Lessons in the Mudflats
You Can Use Holding the tiniest of clams in their hands, News 7th grade students in Morgan Cuthbert’s science class take their learning to the Royal River Town Landing in Yarmouth. They’re raising baby clams to help boost a declining clam population in a town known for its annual clam festival. Here, the green crab is an invasive species and has threatened the very shellfish this town’s economy depends on. During the Yarmouth Clam Festival, school groups, sports teams and others sell clams, cooked in every way possible, to raise money for their causes. Without clams, community groups suffer which makes the Harrison Middle School students’ study of the clam flats that much more important. The lessons in the mudflats have given students the chance to both study what’s happening to the clams and then figure out how to fix the problem.
December 2016 • www.maineea.org
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