Cole Callin
For my service learning project this year I have decided to join a group called COAST. As of right now, our group has 17 people consisting of juniors and seniors. Our group will be doing marine biology survey work in the Crystal Cove State Park area. In the state park, we are going to be doing surveying work on things such the life cycle of lobsters. During our service learning days, we will be down on the beach collecting data either in the water or on the land. Occasionally we will also be in the classroom researching and observing the data that we had collected when we were at the beach.
I am interested in this group because I have an interest in marine biology and I enjoy diving. I have always gone down to Crystal Cove state beach for fun to just go in the water but I excited to finally get the chance to survey and learn about the state park. I am looking forward to getting started on this project and starting to learn about Crystal Cove State Park.
Day 2:
On our second day of service learning, we had a more relaxed day than the last. We started the day by having a small discussion with doctor Haney about what we were going to do for the rest of the day. The people who had not yet been scuba certified then went off into another room to start their training. Since I am already certified, I along with the other certified people planned out our scheduled for the future of this year. We decided on which dates we would scuba dive and on which dates we would lay traps. After this we created traps different than the ones from last time. These were much easier to make and seemed like they would be much more effective. We then took a break. After our break we came back to the lab and began sorting through red algae for small living things inside the algae such as brittle stars. This part really stood out to me as the highlight of the day because we got to examine some of the organisms we may find later in the year. This was also really interesting and fun because we had the freedom to move around and look at what we wanted to look at as opposed to in a normal lab class. During this I was constantly working with other people in our group as we compared what we found in our little clumps of algae. I got to use a dissecting microscope which to my knowledge was new to me. The day had little challenges and was mainly really interesting and relaxing just doing our work and sorting through algae. Through the day I really learned about and furthered my interest in marine biology as we are getting closer and closer to going down to crystal cove and doing our work at the beach. The opportunity to do hands on work with microscopes during the day was a really cool experience. At some points during the day I felt I could've been more helpful to the group as I was just sitting down and not really doing anything. In future days I think I can be much for helpful and actively participate a lot more. I really look forward to our next visit as we will get to continue our marine biology work.
Day 3:
The fourth day of our COAST service learning project was very successful and productive. We ended up actually going down to a dock and placing two traps. The dock we ended up going to was at my house. We headed down to the my house around 9 o'clock first stopping at ace hardware. We picked up 3 foot zip ties so that we could tie them around the pylon on the dock. We then went down to the dock and sent Adam and Andrew into the water where they then tied the traps about 3 to 4 feet underwater to the pylon. I really enjoyed the work today because it was very active. We were able to conduct our own project down on the dock in the best way we thought it would work. What really stuck out to me today was the difficulty to tie the trap to the pylon. I had thought it would be very easy but going under the water and actually tying it down was very difficult. This was partly due to the low visibility due to the muddy water that came from the storm and also the cold of the water which was likely around 50 degrees. I felt connected to my community as I was working well with the people in my group and was working to find data about the bay and organisms living within it. We had to use our different skills to figure out how to tie the zip ties around the pylon as they originally didn't fit but we eventually combined multiple zip ties together then wrapped the trap against the pylon. There were no real challenges other than figuring out how to tie the traps around which only took a couple of minutes to engineer and plan. Today I learned that setting our traps was much harder than I thought it would be. I thought it would be a quick and easy process yet it took much more time (almost an hour) than I thought. Next time we set traps I think it will be much easier as we now know what we are doing. Next time we can improve on the speed that it takes us to set the traps. Adam and Andrew mainly just jumped in the water then figured it out from there rather than planning out what to do before hand. Now we know what to do and we will be much more efficient in our setting of traps next time. I could also improve on my communication with the people in the water as it was hard to tell them what to do because they were so cold. Overall it was a very and productive day in which we got a lot done yet we can also learn from the process so that next time we can set our traps much more efficiently.
