Field Trips

DURATION: 4 hours
CAPACITY: 20-50 students

Through play and interactive activities, students will learn how three different types of animals (fiddler crabs, ospreys, & sea turtles) survive in Tampa Bay, as well as ways we can help protect them. Students will be encouraged to make wildlife observations during each activity: What’s flying in the sky, or scurrying at their feet? Let curiosity soar!

DURATION: 4 hours
CAPACITY: 20-50 students

Students begin by learning the basics of ethical angling including basic gear, proper fish handling techniques, fishing regulation basics, and why it’s important to protect marine fisheries. Once the concept of ethical angling has been introduced, students will practice skills including tying on a hook, properly identifying and measuring fish, and casting a fishing rod. Finally, students will try out catch-and-release fishing on SYCC’s brackish water pond.

DURATION: 4 hours
CAPACITY: 20-26 students

Via kayak, students will paddle 0.8 miles down a tidal creek surrounded by mangrove habitat. Prior to venturing out, SYCC’s kayaking instructors will review safety, equipment, and paddle strokes to ensure participants are comfortable and prepared for adventure! Once at the destination, students will explore the mudflat to locate various plants and animals while learning about the challenges each species faces and adaptations that help them survive. Students will then be asked to apply their knowledge and draw comparisons between household objects and important functions of estuary ecosystems. This program includes kayaking on Newman Branch Creek

DURATION: 4 hours
CAPACITY: 20-50 students

Through hands-on activities, students will learn about key processes that determine the health, stability, and distribution of various wildlife populations that call Tampa Bay “home.” During our “Oh Fish!” game, students get a glimpse of how resource abundance or absence impacts natural populations. Students will also create and test a hypothesis and learn about sampling bias while assessing gender ratios of our native fiddler crab colony. Finally, students will catch and observe various fish species through catch-and-release fishing on SYCC’s brackish water pond.

DURATION: 4 hours
CAPACITY: 20-26 students

Via kayak, students will paddle 0.8 miles down a tidal creek surrounded by mangrove habitat. Prior to venturing out, SYCC’s kayaking instructors will review safety, equipment, and paddle strokes to ensure participants are comfortable and prepared for adventure! Once at the destination, students will explore a truly unique habitat--a saltern! Using quadrats, students will learn about sampling methods while estimating the population of a fiddler crab colony. This program includes kayaking on Newman Branch Creek.

DURATION: 4 hours
CAPACITY: 20-50 students

Students will learn about the two main fish sampling strategies used by fishery scientists in the Tampa Bay Estuary: dependent and independent monitoring. Using a seine net, students will sample the fish community in a section of our tidal creek, mimicking the fisheries-independent monitoring methods of local biologists. Next, students will learn the importance of protecting game fish by discussing ethical angling techniques and practicing catch and release fishing. Data on landed fish is collected, mirroring fisheries-dependent monitoring methods.

OPTIONAL: For a more advanced program, you may choose to add a mark/recapture component to these activities. Contact us for more details.

Students explore the connections between predator and prey in a marsh ecosystem as they role-play different organisms. Afterwards, students will design a food web while discussing producers vs. consumers and the balance between the two within an ecosystem.

Students will investigate some of the fish that comprise the Tampa Bay estuary food web and discover how they interact with each other. Using fish characteristics and behaviors, students will determine which species are predators and which are prey.

Our fish sampling methods activity will be modified to take place under shelter. While no real fish will be caught, this activity will allow students to practice identifying, counting, measuring, and recording population data as they would in a real seining activity.

Students will be challenged to correctly match fish larvae viewed under a microscope to their corresponding adult specimens.