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When Dalhousie veterinarian Chris Harvey-Clark noticed some of his students weren鈥檛 joining in on class discussions as much as he would like, he decided to try something a little unorthodox to boost class participation.
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Dr. Harvey-Clark, the university鈥檚 director of animal care, offered students in his popular summer shark course the chance to boost one part of their mark.
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All they had to do was make some shark art.
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鈥淲e鈥檝e had a tattoo, a haiku, a pancake in the shape of a manta ray -- anything to do with sharks,鈥� says Dr. Harvey-Clark, listing just some of the items that have landed on his desk since he introduced the course鈥檚 art component a few years ago.

Some of the mostly third-year students have gotten a bit cheeky with the concept, like when Dr. Harvey-Clarke received 鈥榖ite coins鈥� -- currency with sharks painted on them, in a spin-off of BitCoin. He鈥檚 also gotten a shark-shaped sleeping bag, a wood burning of the seven sharks of Atlantic Canada, a painting of a whale shark and an image of a blue shark inspired by pop artist Roy Lichtenstein.
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Dr. Harvey-Clark tries to foster a lot of classroom discussion and feedback from his students, but one year noticed they were not as communicative as in previous years. So he added the artistic component to encourage students to share their thoughts while expressing their understanding and fascination with various shark, skate and ray species in creative, outside-the-box ways. And it鈥檚 been a hit ever since.

Shark school in session

Caleb Beck, a fourth-year honours Marine Biology major, turned to his experience as a bartender to come up with an art project.
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鈥淚 ended up making iced tea with frozen shark-shaped pineapple ice cubes in it,鈥� he said.
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鈥淚've worked a few bartending-serving jobs, so making drinks is my strongest artistic talent, plus it was nice for us to have a treat after the exam!鈥�
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The two-and-half week course, part of the Department of Biology鈥檚 SEASIDE summer program, is in its seventh year and is in big demand.
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Dr. Harvey-Clark says they can get up to 80 applications for only 18 spots, each submission requiring an interview and an essay. Part of the appeal might be that students get to spend time at sea, catching sharks to be tagged while also learning about working with sharks in the water.
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The objective is to teach students about the diversity, physiology and anatomy of elasmobranches 鈥� skates, sharks and rays 鈥� and explore the threats against them, tools for protection and the role they play in the ecosystem.
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鈥淚t is a unique course in North America because it combines classroom work with field work,鈥� said Dr. Harvey-Clark.
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鈥淚t鈥檚 very hands-on. Students get to reel in a shark, while someone is running a stop watch and someone is at the head making sure that the shark is getting fresh water flow.鈥�

Local collaborations

During his time in the course, Beck was involved in the dissections of a skate and a spiny dogfish. (No animals are killed for the course 鈥� the specimens for dissection come from accidental bycatch from fisheries, offering students another important lesson in conservation.) He says the experience was invaluable, albeit a little stinky
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鈥淭hey are valuable tools for teaching,鈥� he said.
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鈥淭here were aspects of their physiology -- such as the dogfish's liver or the skate鈥檚 reproductive system -- that I had seen in slideshows a million times, but I never really understood until I could see and touch them for myself.鈥�

Dr. Harvey-Clark uses a local fisherman to help with blue shark tagging, which involves using a barbless hook to catch the shark before students lift it carefully on board and carry it to a surgery table. The instructors, using aseptic surgical technique, make a small incision and insert a tiny sterilised acoustic transmitter into the shark鈥檚 abdomen. The transmitter sends out continuous pings with the shark鈥檚 identification and location to nearby receivers, allowing the animal to be tracked for up to 10 years.
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He says a lot of the students who have taken the course have gone on to work in other labs or research facilities 鈥渨here they get do all things sharky.鈥�
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Beck, who grew up far from the ocean in northern Ontario, says he hopes to go to grad school and work in academia someday.
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鈥淚 have always been fascinated by sharks since I was a kid and having a chance to learn from some of the top shark researchers in the world was a chance I couldn鈥檛 pass up,鈥� he said.

Art credits
- Pancakes: Kate Medcalf
- Wood burning: Riley Marchand

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