Day 4:
On our 4th service learning day we went back down to the dock at my house to collect and place new traps. A group of Adam, Daniel, Andrew, Matteo, and I went to my house. Before we went we stopped at ACE hardware to collect string, a weight, and a bucket for our new trap setup. When we got to my house I got a drill and some nails and walked out on the dock. I drilled the nail into the dock and tied the nylon rope to the the nail. I then drilled a hole through the pvc pipe of the trap and tied the weight and the trap together. I then tied the rope together and sunk the trap down about 6 or 7 feet off the dock. Adam and Andrew then jumped in the water and cut off the trap we had placed last time, holding a bucket under it to ensure we caught everything. We then cut the pvc pipe so it would fit in the bucket with a lid. We then drove to school. At school we separated the different species of organisms we found into different vile's after we had already separated the stuff in the bucket. The main success of the day was getting everything out and examined quickly and in a way in which we did not loose anything. The main negative is that unfortunately some of our stuff did not fit into the smaller viles so we had to leave them out of our main jar however this was not really a large problem. The day was a significant success as we accomplished a lot. In the future we are going to go collect the new trap that we placed and do the same process over again. Everyone worked in equal parts and we were all very efficient in our work. I look forward to the next service learning day and I hope at some point we are able to do more tests off shore using diving equipment. Hopefully our activity next time works even better.
Day 5:
Our 5th day of service learning featured similar stuff to what we have done in the past. We started the day quickly by going to my house (the docks where we placed our traps). Andrew, Adam, and I went down there quickly, determined to not fool around or waste more time than we need at my house like we have done in the past. We immediately changed when we got there and Adam and Andrew jumped into the water. In the water they collected both the traps quickly while I flew a small drone to take pictures (pictures below). I also helped them bring the traps out of the water by pulling the bucket onto the dock. We also met the school camera man Dan and my house, he took professional pictures of our procedures with his go pro and other above water camera. We also used a pvc pipe cutter to cut the traps in half so they would fit in the bucket. We then cleaned off then headed back to the lab with our samples in the two buckets. The traps were set on two docks right next to each other and each one was put into one of the two buckets. At the lab were poured out all the excess water and separated out all of the matter into different pans so we could sort out all of the living things. We then proceeded in the lab separating living things into different viles so that we could then do PCR. We now need to wait for the PCR process to continue and will look into it more next class. I really enjoyed looking through the samples of what we had collected over the months after we had set the traps. It was something that I didn't think I would like as much but sorting everything that we had found was extremely interesting and fun. Similar to last time I found it interesting to connect to my community as we are collecting data which can then be used to inform people about the small organisms that live in the bay. There were no real challenges throughout the day except for transporting the buckets back in the car which Adam did by holding them. I learned today that I was more interested in Biology than I had previously thought. I did not really think before this project that biology was something that interested me but working in the lab really opened up a new subject which I may interest me in the future. Working with just three people in the group made it go much more efficiently. We got everything done much better and much more quickly so in the future we will try to continue the success we had today. I look forward to our next service learning day.
I am interested in this group because I have an interest in marine biology and I enjoy diving. I have always gone down to Crystal Cove state beach for fun to just go in the water but I excited to finally get the chance to survey and learn about the state park. I am looking forward to getting started on this project and starting to learn about Crystal Cove State Park.
Day 1:
On our first service learning day, we started by meeting in the classroom to discuss what was planned for the day. From 8-10 a.m. my group researched the life cycle of the main thing we will be studying this year, the California spiny lobster. I found the research very interesting and fun to do as we got to really understand the life cycle and process that makes an adult lobster. We found interesting facts about the lobster's behavior during different cycles of its life which were for the most part very interesting. Then from 10-12 a.m., we learned about the different types of traps that we would be using to catch the lobsters. We started to build on of these traps which is, in simple terms, a plastic board with rope running throughout the holes on board. Once finished the board looks almost like strands of kelp floating in the ocean. This trap is meant to lure lobsters that have come from the sea column down into the trap. This way we can then record the data. Making the trap took a lot of time due to the excessive amount of work required to undo the rope into 3 frayed smaller ropes. After all of this, we went to lunch then came back and now I am writing this blog. Overall I really enjoyed the day because I feel like I learned a lot about the lobster we will be studying and I definitely feel much more prepared for the future service learning days to come. Something that really stuck out to me during the day was learning about the long process of a lobsters life cycle and the many different steps it takes to get to adulthood. Overall it was a really fun day and I am looking forward to the next one.
