Homeschooling group visits Playita Rosada

On Friday, October 12th, 2018, a group of homeschoolers and their parents visited Playita Rosada, located in La Parguera, Lajas, Puerto Rico. They wished to learn about marine and coastal ecosystems. This group was composed on students of various ages and education levels. They cycled through different experiences that let them gather firsthand knowledge about different marine and coastal resources in Puerto Rico and their importance. In the mangrove station, they observed the main characteristics of the four kinds of mangrove trees that grow in our archipelago and how they protect our coasts and provide habitat and sustenance to many marine species during their juvenile life stages. They also examined and touched different invertebrate organisms that inhabit our ecosystems. This station was very attractive to them, since they had seen very few of these species and did not know their function within the ecosystems. Another activity they performed was a sand sampling, including sand from Playita Rosada itself, and studying the sand samples to determine its composition. They enjoyed this station very much because they got the chance to examine grains of sand with microscopes, something they’d never done before. Further on, they measured several weather parameters such as atmospheric pressure, relative humidity, wind speed, temperature and many more to see how they affect marine and coastal ecosystems. While visiting this station, the students made their own weather forecasts. It was a very enriching experience for them. Keep up the great work!

Por Delmis del C. Alicea Segarra, EdD
Fotos por Doris J. Rivera Santiago y Angela Ferrá Elías