Since 2019, DISL’s Discovery Hall Programs (DHP) has partnered with Dr. Paul Harnik at Colgate University to develop Postcards from the Past. This interactive STEAM program, created to connect fieldwork and laboratory research with classroom learning, explores the environmental history of the Northern Gulf Coast.

Students learn how Dr. Harnik and his team radiocarbon date clam shells pulled from the sediment off Alabama’s coast, and then connect what was happening in the world around at the time the clam was living.

A collection of these Postcards from the Past can be seen at the Alabama Aquarium throughout October. The contributions are from Theodore High School (AL), Moorestown High School (NJ), Prattville Junior High (AL), Daphne High School (AL), Bridge City High School (TN), J.R. Arnold High School (FL), Eva Legard Center for Coastal and Environmental Sciences (LA), and Chalmette High School (LA).

Educators interested in learning more about the project can contact DHP Educator JoAnn Moody via email at jmoody@disl.edu.

NSF #2041667