Sehome Mariners Take on Ocean Science

Photo Gallery of Sehome Ocean Science

The walls outside the ocean science classroom at Sehome High School are covered with student posters of recent explorations and studies. In the first semester, posters about marine biologists and their field of work drew in passersby; in the second semester, posters about the variety of orcas took over the walls. From an outsider perspective, it was clear that the classroom engaged students in a variety of ways.

Garrett Knoll is the current Ocean Science teacher at Sehome and brings extensive marine experience to his classroom. As a University of Washington graduate in Aquatic and Fishery Sciences with a minor in Marine Biology, he also has hands on field experience, including a junior year stint at the Friday Harbor Marine Lab.

Knoll did his student teaching in 2018 in the old Sehome building with now retired science teacher Jane Yaude. After his student teaching, he began his teaching career migrating between Sehome and Squalicum, subbing and filling in as leave replacement as needed. He taught courses in algebra, economics, biology and applied technology, Now in his sixth year in the district, he teaches several sections of ocean science and chemistry at Sehome.

Ocean Science curriculum integrates big picture research and knowledge in oceanography alongside studies of our local bioregion. According to Knoll, his main goal in teaching this class “is to encourage students to care about their natural world and get a better holistic understanding of the diversity of life that is in our oceans.”

“I want them to care about where they live and connect with the habitats and amazing creatures that call the Salish Sea home,” he continued.

A question and answer with Knoll is found below.

Tell us about your background with marine biology.

I have a Bachelor of Science degree in Aquatic and Fishery Sciences with a minor in Marine Biology from the University of Washington. I took a lot of amazing ocean science related classes during my time at UW and focused a lot of my research on killer whales and the Greenland shark. I spent a quarter at the Friday Harbor Marine Labs as a junior at UW and participated in many field studies on the local ecology. I have extensive training in identifying intertidal organisms.

What are the major pieces of instruction and assignments that engage students in your classroom?

My main goal for teaching this class is to encourage students to care about their natural world and get a better holistic understanding of the diversity of life that is in our oceans. I want them to care about where they live and connect with the habitats and amazing creatures that call the Salish Sea home. A lot of my instruction and assignments are based around giving my students a better understanding of their local ecosystem and the diversity of scientists that are working to protect and educate others.

Major projects have included: learning how to navigate using nautical charts, scientist research posters, ocean zones posters, killer whale ecotype research project, adult salmon dissection, raising chum salmon eggs and releasing the fry, and learning how to identify all of the local intertidal phylum. Field trips are incorporated to Deception Pass, the Whatcom Creek Fish Hatchery and Marine Park.

In semester 1, there are units on ocean scientists, the map of the Salish Sea, geography, currents, tides and ocean zones. In semester 2, we study orca ecotypes, intertidal phylum and seabirds.

In your class, you have your students research about marine biologists. Why is that such an important assignment in the sciences in high school?

It is so often the case that students think of science as stagnant and that everything is already figured out by old white dudes doing science a hundred years ago. I wanted to make it very clear that science (and marine science, in particular) is ever changing and there are so many amazing young scientists out there from all over the world discovering incredible things every day.

The research and poster project was a great way for students to broaden their understanding of what it means to be a marine scientist and to be able to see themselves in different careers. This project also helps them understand just how many different topics are studied as a part of marine science and that there is a topic that everyone can be interested in.

How did scientists impact your career decisions and pathway?

I worked with a lot of amazing people at the University of Washington as an undergraduate but two of the people that had the most impact on me were Kristin Laidre and Theodore Pietsch.

Laidre, one of the leading Narwhal experts in the world, taught an Arctic Ecology class that got me hooked on the Arctic Marine Ecosystem and led me to volunteer at the Pacific Science Center (PSC) in Seattle. She also helped me design my senior project that was an exhibit on the Greenland Shark for the PSC’s Polar Science Weekend. This project got me very interested in science outreach as a possible career option which eventually led me to becoming a teacher. She was instrumental in helping me focus my passion in marine science on science outreach and education. She wrote me a letter of recommendation that helped me get into the Master’s in Teaching program at Western Washington University.

Ted Pietsch is a renowned Ichthyologist and is the Curator Emeritus of Fishes at the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture at UW. I took his scientific writing course and he helped me hone my writing skills and pushed me towards studying fish. He encouraged me to go to the Friday Harbor Labs to study for a quarter. His writing class helped me win a Library Research Award at UW for a paper that I wrote on the Greenland Shark because of his tutelage. He also wrote me a letter of recommendation that helped me get into graduate school.

Surrounded by spring blossoms on osoberry and salmonberry bushes, and branches of western red cedar hanging over a bubbling creek, your students released salmon fry into nearby Connelly Creek recently. Tell us about the salmon releases this spring in your three Ocean Science classes.

This year’s salmon release was amazing! Almost every student was engaged with the process of releasing the salmon fry and participated in scooping the fry out of the bucket and pouring them down the salmon slide. They were very excited to be involved and were all full of smiles from the minute we started walking down the trail to the moment we got back to the classroom at the end of the day. They continued to talk about how much fun they had with the salmon release the next few class periods and were interested in how the fry were doing and where they were headed down the creek.