Kids on the Beach program brings Concrete High School students to Padilla Bay
BAY VIEW STATE PARK - Twenty-eight students from Concrete High School scanned the beach along Padilla Bay for crab molts Tuesday as part of the Kids on the Beach program.
This is the sixth year students from Concrete have participated.
Padilla Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve Environmental Educator Annie England describes the program as a hands-on experience where students get to practice authentic science.
Elementary, middle and high school students participate in Kids on the Beach throughout the year.
In the spring, England said, the program serves about 10,000 students, most of whom come from Skagit County.
For some Concrete students, this program is their first experience at a beach.
"Coming from Concrete, with our small river, to here where they have the bay is really interesting," said Lylla A., a Concrete High School sophomore who also took part in the program last year.
Before launching their crab search, students used binoculars to find birds.
Lylla's group worked to find crab molts on the west side of the beach, referred to as the "restored" area, finding a total of 14.
Crab molts occur when crabs grow, shedding their hard outer shell to form a new one.
The students worked with Kids on the Beach Program Lead Pete Haase, who volunteers with the Skagit Marine Resources Committee.
The north side of the beach, where one group worked, is referred to as the "natural" area. This area sees less foot traffic, and the group working there found 12 crab molts.
In total, six groups of students worked on different areas of the beach to identify which species of crab they collected and take measurements, which they then recorded on paper.
All groups were given five minutes to search their zones for as many crab molts as they could find before bringing them back and collecting data.
Information sheets were provided to give students and volunteers identifying characteristics of each crab species, such as color and size.
The most common species of crab the students found was Dungeness. They also found shore crabs and hairy helmet crabs.
England said the purpose of these crab molt surveys is to look for the presence of European green crabs, an invasive species that can threaten and disrupt the estuary ecosystem.
During data collection Tuesday, no European green crabs were found.
England said the way students collect data during the Kids on the Beach program is similar to the way Padilla Bay researchers collect data.
Many students' favorite part of the program was what came after data collection.
Students were tasked with crushing the crab molts by stomping on them. They do this so the molts won't be collected by groups the next day and create duplicate data.
"What's been really nice about this program is I get to work with students for an entire week," England said.
Outside of the hands-on part of the program, students learn from England in the classroom about the ecology of estuaries, get trained in data collection, create graphs and synthesize what they learned through a presentation to their classmates.
For many students, it is their first experience making a graph with data they personally collected.
Five total Concrete High School classes are participating in Kids on the Beach this year. Sacha Buller teaches biology and environmental science classes. She partners with the research reserve to bring hands-on science education to her students.
"I really like to see my kids experience joy learning science," Buller said.
The Skagit Marine Resources Committee funds the program down to the cost of transportation. Buller said her goal is to have as many students participate as possible.
After data collection and a break for lunch, students headed to the Breazeale Interpretive Center, where they got to look at plankton and other marine species under microscopes.
Students also got to explore interactive exhibits and touch tanks, which England said is always a highlight.
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