Vancouver Aquarium Field Trip

By Gabrielle Alvarez and Ryan Carpio. Photos by Ryan Carpio.

​On November 17th, Mr. A. Wong’s Biology 11 class took an adventure-filled trip to the Vancouver Aquarium. The students had the opportunity to visit many animal enclosures and fill out a worksheet to document what they learned.

Do you know the difference between seals and sea lions? What about the characteristics between a male and female beluga? The various shows such as the dolphin show, the sea otter show and the shark show taught students about certain animal’s history, eating habits and daily routines. Unfortunately, students also learned of the recent death of the beluga whale Qila, which was described by one student as a “heartbreaking thing to hear.”
 
In one exhibit, the Amazon Gallery, students discovered the different types of fish, snakes, cockroaches, sloths, and birds that all lived in the Tropics. They learned facts about corals and discovered the largest fish in the gallery, the Tambaqui. Additionally, students visited the exhibit entitled Treasures of BC Coast, where they determined the areas certain sea anemones live and what they looked like.
 
Afterwards, in the RBC wet lab, they got the chance to learn about and identify marine invertebrate phyla like the phylum Mollusca and the phylum Echinodermata. The many volunteers and staff taught them how scientists classify organisms. 
 
The students were invited to watch the 4D Great Escapes movie towards the end of the trip. One of the participating students, Rita Ikokwu, stated “The best part of the trip was the movie… It was awesome and it felt so real!” 
 
Overall, it was a great learning experience for the biology students in this enjoyable and educational field trip. ​