Adam Watson

Blog #5

For the third time, Cole, Andrew, and I went down to cole’s house down on Balboa Island. Andrew and I jumped in the water to pick up the traps. Right before we jumped in, the photography man from Sage,Mr. Rick Davitt showed up and took videos and pictures of us while we extracted the traps. The first trap we extracted was the one that we had put in last time that we had attached by screwing a screw into the dock. Andrew and I jumped in t the very cold water and dove down to cut the trap lose and put it in the bucket. The second trap, which we had left in for two months, was attached to the neighbors dock. We extracted that trap very quickly, however it was much harder to find the zip-tie on this trap due to the massive amounts of algae that had built up on the trap. During the whole time, Cole used his drone to video us and document this extraction. After extracting the traps, we returned to sage and extracted the creates that we had caught in the traps.

After sorting out all of the living organism we joined the rest of the seniors in performing a PCR test in the lab. We quickly added some of our new organisms into the ethanol so that we could use them during the DNA isolation part of the PCR. In total, we did the beginning stages of the lab on 24 different samples of organisms that we had collected. The best part about the lab, was when we found a live fish in one of our traps. Along with the fish, we also found a large flatworm. Sadly, we could not finish the PCR, so we will most likely finish most of them before we meet next time. In the end, I believe that we worked very efficiently today and accomplished most of our tasks very quickly. While we did go through most of the day very quickly, I felt like I was able to learn about PCR and how it works. I believe that today we were the most efficient due to our communication skills. For example, When Andrew and I were in the water, we were able to talk and plan how we would get the trap in the bucket without losing any material. Overall, I am excited about how much we got accomplished today, and I am excited about finally getting some results next time.

Blog #4

      Today, we went back to Cole’s house down on balboa island. Last time, we had gone and set traps on the pillars of his and his neighbors docks. Today, we only brought up one trap. Andrew and I jumped in the water and extracted the trap. One problem we had while extracting the trap was that when we had placed the trap, it was low tide, however today, it was very high tide and the trap was about 5 feet underwater. After placing the extracted trap into the bucket, we decided to place another trap on the far end of the dock. Cole then drilled a screw into the side of the dock and tied a rope attached to the trap. We then sunk the trap about 6 feet. We then returned and separated organisms that we found inside our first trap. We separated them based on what they looked like. As a group, we worked really well. We all were very productive and got what we needed to get done. Next time, we plan to go back and take one of the traps out and examine it for new species to study.

            Overall, the day went really well. My favorite moment today was when Andrew and I were extracting the trap. I really enjoyed the fact that we were finally going to see some result. My least favorite moment was when I first entered the water. It was very cold and it was hard to get into the water. Even worse was when we got out there was a little bit of wind and we became very cold very quickly.  I felt connected to the community, because the research we were collecting will help scientists identify different species. Today, I learned that I am truly interested in the sciences. I find it enjoyable to conduct research. I feel like my group could benefit from talking more about what we are going to do before hand instead of just winging it. Overall, I feel like today went really well and we were very productive as a group in all of our tasks.

Blog #3

            Today was pretty straight forward for the most part. We started off by planning out when and where we were going to place the traps. We split into three groups and set out to set out to set the traps. My group, which consisted of Matteo, Andrew, Cole, Daniel, and myself, first went to Ace hardware store to get some zip ties so that we could attach the traps to dock pylons. We then made our way down to Cole’s house on 11^th street. We made our way down to the dock to see which pylon would be the best to attach our trap to. Our first choice was the furthest pylon. Sadly, The dock was too long for me to swim under and attach the trap. So we decided to use the one closer to the shore.  We had a little trouble attaching it, due to the fact that the zip tie snapped. After about 20 minutes we had gotten the trap tied to the pylon. For our second trap we asked his neighbors if we attach our trap to their dock. With their permission, we attached the trap to the further pylon. For this trap Andrew and I dove down a little deeper to set our trap. It was a little difficult, because it was very murky and we could barley see the pylon or the trap. After, we returned back to sage. The part enjoyed the most was the setting of the traps. While it was cold, it was fun setting our own traps that we have been building for a while. The negative was that the water was cold and vey murky. During today I felt connected to the community because we interacted with Cole’s neighbors and explained what we were doing with the traps with them. One way in which I persevered, is the fact that I stayed in the water to finish setting the traps even though it was very cold in the water. I showed compassion by volunteering to go into the bay instead of Matteo because he was getting sick. Today I learned that I really enjoy collecting data. I found that going out to collect data is really fun because of the fact that I don’t know what is going to happen. While today went really well, I feel like my group and I could have communicated what to do and how to set the traps better. We didn’t talk about how we would attach them or what depth, so when I was already in the water we still needed to figure it out. Overall, today was very productive and enjoyable to me.

