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Using Photography To Learn About Crawfish

William Gene Fuchs
Nimitz Middle School, San Antonio, Texas

Subject: Science
Grade: 6

"Many students were surprised that crawfish and other species of wildlife have managed to survive the busy lifestyles and close living quarters of a big city."

Purpose and Description of Project

William Fuchs and more than 100 sixth-graders in four classes set out to learn everything there is to know about crawfish, from how to identify natural habitats and collect live specimens to following reproduction, egg laying, hatching, and growth of a new generation of crawfish. They and the school photographer took some 300 photos of their collecting activities and the complete life cycle of the creature as followed in classroom aquariums.

During the project, the students used the photographs to put together albums of photos and captions to share with their own school and the other middle schools in the district, wrote research reports on both photography and crawfish, and kept notebooks on the developments they observed among their specimens.

Activities

The students began by searching their neighborhoods for crawfish habitats, taking pictures of their activities, and bringing specimens back to class to be displayed in several aquariums. They marked each successful location on a large city map.

Students also worked during this period on research papers about both photography and crawfish. They drew information from the school and city libraries as well as their own discoveries. They also watched movies and a filmstrip showing a complete dissection of a crawfish, studied external and internal parts with an overhead projector, made drawings in their notebooks, and were surrounded by posters and diagrams in the classroom.

From their specimens in the tanks, the students learned how to determine a crawfish's sex, watched the process of molting (in which the creatures lose their exoskeletons), and watched a few of the crawfish who had lost claws regenerate these limbs. They were most eager, however, to have a female lay eggs so that they could watch the entire life cycle. Fortunately, notes Fuchs, "the crawfish cooperated." The students set up a special home for the expectant mother, watched the growth of the embryos inside the eggs, and saw about 200 young begin to hatch in about three weeks. As the babies grew, the youngsters observed the body parts and movements with microscopes and took photos from the egg stage to the juvenile age of about 85 days. To show the changing size of the babies, the students photographed them with such objects as a ruler, coins, and plastic spoons.

Finally, selected photos and captions were used to make up photo albums detailing the findings students made during the project.

Materials, Resources, and Expenses

Human resources included the school photographer, the librarian, parents who went with students on crawfish expeditions, and a representative of a local photo store who not only arranged for students to visit the store's photofinishing facility but provided a cash supplement for the project.

The students used a variety of personal cameras and film, while the school photographer used a 35 mm camera with 100-300 mm zoom lens for the classroom shots. Also necessary were seven aquariums, ranging from seven to 15 gallons; a variety of other containers for observing specimens separately; and microscopes.

Outcomes and Adaptability

Fuchs says that the students were successful in almost everything they tried, including observing and photographing the entire life cycle of the crawfish. '"We are extremely happy and proud of the results" of the project, including tests, research papers, notes, reports, and photographs. The students learned to respect the small creatures and treat them kindly.

Other classes considering this type of project could vary it by substituting earthworms, fish, insects, or other creatures.

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