Bitten by the Science Bug

The 5th graders watch intently as two of their fellow students pull in the trawling net. This is the moment they had been waiting for, the part of today’s trip they had begun asking about two hours earlier. The students crowd around the metal basin holding their catch, touching the slippery fish, yelling when one of the fish jumps, and taking photos with their phones.

It’s pretty difficult for an indoor class to match this level of excitement.

“This is one of those Stone Lab experiences that I can’t replicate in the classroom,” says their teacher, Robin Sneed.

They don’t realize it now, but some of the 12 students in Sneed’s class may look back on today’s Science Field Trip as the jumping off point for their science career. Stone Lab is the perfect place for studying all things related to aquatic biology or for the first time sparking an interest in science. Located on 6.5-acre Gibraltar Island in Put-in-Bay Harbor, the lab hosts spring and fall workshops for 5,000 to 7,000 students from schools around the region each year.