BATH

Two Bath Middle Schoolers are among just six students in Maine to have their work published in a brand new science journal.

Research undertaken by Riley Dunn and Adriana Gonzalez was published in the first volume of “Findings from the Field: A Middle School Journal of Scientific Research,” which was published this month. A total of 67 submissions from around the state were pared down to six for publication.

“I actually didn’t know I was in it until yesterday,” said Dunn. “I thought that was pretty cool, and then I found out it was just two of us from Bath Middle School and only six from around the state.”

“It was definitely surprising,” said Gonzalez.

Their science teacher Monica Wright was excited they were chosen.

“I think they’re well deserved and their articles are excellent,” she said, “but I’m also really pleased that there were so many submissions.”

Wright has been working with her students to submit articles to the journal over the last year. One hot topic — the green crab outbreak in the Midcoast — she has used to help educate her students about ecology. Seventh graders have gone out to Phippsburg and Georgetown to check green crab traps, record data about the invasive species and learn what their presence means on the coast of Maine.

Gonzalez used her time to track the green crab population at a couple locations, showing that the number of crabs varied along the coast.

“We went to three different locations, and I was kind of fascinated how (at one location) the population was really, really small,” said Gonzalez, “whereas another place, like Reid (State Park), the population was really, really big.”

Dunn wanted to see how climate change might be affecting the population.

“I’ve been into environmental issues a little bit, so I wanted to know how climate change could have effects,” said Dunn. “It appears to have a correlation, since green crabs live better in warmer conditions, so as the water gets warmer, the crab population can rise.”

Back in the classroom, the students process that data, using it to develop insights on the green crab population in the Midcoast and format that into scientific articles.

“I think a lot of work went into this. First we went and we scaled the population in three different locations,” said Gonzalez. “Then we came back and were like, wow, we have to do science in terms and incorporate all of this into one big piece, and when it was done it was a really cool thing to see.”

Dunn added that the longterm scope of the project was what stood out to him. Whereas science projects in the past had taken a day or two at most, the green crab projects took place over several weeks with multiple steps, from going out in the field and collecting data, translating that data into conclusions and finally formatting it into a journal submission.

“(Prior science projects) would occupy, like, a day and then maybe a couple more days to find out how that works,” said Dunn, “but this was like a whole trimester long thing exploring how the ecosystem works.

“And then it all lead up to the article,” he added, “which was quite a lot of work because once I start writing I can’t stop.

The journal is being produced by the Gulf of Maine Research Institute. It’s a first of its kind in Maine, with students going out into the field to collect data, interpreting it and writing articles and then submitting them for peer review by other middle school students. Nine schools engaged in the peer review process this year, with the hope of more joining next year.

The first volume of the journal contains submissions as diverse as the population of green crabs, the effect of squirrel repellent and the water quality of Goosefare Brook in southern Maine. Each submission is formatted like a professional science article that would be submitted for publication at a major science journal. There’s an abstract, a discussion of methods, an explanation of the results and a conclusion.

For Dunn, it’s essential that middle school students engage in this type of learning.

“I think it’s really important that people start doing this in middle school because we’re finding that there’s a whole lot of environmental issues going on in the world — climate change, invasive species, pollution,” he said, “and if we can start educating in middle school about this, then as (we grow up) we’ll become more environmentally prepared.”

“I feel like working on a project that helps us to grown not only as science students,” added Gonzalez, “but also as writers helps us really find the point of what we’re doing.”

Wright agreed.

“So often we underestimate people’s potential, and what we need to be able to do is give opportunities where people can grow and develop to meet wherever they’re at, and these two love to do their best,” she said. “And so given a project that is authentic, where there’s no clear answers, it’s complicated, is the kind of thinking we want all of our students to be doing, and so there’s no need that we can’t do those kinds of activities in any kind of school setting.”

While the editors opted to select only the six highest quality articles for publication, all of the submitted pieces and reviews can be seen online at vitalsignsme.org/project-bank.

nstrout@timesrecord.com

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