(July 31, 2020) --

HIgh school students taking the Marine Science Course four-week course get a lesson in sediment while on the R/V Alabama Discovery.

Discovery Hall Programs marine educators will bid farewell to summer campers on August 7, and start getting ready for groups to visit in September.  DHP will continue following the COVID-19 safety operations plan created for their summer programs. The plan, created with input from infectious disease experts, follows CDC recommendations to keep students, teachers, chaperones, and other visitors safe during the day or overnight field trips to the Dauphin Island Sea Lab. 

Each year, Kindergarten through 12th-grade teachers from across the country bring their students to the Dauphin Island Sea Lab for a hands-on learning experience with Discovery Hall’s education faculty. With some schools across the state going virtual and the consequent cancellation of school field trips, there are openings for scout groups, home-school groups, adult learners, and other special interest groups to visit the Sea Lab and benefit from outdoor learning. 

Gulf Island Journey campers take part in the plankton races. 

Discovery Hall Programs offers a variety of classes that can be tailored to a group’s learning objectives, and that meet current education science standards and literacy principles.  Class options are many and varied and include water quality, marine debris, boat trips aboard the R/V Alabama Discovery, waves and tides, sea-level rise, hurricanes, diversity of marine invertebrates, marine vertebrate adaptations, dissections, salt marsh ecology, beach explorations, underwater robotics, plankton, and Dauphin Island history.  Programs can be incorporated into short day trips or multi-day field trips for groups staying overnight.  

Gulf Island Journey campers learn about what they found during their beach walk from Marine Educator Virginia Driskell.

Teachers going virtual with their classes this fall will also benefit from a new slate of virtual DHP’s marine science classes taught by DHP educators.  For schools that are open, but cannot participate in field trips, DHP’s BayMobile program is available to bring the sea to the classroom.

Interested in getting your learners hooked on marine science? Reach out to the Discovery Hall Programs team by contacting scheduler@disl.org or 251-861-2141.