MIDDLE SCHOOL TEACHER TRAINING TO ENHANCE SCIENCE CURRICULA AND DEVELOP A NATIONAL RESEARCH DATABASE: A WIN-WIN SITUATION

The Moonsnail Project involves in-service middle school science teachers and students in ongoing research to collect data on spatial trends in modern moonsnail (Mollusca: Gastropoda: Naticidae) predation. Over the past 10 years, Kelley and Hansen compiled a database (150,000 specimens) on drilling predation by Cretaceous to Pleistocene naticids in the U.S. Coastal Plain. However, a modern baseline of spatial patterns in naticid drilling is needed to interpret the temporal patterns. The Moonsnail Project, which will develop this modern baseline, includes 14 teachers from Alaska, Washington, Oregon, New Jersey, North Carolina, Georgia and Florida. Teachers attended a two-week workshop at UNC-Wilmington (July 2001) covering food pyramids and webs; energy flow in ecosystems; life habits, guild structure, and taxonomy of marine invertebrates; field sampling techniques; sample identification and analysis; processes of fossilization; identification and analysis of fossil specimens; comparison of ancient and modern faunas; database and web page construction; and development of lesson plans. These topics, chosen to give the teachers sufficient background to collect and interpret their data, are aligned with national and state science curriculum standards. Teachers are implementing the project this year in their schools; after learning to collect, identify, and analyze samples from modern and fossil ecosystems, students collect mollusk shells from beaches near their schools and analyze them for moonsnail drilling. The characteristic beveled holes drilled by naticids in prey shells are easily recognized by middle school students, and the size, location on the shell, and frequency of these holes provide information about the identity, size, and behavior of the predator and the intensity of predation. Each class will send moonsnail predation data to our website at http://www.moonsnail.org, allowing students to observe any latitudinal patterns in drilling and test hypotheses themselves, thus engaging in genuine scientific research. Using web-cams, students communicate with their peers at other schools and the research team. The data gathered by the students will quickly expand the database, aid in interpreting previously observed trends, and resolve questions on predation in the modern and fossil record.