Teaching aquarium innovator and 5th grade teacher at West Harpswell Elementary School located in Maine, Mrs. Giberson and some her students share their science classroom tank experience through a interesting video. Topics include: maintenance, feeding, and handling the creatures of the cold-water touch tank. Enjoy! Grants Available
This video of a science classroom tank is one of the best that Touch-Tank as ever seen. Many schools, museums, educational centers and even businesses make the decision to install a science classroom tank aquarium as a means to reach students and educate customers.
They reduce stress allowing for superior learning, minimize nervousness relaxing students helping them learn and lessens anxiety assisting small children who aren’t used to being away their parents adjust to the new environment.
They show students how fish live, demonstrate the value of natural aquatic habitats, teach children responsibilities as they care for the live inhabitants, and encourage respect as caretakers learn to nurture and care for those more vulnerable than themselves.
Aquariums teach people about the importance of marine and aquatic resources and they are great fun! If you want to explore the possibilities of supplying a superior teaching experience to your students, apply for a Touch Tanks for Kids Grant and discover how to bring a science classroom tank to a location near you.
Having an educational aquarium in the classroom has a number of benefits, 
including learning, health and environmental benefits. This is why so many educators use touch tanks to reach students, parents and yes, even administrators. Touch-Tank hopes that you enjoyed this video of a science classroom tank has much as we did!
This site is created and maintained by Shannon Mae Development, Inc.
Filed under Information about aquarium fish tanks by on . 1 Comment. 
Stop by the Marine Environment Research Institute (MERI) of Blue Hill, Maine and witness live marine life in a ocean aquarium , or join MERI’s marine experts on an Eco-tour of Blue Hill Bay and learn about MERI’s Coastal Monitoring. 
MERI Center for Marine Studies’ ocean room presents an opportunity for experiential learning. With an interactive touch tank and other aquariums featuring a friendly lumpfish named Norman, as well as lobsters, crabs, sea anemones, sea stars, mussels, fish and other species native to the Gulf of Maine, MERI promotes shared knowledge and appreciation of marine life.
“For teachers and schools, the Ocean Aquarium builds excitement about marine science education in the classroom. Above all, the Ocean Aquarium was designed to appeal to our children. The more they understand and feel connected with ocean life, the more deeply they will care about what happens to our oceans and the quality of life along our coast.”
MERI’s vision has been created to have a dynamic marine science center that will increase our understanding of the Gulf of Maine and lasting positive impact on our community and the oceans. Touch-Tank thinks they succeed, visit the ocean aquarium at the MERI center today, you’ll be happy that you did.
MERI Center for Marine Studies
55 Main Street, Blue Hill, ME 04614
info@meriresearch.org
This site is created and maintained by Shannon Mae Development, Inc.
Filed under Marine Aquariums Success Stories by on . Comment.
A horseshoe crab makes a nice resident for your marine aquariums. Touch-Tank caught up with Coastal Carol an expert in intertidal exploration to learn more about the horseshoe crabs that have survived for over 250 million years. The video depicts some of what we learned about the horseshoe crab.
Contact Touch Tanks for Kids to bring an interactive aquarium experience to your students. They will learn more when observing a horseshoe crab molt and mature. Grants available!
Caution:
Handle with care; you can pinch your fingers between the two parts of the shell.
Mating
Each spring during the high tides of the new and full moons, horseshoe crabs come to the sandy shorelines to spawn. They lay there green eggs in sand and depend on waves to wash the sand over the nest.
Males are generally smaller than their mates. They cluster along the water’s edge and wait patiently for the females to arrive. The male attaches to the female’s shell with glove-like claws and awaits high tide. He fertilizes the eggs when he is pulled over the nest where the female deposit as many as 20,000 green eggs in sand. After the spring ritual is over, they return to the deeper waters of the ocean.
Horseshoe Crab Facts
They are not really crabs 
They are related to scorpions, ticks and spiders
They have their own classification (Class Merostomata)
Their blood is blue
They are not dangerous
They are found along the western shores of the Atlantic Ocean from Maine to the Yucatan with another three species living in the coastal waters from Japan to Indonesia
They can go a year without eating
Their hard, curved shells protect them from predators.
They endure extreme temperatures and salinity changes
Their tails push them through the sand and muck, act as a rudder, and help them turnover
Their central mouth is surrounded by its legs 
Their eggs take about 2 weeks to hatch
They have 2 compound eyes on the top of their shells with a range of about 3 feet
They can swim upside down and use a dozen legs and a flap hiding nearly 200 flattened gills to propel themselves
They usual feed at night but will eat anytime
They burrow for worms and mollusks
They grow by twenty-five percent while molting
The larvae molt six times during the first year
After sixteen molts, they completely mature into adults, maturity takes
between 9 and 12 years
Before the arrival of artificial fertilizers, they were dried for used as fertilizer and poultry food supplements.
