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BENTON – Students from Benton Elementary School will join others from Albion and Clinton in a hands-on research adventure in a trip to Portland’s waterfront to participate in the Gulf of Maine Research Institute’s LabVenture! program. About 175 students and teachers from Fairfield-based School Administrative District 49 will travel from their schools in a marine-themed bus to Portland for an intimate look at the Gulf of Maine ecosystem, according to a news release.
Once inside the research institute, the students and teachers will learn about how lobsters grow, what warmer ocean water means to fish and how cod and lobster are connected, among other things. They will also learn about the connection between water in their own backyards and the Gulf of Maine. As part of the LabVenture! experience students will become scientists for a day, as they experience life at a working marine research lab.
Hands-on activities are modeled on actual scientific research being conducted by marine scientists at work along the coast of Maine, the release said. The research institute and a grant from Poland Spring Water has provided the experience to students from all 16 counties in Maine at no cost to schools or families for the past 11 years, the release said. Since inception in 2005, LabVenture! has reached more than 100,000 students across the state.
“It is vital to Maine’s economy that we all work together to increase science literacy among Maine children and give the next generation the knowledge and skills to protect our shared water resources well into the future,” said Heather Printup, Poland Spring’s community relations manager. “Poland Spring is dedicated to fostering the next generation of water stewards and we are proud to support and help fund the Gulf of Maine Research Institute’s LabVenture! program.”
The program is designed to give fifth and sixth-grade students firsthand experience doing the work of scientists, said Meredyth Sullivan, program manager. “This immersive experience challenges students to collaboratively solve problems, collect data, reason with evidence, hone their ideas and reflect on what they have learned.”
