Not your typical science project
Kings County students deploy tidal drifters in Bay of Fundy
A tidal drifter bobbing around in the Bay of Fundy is changing the way Kings County Academy students think about the ocean – and science class.
“It’s not science in a textbook; it’s science that’s floating off the coast of Yarmouth right now,” said Danielle Leblanc, who teaches science and French at the Kentville-based school.
The drifter, consisting of sails, a buoy, an aluminum frame and a satellite transmitter, can be tracked online every four hours. It was deployed at 5 a.m. June 21, and located off of the coast of Seal Island – between Yarmouth and Pubnico – the following morning.
Leblanc’s Grade 7 and 8 students have all been informed of the project. Four students helped Leblanc assemble the drifter, which was tested in the reservoir in Wolfville prior to its deployment in the Bay of Fundy.
“There was a lot of duct tape involved,” joked student Lauren Evans, who helped with the construction of the drifter.
Evans likes the idea of exploring the unknowns hidden beneath the surface of the bay.
“The ocean is cool. It’s deep and mysterious,” she said.
Fellow student Nora Keizer enjoyed developing a hypothesis about what could happen to the drifter, and where it might end up.
“[I liked] the idea of being able to be part of something that could possibly discover something we never knew,” she said.
Keizer would also be interested in a project that attempts to track endangered species in the future.
“Question everything,” she said. “There is always an answer to find.”
Leblanc is thrilled how the students have eagerly embraced the tidal drifter project, and continue to check the tracking information online to see how far it has travelled.
“The whole idea is to get youth engaged and involved and caring about the ocean enough to be actively defending it,” she said.
“If you don’t know enough about something, you’re not going to be in a position to care enough to do something about it.”
KCA, Northeast Kings Education Centre (NKEC) and Horton are all participating in the tidal drifter program. The hands-on science projects were made possible by a partnership between the participating schools, Acadia University, the Gulf of Maine Institute and the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
The data collected by the drifters will be used by Acadia University and NOAA.
Dr. Anna Redden, director of the Acadia Centre for Estuarine Research, said the drifters will collect information about how plastics and debris move in the surface waters, why various sites in Nova Scotia have different currents and tides, and what impact climate change may have on the surface waters in the Bay of Fundy-gulf of Maine system.
“The Bay of Fundy is an upper arm of the Gulf of Maine, and so we consider it one system,” said Redden.
“One of the overriding issues is climate change, and this particular body of water is warming up very fast relative to comparable water bodies.”
Redden noted KCA’S drifter is in an area with tides that are significantly reduced compared to what would be found in the Minas Basin.
“It’s just a really exciting opportunity for students,” said Redden.
“They’re really engaged and I think that we need to have more place-based, active learning exercises like this for them to better understand their environment.”
Redden said it is important to continually strive to better understand the inner workings of complex water systems, and to encourage the leaders of tomorrow to become stewards of the environment.
“We don’t know what’s going on under the surface layer and I think that this is just an excellent way of being better connected to our local waters,” said Redden. “This has been a lot of fun.”
The deployed tidal drifters can be tracked here: https://www. nefsc.noaa.gov/drifter/drift_ gomi_2017_2.html