Some fish eat the juveniles and the recently molted
Their eggs are important food for migratory shore birds that pass over the Delaware Bay during the spring mating season
Extract from their blood is used to test the purity of medicines.
Parts of their shells speed blood clotting and are used for absorbent sutures. Read more on Horseshoe Crabs Love Marine Aquariums…
Filed under Touch Tank Assignments by on . 6 Comments.
Marine Ecological Habitats designs and builds the best self-contained marine
Inspires Excellence
aquariums available. They use the highest-quality American-made cast acrylic and the quality is unmatched. All their systems include superior parts that will not rust, corrode or delaminate, and filtration systems use the finest biological, chemical and particle removal process that provides a healthier environment for both marine life and people who use Marine Eco’s equipment.
Touch Tanks are long-term scientific research/teaching tools. Like all of Marine Eco’s marine habitats’ products, Touch Tanks feature the finest quality components, including three quarter inch American Acrylic and are designed to last many years.Their marine aquariums are child-friendly, easy to maintain and mobile. The tank’s design allows educators to recreate life in the sea to a remarkable degree of accuracy.
Touch-Tank highly recommends Marine Ecological Habitats products because 
of their superior quality that prevents environmental issues. The Biddeford, Maine Company offers several touch tank designs and Touch-Tank would like to introduce our readers to three unique Marine Eco’s touch tanks that provide a greater learning experience: the original touch tank, the Sea Bus and the L-shaped touch tank.
The original touch tank retails for $7000. The 110-gallon self-contained unit overall size is 60” long, 32” Wide, and 36” high. It is prefect for classroom instruction!
The Sea Bus retails for $4000. The 25-gallon self-contained unit is a completely mobile classroom, prefect for short-term educational presentation.
The L Shaped touch tank retails for $13,500. The self-contained touch tank, presently in construction will soon be on display at the Environmental Learning Center (ELC): 255 Live Oak Drive, Vero Beach, FL 32963; Phone: 772-589-5050; Email: Info@DiscoverELC.org
Hours of Operation:
Tuesday – Friday 10am-4pm
Saturday 9am-12pm (extended to 4pm during winter season),
Sunday 1pm – 4pm
Contact Marine Ecological Habitats to learn more about their marien aquariums and other products.
This site is created and maintained by Shannon Mae Development, Inc.
Filed under Information about aquarium fish tanks by on . Comment.
Touch Tank
- Tips on Using Educational Aquariums In The ClassroomHow an Aquarium Will Make Kids Smarter First a teaching aquarium in the classroom energizes learning, it prods learners to get involved because the tank is not an inanimate object it is a living, breathing organism, full of fellow creatures who just by their very existence teach learners about life in an ecosystem covered by […]
- How To Set up a Marine AquariumThere are many things that should be considered before setting up a marine aquarium, and there are countless resources that should be studied before taking on the challenge. Three important things to consider before undertaking this rewarding endeavor are the size of the tank, the type of filtration system, and what lighting components will work […]
- Count Sharcula Fundraising ProgramFund Your Touch Tank One person, one shark can make a difference. You’ve just been bitten. Question: Are you going to bite back? Count Sharcula is a fundraising program that is viral in nature and Count Sharcula wants to improve the health of the Oceans. The Mission of Count Sharcula: Raise Awareness of Ocean Issues […]
- Everything You Need To Know About Tropical FishA Guide of Tropical Aquarium Fish provides tropical fish tank tips for fish geeks. This informative site provides numerous links to tips and suggestions […]
- Ocean and Environmental Science Information and CurriculumHere are some useful resource, a variety of free or low-cost resources to K-12 teachers seeking ocean, and environmental science information and curriculum […]
- A Marine Aquarium Boosts Fund RaisingYou can find a marine aquarium in a cross section of museums throughout the country. Museums have unique challenges, attributes and needs, and quality educational aquariums may provide a unique solution to a museum’s funding problems. In order to create the most successful marine aquarium funding campaign possible, a museum needs support from the board. If a […]
- A Teacher’s Guide to Marine LifeOcean organisms contribute significantly to the oxygen cycle, help regulate the Earth’s climate, and some ocean organism, visit Touch-Tank and discover more […]
- Trade Show Touch TankIf your trade show displays do not meet your expectations, consider adding a touch tank.This will draw prospects to your trade show booth like bears to honey […]
- Dr. Touch Tanks Ocean GuideDr. Touch Tanks Ocean Guide supplies teachers with a versatile teaching resource that supports aquarium education. The simple sea creature illustrations, ... […]
- Lobster FundraisingNOW, because of improvements in storing, shipping, and handling, Love Maine Lobsters offers Lobster Fundraising that provides another way to fund your projects […]
