Marine Science
at Farragut's waterfront and nearby beaches.
Our direct location on Boca Ciega Bay keeps us highly active and hands on when it comes to marine life. During Middle & High School Marine Science classes, students learn about water parameters, how to use a secchi disk to determine the turbidity of water, use hydrophones to listen to local dolphin or other marine organisms, or cast a net to catch their first snook or sheepshead.
Many of the Marine Science classes will use our school-owned boats to explore islands and marine life, two-person seine nets to collect marine organisms such as sea robins, pipe fish, killifish, boxfish, pin fish, sheepshead, and greenbacks. Other times, students will use a dip net to collect on their own or explore the bottom of the bay using the Aquascopes and a bottom grabber sampler or a sieve. Whatever their choice, students are sure to find something exciting at the bay and will most likely be able to bring it back to the classroom fish tank or touch tank.
Students test different water sources in and around campus, such as the creek, the basin, and the classroom fish tanks on a weekly basis. Thanks to funding from the Florida Association for Water Quality Control (FAWQC), the Middle School has been able to purchase LaMotte Water Testing Kits on a continuous cycle since 2004. The LaMotte Water Testing Kits allows the students to test water parameters such as Dissolved Oxygen, pH, Nitrate, Ammonia, Turbidity, Chlorine, and Phosphate. Three YSI Digital handheld test kits were also purchased. Water samples are taken back to the classroom and examined with cordless stereomicroscopes for any plankton or other small invertebrates.
A sample of courses we offer:
- Marine Biology
- Advanced Marine Biology
- AP Biology
- SCUBA
- Environmental Science
- Oceanography
- Senior Internships to assist these classes
