each organ and used a poster scanned from Wheelock College to place the organs.  Guerin's class discovered that the humpback whale heart was approximately the size of a small car and its brain was roughly a foot long.  During this activity, Guerin's students not only developed a better understanding of humpback whales, but gained a passion and drive for protecting the ocean. 

This year, Amy Guerin's Marine Science class is repeating last year's outreach activity.  However, their focus has shifted to sea turtles.  Guerin's students are constructing life-size sea turtles which they will use to bring interactive ocean conservation presentations to local elementary schools. 

Submitted by Amy Guerin

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