Local teacher joins shark researchers

HARRIS COUNTY, Ga. (WRBL)- At Harris County High School, one biology teacher is working to bring real life science to the classroom. Brittany Moss has been partnering with the Guy Harvey Research Institute to bring a fresh curriculum to her classes.

Mrs. Moss is a Guy Harvey Research Educator, which is a free experience for teachers. This allowed her and a few Harris County students to go on the trip of lifetime…a

shark tagging expedition.

The trip was a learning opportunity filled with students and parents from across the south. Moss explained that they where given safety lessons and researchers went over what kinds of sharks to expect.

“So it was a great teaching moment…..so out we set 20 lines, we caught three sharks, we sat five more, waited two more hours and caught zero sharks. So they saw that. It’s a lot of waiting. It’s a lot of downtime. Science has a lot of paperwork. It’s not just what you see on shark week or what the discovery channel makes it out to be” Moss says.

The three female nurse sharks that the group tagged and released ranged from 6 to 8 feet. Plus, the students had a surprise when they discovered one shark was pregnant. The goal of the research was to learn more about the ecosystem, shark population, shark genetic diversity, and the health of the ocean.

Mrs. Moss started working with the Guy Harvey Research Institute over a year ago. She has big hopes for the future of the program. She told WRBL that Harris County High School is the only Guy Harvey conservation school in Georgia. She is optimistic that “hopefully here in the near future, the elementary schools, Creekside, and the middle school will participate as well. And as long as we have two teachers from each of those schools to attend, we can be the first district in Georgia to become a [Guy Harvey] conservation district.”

By getting kids involved and showing them what is possible in the world of biology, Mrs. Moss says she hopes to inspire her students. 

“This is hands down, just the entire Guy Harvey foundation has had the greatest impact on my teaching in 19 years….From all of these different experiences, I’m able to use real things that i was able to do and show the kids that yeah, you live four hours from the beach, but it doesn’t matter. You can still go off to be a marine biologist.”

Mrs. Moss is working on trips for future Harris County High School students with the research team at Guy Harvey Research Institute.