One of our participants and co-collaborators, Andrea Yoder, received a grant for her classroom's Apple Mobile Curriculum Lab and probeware to study the population of sandcrabs and their impact on the Imperial Beach ecosystem. Andrea taught all the participants sampling techniques, sand crab morphology and health as well as appropriate pedagogies for involving students in the data collection. One of the theories for declining beach bird populations is a parasitic invasion. Because sandcrab parasites are visible to the naked eye, we are able to compile our data with that of scientists studying this same species in other locations along the California coastline.
