Wade in the Water

Working with visiting Falmouth Academy alumna Katie Armstrong ’15, a recent graduate of Mount Holyoke, students tested for variations in dissolved oxygen and salinity by taking samples at various places in the marsh. Some hypothesized that the oxygen content was likely to be higher in shallow water, while others reasoned that deeper water would promote higher oxygen content. Katie shared techniques for studying marshes, which prompted keener observations.

The results showed that deeper, faster moving water had higher dissolved oxygen levels than slower moving shallow water. As the students waded back to shore, Mrs. Klein queried, “What might this difference reveal about the aquatic organisms living in the marsh?”