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Lesson of the Day: ‘Studying Sea Snakes? Time to Call the “Fantastic Grandmothers”’

In this lesson, students will learn about the women who contributed to scientific research through their own data collection and then be given an opportunity to become citizen scientists.

Credit...Aline Guémas

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Featured Article: “Studying Sea Snakes? Time to Call the ‘Fantastic Grandmothers’

A group of grandmothers joined forces with researchers in New Caledonia, a French territory off the Australian coast, to collect data on greater sea snakes. Since 2017, the women have documented 250 greater sea snakes, and their data contributions have been published in the science journal Ecosphere. In this lesson, you will learn about the grandmothers’ research process and their collaboration with scientists. Then you will get to plan out and even embark upon your own citizen science project.

What do you know about the wildlife and species in your region? What about the wildlife around your school? Make a list in your notebook or collaborate with your classmates and make a list on the board of all the local species you can think of. A good way to brainstorm is to think about the animals that make up a food web: Who are the producers, consumers, detritivores and decomposers?

Before you read the article about the “fantastic grandmothers,” watch this one-minute video from The Guardian to see the grandmothers in action and also see some of the greater sea snakes they documented.

Read the article, then answer the following questions:

1. What is the connection between Claire Goiran, a marine biologist, and the “fantastic grandmothers”?

2. What was the research process of Rick Shine, an evolutionary biologist, and Dr. Goiran like early on, and how did it evolve over time?

3. How did the team of snorkeling grandmothers come together? What kind of data were they able to gather?

4. What were the researchers able to discover about the role of greater sea snakes in the reef from the data collected by the grandmothers?

5. The article says that the relationship between the researchers and the grandmothers is “mutually beneficial.” What evidence in the article supports that statement?

6. Dr. Goiran said that the snakes had a “benevolent disposition.” What did she mean by that and what evidence led her to that conclusion?

7. For Dr. Goiran and other researchers, what is the benefit of having more “citizen scientists”?

Begin with Part 1 of the going further activity. If you have more time, continue to Part 2.

I. Planning

Did you find anything particularly interesting, surprising or inspiring about the work that the grandmothers embarked upon? Would you ever want to become a citizen scientist? Why?

Think of something in your community that could be researched or observed by a citizen scientist. You could choose something similar to the article that is related to nature, the environment or species in your region. Or you could do historical science research on weather patterns or conduct astronomy data collection. For more ideas, you can look at this page on citizen science from National Geographic.

Once you have selected the focus of your research, make a plan.

  • What are the guiding questions of your research? Why is this topic important to study?

  • Has anyone else done this research in your region or elsewhere?

  • What is your hypothesis? What do you think you might discover?

  • How will you catalog and eventually share your data? Who do you think would find this data useful?

II. Action

If you have the time, put your plan into action and gather data. You can share your findings in the comments or, depending on what you are researching, you can share them more widely online.

Here are some websites and apps that facilitate citizen science research and sharing.

  • Zooniverse connects professional researchers and everyday citizens with the goal of advancing large-scale research projects in many fields. You can contribute your findings to a relevant existing project or join a new one.

  • iNaturalist is a good resource if your research is focused on wildlife. You can record, share and discuss your findings with other citizen scientists and have your findings shared with scientific data repositories.

  • If you are more interested in trees and live in the Northeast or Canada, you can use the app Leafsnap. Not only can you share your findings, but you can also use the app’s visual recognition software to identity trees based on their leaves.