The Skittle Core Lab

The Skittle Core Lab brings quantitative ecology into the classroom environment. Students are introduced to Dr. Sam Bowser's Antarctic research program, and to the organisms (called "foraminiferans") that he studies. Then, students re-create his coring experiments using Skittles to represent the forams.

Real-World Sampling
Diver under ice

All about the field work. Information about Foraminifera, and a photo gallery of the Bowser Lab collecting foraminiferans under the ice at Explorers Cove, McMurdo Sound, Antarctica.

Teaching the Lab
Students coring a cake

Lab sheets and lesson plans for several grade levels, plus extended extercises, sources for materials, sample data, and a photo gallery of students doing the lab.