Embedded Files
A cylinder of ice chills the water, Hot water fills the cylinder at the other end of the tank. Food coloring helps show the motion of the water.
Modeling Convection Currents
Modeling Convection Currents
September 2025
8th graders investigating how temperature differences can drive global convection currents, helping transfer energy through the Earth system.
Massachusetts STE Standards:
8.MS-ESS2-6. Describe how interactions involving the ocean affect weather and climate on a regional scale, including the influence of the ocean temperature as mediated by energy input from the Sun and energy loss due to evaporation or redistribution via ocean currents
Getting a closer look at the thermometer.
Heating earth's surface
Heating earth's surface
October 2025
How do the heating and cooling rates of sand and water compare? 8th graders use quantitative data to compare the heating and cooling rates of sand and water.
Temperature differences, created by differences in heat capacities, create pressure differences in the air above land and water. The lab helps build an understanding of one of the causes of the global circulation of air masses. Students also witness first hand the tremendous heat capacity of water, and gain a better understanding of the ocean's ability to store and distribute energy. On a local level, the unequal heating of Earth's surfaces can explain the land and sea breezes we experience.
Massachusetts STE Standards:
8.MS-ESS2-5. Interpret basic weather data to identify patterns in air mass interactions and the relationship of those patterns to local weather.
8.MS-ESS2-6. Describe how interactions involving the ocean affect weather and climate on a regional scale, including the influence of the ocean temperature as mediated by energy input from the Sun and energy loss due to evaporation or redistribution via ocean currents.
Reading the water and sand temperatures every minute.
stream tables
stream tables
November, 2025
Science Central has a fleet of 8, 7' x 2' continuous flow stream tables.
Watching a river take its course and experimenting with earthen controls provides insight into larger questions about engineering outcomes.
And it's way fun.
Massachusetts STE Standards:
7.MS-ESS2-2. Construct an explanation based on evidence for how Earth’s surface has changed over scales that range from local to global in size.
7.MS-ESS3-2. Obtain and communicate information on how data from past geologic events are analyzed for patterns and used to forecast the location and likelihood of future catastrophic events.
7.MS-ESS3-4. Construct an argument supported by evidence that human activities and technologies can mitigate the impact of increases in human population and per capita consumption of natural resources on the environment.
AQUAPONICS
It is our 7th year in the BioLab, and our 7th year of Aquaponics, the project that turned a room of abandoned computer carts into a hub of science student energy.
Aquaponics is the combination of aquaculture and hydroponics. In aquaculture, fish and other aquatic organisms are raised in controlled environments. Hydroponics is the growing of plants in a nutrient solution rather than soil. When the two processes are combined in aquaponics, the dissolved waste produced by the fish provides the nutrient solution for the plants. The plants, in turn, provide a filter for the water in the system by absorbing the waste.
8th grade students are working in groups of 3 to build, populate and maintain functioning aquaponic systems.
Aquaponics offers a sustainable farming solution to the challenges of traditional agriculture which include impacts on land, water and resources.
Massachusetts STE Standards:
8.MS-LS1-5. Construct an argument based on evidence for how environmental and genetic factors influence the growth of organisms.
8.MS-PS1-1. Develop a model to describe that (a) atoms combine in a multitude of ways to produce pure substances which make up all of the living and nonliving things that we encounter, (b) atoms form molecules and compounds that range in size from two to thousands of atoms, and (c) mixtures are composed of different proportions of pure substances.
Aquaponics-Planting
Aquaponics-Planting
December, 2025
8th graders spent the week before vacation starting seeds for their aquaponics systems. Students prepared the net pots using expanded clay pellets, then selected seeds to plant. Once their systems are built, the potted seedlings can move directly into their grow beds and be replaced as needed.
TEACHING WITH TROUT
December 15, 2025
Kevin Magowan, Assistant Fish Culturist at The Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife Roger Reed Fish Hatchery, delivered 185 brook trout eggs to the Science Center as Part of Mass Wildlife's Teaching with Trout program. The program is designed to teach Massachusetts students about concepts related to local aquatic resources. Topics of study include ecology, population biology, water quality, and conservation.
The eggs were delivered in the eyed stage, meaning the eye pigment is visible through the shell of the egg. The hatchery water temperature is set at 44 degrees Fahrenheit to control the hatching of the eggs.
Kevin spent time talking with and answering questions from 6th grade Light House students.
Kevin depositing the eggs on the platform. Once the eggs hatch, the fry will fall through the mesh onto the gravel surface.
Eggs are Hatching
Eggs are Hatching
January 2026
The eggs started hatching! The tiny trout, called alevin or sac fry, are nestled in the gravel at the bottom of the hatchery tank. The golden yellow blob attached to the gills is a yolk sac. The yolk sac is absorbed by the alevin, supplying all the nutrients needed for the next two weeks of development. once the yolk sac is absorbed, the trout will start to swim.
TWO headed trout
TWO headed trout
January 2026
A rare two headed trout was spotted in the hatchery. We will watch its progress.
System up and running!
Aquaponics-System building
Aquaponics-System building
February, 2025
After assembling the frames and setting up the plumbing, students prepare their grow beds for planting, using the recycled lumber tarps from their sail cars. The light blocking tarp is intended to keep the growth of algae at bay. An algal bloom will quickly deplete the nutrients and oxygen in the aquaponics systems.
AQUAPONICS-WATER CHEMISTRY
January, 2025
Before adding fish to the systems, a check on pH and alkalinity is in order. The pH is a measure of how acidic or basic the water is. The goldfish will adjust to many pH levels, but do best in a pH level between 6.5-8. Alkalinity measures the ability of the water to buffer or neutralize changes in pH. Although goldfish can adapt to many different pH levels, they are less able to tolerate changing pH levels. Keeping the alkalinity of the water in the 60-100ppm range will help keep the pH of the system stable.
Aquaponics-adding fish
Aquaponics-adding fish
March, 2025
Fish produce nitrogen in the form of ammonia, which will be taken up by the plants in the system once it is converted into nitrate by bacteria.As the weeks go on, students will monitor the levels of ammonia, nitrite and nitrate in their systems to ensure the health of their fish. Any spikes in ammonia or nitrite will require troubleshooting by the team.
The starting mass and length of each fish is measured and recorded.
Aquaponics-System Check
Aquaponics-System Check
January 2026
What are the signs of a healthy system? Students brainstorm all the indicators of a healthy Aquaponics system and then work together to maintain healthy system conditions.
Moving lights.
Measuring out buffer.
Adjusting water levels before adding a bell siphon.
A bell siphon, when working, increases oxygen to the plant roots and the water,
Easy to make, sometimes tricky to troubleshoot.
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