During the day I really enjoyed working with my community and friends when researching the life cycle of a lobster. I felt that in the time we had we came up with a lot of good information and we definitely know much more about the life cycle now than we did before. That said we sometimes got distracted when talking and we could work more efficiently in the future. During our researching time, I felt like I became slightly better at searching the internet for scientific research and then interpreting and learning that information that I found. The biggest challenge for me throughout the day was undoing the thread of the rope when we were making traps as I did it for nearly an hour and a half. It was very tiring but it was worth it in the end to see progress on our traps. Throughout all of our activities during the day I did my best at helping answer questions that my peers had as best I could and overall just helping to contribute to the team. This first service learning day of my junior year made me realize the new freedom I have as a junior to research and learn about something that really interests me as opposed to previous years where I just wasn't as interested. As I said before, my group occasionally got off topic and distracted which is something that we will try and fix next time so that we can be more efficient and get more done. Overall it was a really good and fun day of service learning, I am excited to continue our project in the service learning days to come.
Day 2:
On our second day of service learning, we had a more relaxed day than the last. We started the day by having a small discussion with doctor Haney about what we were going to do for the rest of the day. The people who had not yet been scuba certified then went off into another room to start their training. Since I am already certified, I along with the other certified people planned out our scheduled for the future of this year. We decided on which dates we would scuba dive and on which dates we would lay traps. After this we created traps different than the ones from last time. These were much easier to make and seemed like they would be much more effective. We then took a break. After our break we came back to the lab and began sorting through red algae for small living things inside the algae such as brittle stars. This part really stood out to me as the highlight of the day because we got to examine some of the organisms we may find later in the year. This was also really interesting and fun because we had the freedom to move around and look at what we wanted to look at as opposed to in a normal lab class. During this I was constantly working with other people in our group as we compared what we found in our little clumps of algae. I got to use a dissecting microscope which to my knowledge was new to me. The day had little challenges and was mainly really interesting and relaxing just doing our work and sorting through algae. Through the day I really learned about and furthered my interest in marine biology as we are getting closer and closer to going down to crystal cove and doing our work at the beach. The opportunity to do hands on work with microscopes during the day was a really cool experience. At some points during the day I felt I could've been more helpful to the group as I was just sitting down and not really doing anything. In future days I think I can be much for helpful and actively participate a lot more. I really look forward to our next visit as we will get to continue our marine biology work.
Day 3:
The fourth day of our COAST service learning project was very successful and productive. We ended up actually going down to a dock and placing two traps. The dock we ended up going to was at my house. We headed down to the my house around 9 o'clock first stopping at ace hardware. We picked up 3 foot zip ties so that we could tie them around the pylon on the dock. We then went down to the dock and sent Adam and Andrew into the water where they then tied the traps about 3 to 4 feet underwater to the pylon. I really enjoyed the work today because it was very active. We were able to conduct our own project down on the dock in the best way we thought it would work. What really stuck out to me today was the difficulty to tie the trap to the pylon. I had thought it would be very easy but going under the water and actually tying it down was very difficult. This was partly due to the low visibility due to the muddy water that came from the storm and also the cold of the water which was likely around 50 degrees. I felt connected to my community as I was working well with the people in my group and was working to find data about the bay and organisms living within it. We had to use our different skills to figure out how to tie the zip ties around the pylon as they originally didn't fit but we eventually combined multiple zip ties together then wrapped the trap against the pylon. There were no real challenges other than figuring out how to tie the traps around which only took a couple of minutes to engineer and plan. Today I learned that setting our traps was much harder than I thought it would be. I thought it would be a quick and easy process yet it took much more time (almost an hour) than I thought. Next time we set traps I think it will be much easier as we now know what we are doing. Next time we can improve on the speed that it takes us to set the traps. Adam and Andrew mainly just jumped in the water then figured it out from there rather than planning out what to do before hand. Now we know what to do and we will be much more efficient in our setting of traps next time. I could also improve on my communication with the people in the water as it was hard to tell them what to do because they were so cold. Overall it was a very and productive day in which we got a lot done yet we can also learn from the process so that next time we can set our traps much more efficiently.
