Floating Classroom with Homeschool Co-op
DISCOVERY Yacht River Queen
Miami, Florida
April 5, 2024
Overview
On Friday, April 5th, 2024, The International SeaKeepers Society hosted 20 students and parents from Homeschool Co-op for a Floating Classroom on Biscayne Bay. We met at Bill Bird Marina, where we boarded DISCOVERY Yacht River Queen. We headed South in the bay while our Education Manager, Toni, spoke about Biscayne Bay’s function as Miami’s watershed, and the impact of urbanization and pollution on the health of the bay. Water quality concepts were introduced, and using our Earth Echo kits, students split into groups and performed tests for temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen level and turbidity using a bucket of water our captain took from the bay. After completing our water quality testing we headed to Sandspur Island to complete a coastal cleanup. Our determined students and parents brought back bags stuffed with trash from around the island, resulting in 17 pounds of trash removed. While we discussed the severity of the marine debris crisis and sustainable solutions on the way back to the marina, we were joined by a group of about 6 bottlenose dolphins that surfaced right next to our boat several times, giving the students a real show! We are grateful to the students and parents from Homeschool Co-op for joining us, and to D/Y River Queen for hosting us.
Outing Goal
We hope that these students and parents were able to leave the floating classroom with a better understanding of how pollution impacts our waterways and how we can prevent different types of pollution in our everyday lives. We had such a great time and hope to host the students from Homeschool Co-op again!
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