Blog #2

Today we started out the day by deciding when we were going to start setting and collecting our traps to begin our research. After discussing for a while, we came up and decided that our first dive would be on December 9^th. On all of our service learning days after that, we would go pick up all of our traps, gather data from the traps, and then reset the traps so that we can collect more data on the next service learning day. After that, we went into the lab and continued to create our traps. Again this was my favorite part because I like to do the hands on work. Some of us continued the work on the older traps, however, the rest of us worked on the new traps. These new traps consisted of PVC pipes with 3 sets of 26 strands of yarn zip tied in intervals to the pipe. Our plan was to strap these to docks so that we could have easy access to them. I enjoyed the trap making more this time because I could more clearly see the fruit of our labor. We created around nine traps to the several partial traps we created last time. I also enjoyed the microscope work we did towards the end of our class. It was cool to see how engaged everyone was with trying to find the little living creatures that we had gotten from the seaweed. While in the beginning I had some struggles trying to catch them, by the end of the activity, I had caught a few of the critters. Granted I would not have gotten as good at catching them without help from Cole and Matteo. They both showed me how to draw them out and where to pick them up as to not hurt them. I believe that this activity helped me because now I have more experience so that when we are collecting data, I might be more effective at searching through the traps and extracting the lobsters. One thing that I learned from the last activity is that the ocean is teeming with life on the microscopic level. I believe that I can communicate better with the other members of my service learning group by presenting more of my ideas rather than stay quiet and accept what others say.

Blog #1

Today we started the day with a lecture from Dr. Haney about a meeting he had with the representatives from crystal cove about specifics about our projects. During the lecture, he talked about where we would be placing traps, transportation to the trap sites, and risks that may or may not be a problem. After that, Dr. Haney left to go get supplies for the traps that we would create later in the day.  While he was absent, Mr. Irwan supervised us while we split into three group. The first group, my group, read documents and wrote down important facts about lobsters anatomy and physiology. The other groups topics were looking up the different types of traps we could possibly use to collect our data and what the nature of the data gathered in each case was. After presenting the information that we had researched, we moved over to physics lab 2 and began to make a simple kind of trap to catch the larvae. For the first part of this time period, I unraveled a 50 foot piece of rope so that we could weave it into the plastic sheet to create the trap. My partner Matteo and I were able to unravel the rope and got around three to four rows of weaving the rope into the trap. Throughout the day, the lecture and creating the traps really stuck out to me The building stuck out to me because I like to create stuff, I enjoyed building something that I will use for actual research, and I liked it because we made decent progress and are closer to collecting data. I liked the lecture because  it gave us more insight on what will come later in our project. During the building of our traps, I felt connect to the community because we were creating traps to help gather information and provide data which helps others. During the day,  learned that if I am interested in a topic or activity, I will work constantly and not pay attention to anything but that specific task. I think that I can be a bit more vocal with my group members so that I can discuss important points and to keep us on topic. Overall, today I feel like we got a lot done on the traps and learned a lot about the California spiny lobster.

Service Learning Orientation Hello, my name is Adam Watson and I am a Junior at Sage Hill School. I am 16 years old, and I enjoy playing water polo. One thing that I enjoy is is going to the beach. That is what really got me interested in diving. For this project, I am interested in the marine life in California as well as the diving experience. Over the past few year, I have slowly become more and more interested in Marine life. I even went on a research trip to Mexico to count the population of sea turtles. Being able to explore this interest while doing an interesting activity seems very enjoyable. Ever since I began diving, I was always fascinated with the specific fish and crustaceans that I would encounter. While at first I merely started to dive for the experience, I slowly became more and more interested in the species of animals that I was encountering under the water. I feel like this service learning group will continue my interest in learning more about the animals and plants that we will encounter this year. The lobster project is of particular interest to me because lobsters are pretty common in California and I know little to nothing about it.