Floating Classroom with Dream Team Co-Op

Overview

On Monday, November 18th, 2024, The International SeaKeepers Society hosted a Floating Classroom with students and families of Dream Team Homeschool Co-Op. We met with fourteen 4th-8th grade students and ten chaperones and educators at the research docks of Florida International University’s Biscayne Bay satellite campus. Once gathered, we hopped aboard DISCOVERY Vessel River Queen and made our way into northern Biscayne Bay. We participated in a lecture and discussion about the various ecosystems of South Florida, the most common types of pollution and what we can do in our daily lives to reduce them, as well as an explanation of the nature and history of South Florida’s watershed. We also touched on how we impact the watershed both negatively through pollution and plastics and positively through research and conservation efforts. Following our discussion, our Community Engagement Associate, Lillian, led an activity called Sink or Float, where we introduced different types of common plastics and had students guess based on observations and our sample materials whether each type of plastic would sink or float in our Bay waters. Our students split into two teams each with their own plastic samples, and both teams proved to be experts in plastics as they each got almost all of the questions correct! To finish our day, we managed to land at Sandspur Island for an island cleanup, reaching much further into the island due to a king tide forcing us to dock higher on the beach. In just half an hour, our team of students managed to remove more than 28.5 pounds of trash from the island. We had an amazing day with the students and parents of Dream Team, and thank them for their participation and amazing work. We also thank D/Y River Queen for all of their time and for a fantastic day out on Biscayne Bay, and hope to see some of these students at future events.