Thomas Harten, Linda Subda, Jenna Lyons and Jesse Howe

The team’s innovative teaching idea, “Schoolhouse Rocks: Saving the Chesapeake’s Oysters,” engages fifth grade students to improve the ecosystem in their community. The project focuses on preserving the ecological role of oysters in the Chesapeake Bay through a Living Reef Action Campaign. The health of the Chesapeake Bay is central to educational programming of CHESPAX. Perhaps no other species is more important to the bay than the oyster. The oyster reefs, known locally as “oyster rocks,” once were so plentiful in the bay that ships had to navigate around them. Today, these reefs are less than 3% of their historic levels in the Chesapeake Bay. Working with the Coastal Conservation Association, students will build 250 lb. oyster reef balls at their schools and deploy them to restoration sites in Maryland waters. Each school will produce 20 oyster reef balls during this program. This will result in 5,000 lbs. of artificial reef habitat produced at each elementary school. Students will also complete a science unit on the importance of oysters for the ecology of the Chesapeake Bay. They will participate in a field experience at a bay tributary to learn about the environmental needs of oysters and their role as filter feeders and habitat for other organisms. The project will give students an opportunity to make a tangible, ecological impact on oyster populations.