In the wake of Deepwater Horizon, scientists have been working diligently to understand the impacts of the oil spill on the Gulf of Mexico along with the wildlife and people that depend on it.
The Relationships of Effects of Cardiac Outcomes in fish for Validation of Ecological Risk (RECOVER) consortium’s focus has been on the impacts of fish, specifically the economically and ecologically important mahi-mahi and red drum. Most of their research and experiments take place behind closed doors in laboratories with extremely controlled settings. As a result, it is not always feasible for the general public to see what happens day-to-day. RECOVER is extremely excited to bring you our solution – the RECOVER Virtual Lab. A novel approach to bring marine science into any classroom, foster STEM learning, and improve student performance in science classes.
The app allows students to analyze real data collected by consortium scientists and observe how oil-exposed mahi and redfish swim compared to unexposed control fish. Lesson plans for teachers and quizzes testing student’s performance are built-in to the app’s interface, and more experiments are in development.
The app currently contains two lessons:
- Vision Test: Students analyze data collected by researcher Jason Magnunson to see how crude oil impacts the vision of mahi-mahi, red drum, and sheepshead minnow.
- Swim Tunnel: Students use a “fish treadmill” to observe how oil impacts the swimming speeds and ability of mahi mahi.
Download the iPad app from the Apple App Store or visit http://recovervirtuallab.com/ to get started!