A field trip for 28 local 5th graders from Hoover Elementary School was held at the Sinnhuber Aquatic Research Laboratory (SARL) on May 12, 2014.  SARL, directed by Dr. Robert Tanguay, is a large state- of- the -art zebrafish facility used greatly for OSU SRP Project 3 – Systems Approach to Define Toxicity of Complex PAH Mixtures.

The SARL personnel, along with SRP Trainees and other grad students and postdocs, wanted the students to get hands-on experience and enjoy science.  Specifically the students learned all the unique features of zebrafish and how they are used in scientific research.

In 2012, curriculum was developed for visiting classes.  Students break up into five groups and rotate through various stations.

1) Tour of the Land of Zebrafish / Zebrafish Life Stage: Learn about how small the fish are and how rapid they develop.

2) Glow in the Dark Zebrafish: Learn about the different tools used in research.

3) The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly: Sort out dead and alive embryo, and determine the age of zebrafish.

4) Toxicity Screening: Learn how to get embryos into wells, view plates under the microscope, and identify normal and not normal fish.

5) Fish Are Like Us: Identify similarities between fish and humans.