When people say that 欧洲杯买球怎么投注 students are immersed in their studies they usually mean it figuratively. 但对于克里斯汀·惠伦学校的五名学生来说 “海洋生物生物学高级专题”课程 谁去过Roatán, 洪都拉斯, 1月初进行了一项探索热带珊瑚生态系统的实地研究, 浸入是字面上的.

每天至少两次, 学生们——还有惠伦, 博士后研究员杰米·贝克尔, and former Visiting Assistant Professor of Biology Matt Carrigan—hopped on a private boat to snorkel in the clear, 加勒比湾碧绿的海水, 因为水温比较热，只是偶尔会穿上潜水衣, 探索珊瑚多样性及辨识鱼类, 海龟, 无脊椎动物, and algae on the second largest coral reef on Earth known as the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef.  

“这是 the first time I had snorkeled at a barrier reef and I learned a lot about the inhabitants—we saw octopi, 鱿鱼, 海龟, 鹰射线, 蝎子鱼, 裸鳃亚目动物, 火烈鸟的舌头, 和更多的,” said 生物学 主要和 环境研究 小劳拉·多纳休19岁. “One of the days we went snorkeling at a fantastic part of the reef … and we ended up swimming through a 束毛藻属 bloom. 束毛藻属 是我整个夏天都在研究的重氮营养蓝藻吗, 这对我来说是一个激动人心的时刻.”

Whalen, an assistant professor of 生物学, organized the trip with support from the 和平与全球公民中心, the 科什兰综合自然科学中心, and Provost Office as a way to bring the previous semester’s classroom work to life for her students. “Advanced Topics in Biology of Marine Life” is an interdisciplinary seven-week course that explores human impacts on the oceans and challenges students to form scientific understandings of those problems plaguing the ocean and communicate feasible solutions. During the course students dive into the primary literature and interpret data in order to generate a rational approach to solving global problems.

加勒比海的珊瑚礁可以说是受人类影响最严重的, 由于海洋温度上升和酸化，珊瑚礁下降, 来自农业径流或海洋塑料的污染, 或者来自遥远海洋的入侵物种的威胁. 在2017年秋季首次教授该课程后, Whalen decided that students needed first-hand experience with these ecosystems and the problems that plague them, 希望能吸引两位对海洋生物学领域感兴趣的同学, 保护, 政策, 还有那些从未见过大海的人.

“我记得我第一次在珊瑚礁上浮潜的情景. I was 12 years old and it was so powerful, I decided to become a marine scientist,惠伦说. “I want 欧洲杯买球怎么投注 students to have the same opportunities I had to become inspired and emboldened to make a change in the world.”

就这样，洪都拉斯之行诞生了. 在寒假的7天里，欧洲杯买球app官网大学的学生们呆在 安东尼礁岛度假村, which was established over 50 years ago within a marine protected area adjacent to the nonprofit Roatán海洋科学研究所 致力于自然保护和教育. 在他们每天潜水之前, the students met in an on-site classroom for lectures about the flora and fauna they would encounter underwater that day.

“在Roatán海洋科学研究所, students and scientists have been tracking the health of the reefs for decades now and working with the local community to help put in place measures to allow the reefs to thrive and humans to sustainably make a living from the ocean,惠伦说, 注意到其保护努力, 包括防止过度捕捞和禁止使用塑料, make it one of the last places to see the sorts of coral reefs that were once prevalent all over the Caribbean more than 30 years ago. “Anthony's Key Resort is dedicated to educating students and the public about marine health, 并提供教室, 湿实验室, and dive boats to study marine organisms both in the classroom and on the reef.”

“We spent every day learning something new about the reef in lecture or in the water,” said Donahue. “这是 amazing because we would listen to a lecture about coral identification and then get to snorkel and practice the identification a few hours later. ... Almost every topic that we covered during the class—from marine microplastics to over-fishing to invasive species—was present in Roatán.”

也有足够的时间来娱乐. Bi-Co的工作人员，包括19岁的艾丽·奥弗顿, 斯科特·波拉拉，19岁, 朱莉安娜·贝尼特斯，20岁, and Shelby Hoogland BMC ’19—swam with dolphins who are a part of the resort’s Dolphin Conservation Program, 参观了附近的洪都拉斯民族艺术展览中心, 去桨板冲浪, and took a guided tour of the Animal Sanctuary and Rescue Center to see such 洪都拉斯本土野生动物，如美洲虎和猴子. They enjoyed meals of local sustainable seafood and ate breakfasts of traditional balaedas一种厚厚的玉米饼，里面有炸红豆泥和奶酪.

“我们在舌状和槽状珊瑚礁中浮潜，并在巨大的落差上潜水, as well as in 15 feet of water in the back reef where sea grass environments are punctuated with giant coral heads,惠伦说. “我们还进行了一次夜间潜水，这对所有学生来说都是第一次. 我们看到了章鱼, 龙虾, 河豚, 金鳞鱼, 而且更多——所有这些都是在白天隐藏起来的.”

这是, 事实上, a trip of firsts: it marked the first time Whalen had taken her students on a field study trip, 斯科特·波拉拉第一次浮潜, 以及朱莉安娜·贝尼特斯第一次在海里游泳. 这是 a shared adventure, but it was also educationally rich and inspiring.

这就是重点, 惠伦说, she wanted her students to not only learn about a unique marine environment, 而是激励他们帮助保护和保存它. 

“This is the first time in 20 years that I have not lived next to the ocean, so field experiences like this re-inspire my passion and rejuvenate my soul,惠伦说. “Engaged learning experiences make the knowledge in the classroom more accessible to students and create lasting educational and emotional impacts on their lives. 欧洲杯买球怎么投注 is about opening students’ minds to new experiences and ways of thinking, and trips of this nature provide new perspectives by immersive learning that cannot be achieved any other way.”