Classroom on the Sand with Surf, Skate, Science

On the morning of September 15th, 2025, The International SeaKeepers Society hosted a Classroom on the Sand experience with 61 students and 14 educators of Surf, Skate, Science in Delray Beach. To start our day, our Community Engagement Manager, Lillian, and our Educational Outreach Manager, Jack, gave an introduction to SeaKeepers’ international education efforts before jumping right into an open discussion of the oceans’ key services and roles on our planet. All three groups of students we worked with gave a plethora of varied answers, from the oceans’ roles as a carbon sink and oxygen producer to housing millions of species and even the production of seafood. Following our initial discussion, we split the students down to small groups and handed each a handful of cards representing random species that call our oceans home as part of our newest activity, Creatures from the Beach. We then took turns trying to sort our species by where they might live, what other species they might be related to, and even some physiological observations such as what certain species may eat based on their mouth and teeth shape, how good at swimming they are based on their fin structure, and if they are more likely to be shallow-water or open ocean species. Our students were up to the challenge, successfully identifying several difficult species relations, such as a starfish to a sea biscuit and sand dollar. After our activity, we took a few minutes to wrap up with an ending discussion and answer final questions. We had an amazing day with the students and team of Surf, Skate, Science as always, and look forward to our next event with them in the coming weeks!