Cheers DeepEnd Crew!!

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I have another tale to tell you!  On Friday March 4, 2016 Nina Pruzinsky and I went to New River Middle School to present our deep-sea knowledge!!  Thanks to Creep into the DEEPEND lecture series, members of the DeepEnd team are able to share their knowledge and experiences to classrooms both near and far!  New River Middle School, located in Fort Lauderdale, has a unique magnet program for marine science filled with bright, eager student ready to learn!


We arrived at New River Middle School on Friday afternoon to be the guest speakers for Mr. Kyle Lendick 6th grade marine science class.  As part of their class work Mr. Lendick fully utilizes the online teaching material found on our website and as such the kids were eager to meet some of the scientists they have been following the last few months.  For all three classes we did a quick introductory PowerPoint covering the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, research activities of DeepEnd and our thesis topic.  During the presentation we b2ap3_thumbnail_IMG_4699.JPGstrongly encouraged questions and we were not disappointed!!  Kids wanted to know things ranging from our favorite ocean critter to what happens to the fish during the trawling process. 


Once we finished our presentation we had a full blown Q&A session where the kids were able to continue their line of questions for a short while until the real fun started!  Nina and I were able to bring in some deep-sea fish for the kids! This was a truly unique opportunity for the kids because they were able to see fish that most people do not even know exist!! We divided the class in half and we talked about deep-sea adaptations exhibited by the specimens.  Some of the adaptations we were able to highlight include bioluminescence, pigmentation changes with depth, decrease musculature and feeding strategies.  During this show and tell we got to have more of a one-on-one experience, which the kids truly enjoyed!


Thank you New River Middle School for signing up for Creep into the DEEPEND and I, along with the rest of the DEEPEND crew hope to see you again!