When two Pioneer Middle School students picked their way across the tidelands of Little Skookum Inlet earlier this year, they were conducting an experiment—to see if they could protect oysters from heat exposure during low tides in the summer. The students were retrieving oyster bags they’d designed, which also had temperature-measuring devices that would tell them if the bags worked.
The experiment—undertaken at Little Skookum Shellfish Growers in Mason County—is one of several students performed thanks to a partnership with the shellfish farm, their teacher Timothy Smith and the Squaxin Island Tribe.
Smith, a former researcher, said it’s crucial to allow students to do science rather than just read about it.
“Imagine a basketball coach drilling, giving tests, but never letting his or her team play basketball,” Smith said. “That’s what almost all students experience through high school and even much of college. No one puts you in a position to do science, to create new data.”
Smith’s philosophy was supported when he met Rana Brown, a shellfish biologist for the tribe. They teamed up to give students real-world projects that would get them out of the classroom and into the field.
She had proposed to students several research topics, including how shellfish could be protected from heat domes such as the one that killed billions of shellfish in Washington and British Columbia in 2021.
When students Milo Matsuda and Isabella York explored using insulated bags to protect oysters, Brown connected them with Brett Bishop, co-owner of Little Skookum Shellfish Growers. He provided space and shellfish, and soon the experiment was underway.
“The students built the bags, they deployed them, they used the temperature devices,” Smith said. “That’s an amazing opportunity. If they set the goals, if they see the results, it changes lives.”
Milo Matsuda retrieves an experimental bag used to study potential protection of oysters from hot temperatures during low tides. Photo and story: Trevor Pyle