Day 4:
On our 4th service learning day we went back down to the dock at my house to collect and place new traps. A group of Adam, Daniel, Andrew, Matteo, and I went to my house. Before we went we stopped at ACE hardware to collect string, a weight, and a bucket for our new trap setup. When we got to my house I got a drill and some nails and walked out on the dock. I drilled the nail into the dock and tied the nylon rope to the the nail. I then drilled a hole through the pvc pipe of the trap and tied the weight and the trap together. I then tied the rope together and sunk the trap down about 6 or 7 feet off the dock. Adam and Andrew then jumped in the water and cut off the trap we had placed last time, holding a bucket under it to ensure we caught everything. We then cut the pvc pipe so it would fit in the bucket with a lid. We then drove to school. At school we separated the different species of organisms we found into different vile's after we had already separated the stuff in the bucket. The main success of the day was getting everything out and examined quickly and in a way in which we did not loose anything. The main negative is that unfortunately some of our stuff did not fit into the smaller viles so we had to leave them out of our main jar however this was not really a large problem. The day was a significant success as we accomplished a lot. In the future we are going to go collect the new trap that we placed and do the same process over again. Everyone worked in equal parts and we were all very efficient in our work. I look forward to the next service learning day and I hope at some point we are able to do more tests off shore using diving equipment. Hopefully our activity next time works even better.
Day 5:
Our 5th day of service learning featured similar stuff to what we have done in the past. We started the day quickly by going to my house (the docks where we placed our traps). Andrew, Adam, and I went down there quickly, determined to not fool around or waste more time than we need at my house like we have done in the past. We immediately changed when we got there and Adam and Andrew jumped into the water. In the water they collected both the traps quickly while I flew a small drone to take pictures (pictures below). I also helped them bring the traps out of the water by pulling the bucket onto the dock. We also met the school camera man Dan and my house, he took professional pictures of our procedures with his go pro and other above water camera. We also used a pvc pipe cutter to cut the traps in half so they would fit in the bucket. We then cleaned off then headed back to the lab with our samples in the two buckets. The traps were set on two docks right next to each other and each one was put into one of the two buckets. At the lab were poured out all the excess water and separated out all of the matter into different pans so we could sort out all of the living things. We then proceeded in the lab separating living things into different viles so that we could then do PCR. We now need to wait for the PCR process to continue and will look into it more next class. I really enjoyed looking through the samples of what we had collected over the months after we had set the traps. It was something that I didn't think I would like as much but sorting everything that we had found was extremely interesting and fun. Similar to last time I found it interesting to connect to my community as we are collecting data which can then be used to inform people about the small organisms that live in the bay. There were no real challenges throughout the day except for transporting the buckets back in the car which Adam did by holding them. I learned today that I was more interested in Biology than I had previously thought. I did not really think before this project that biology was something that interested me but working in the lab really opened up a new subject which I may interest me in the future. Working with just three people in the group made it go much more efficiently. We got everything done much better and much more quickly so in the future we will try to continue the success we had today. I look forward to our next service learning day.
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