Coastal Science Investigation (Grades 6-8)
8 week; 3 Hour after-school program

SoundWaters’ Coastal Science Investigation program is an after school science enrichment and environmental education program. The Coastal Science Investigation curriculum supports and enhances the students’ in-class science curriculum and the new performance objectives to be tested in the Connecticut Mastery Tests in Science.

The emphasis of Coastal Science Investigation is hands-on science. Each session includes an outdoor field component and an indoor laboratory session. The program will meet once a week for 8 weeks. Each session is devoted to a different marine habitat. Students will investigate different components of a salt marsh, rocky inter tidal zone, forested upland, beaches, mud flat and open water. Each session will also include a floating classroom sail on the SoundWaters schooner, where students can experience the thrill of trawling for fish, examining plankton, and learning about water flow though the ecosystem.

In each session, the students will draw upon key scientific methods and concepts, such as diversity, habitat structure, data collection, and observational techniques. The focus of the program is on thinking like a scientist: in order to achieve this the students will use key scientific tools, work through problems using the scientific methods (developing hypothesis, testing hypotheses, designing experiments, collecting data, analyzing data, determining results and presenting outcomes.

SoundWaters has run middle school afterschool programs for over ten years. We work with small groups of students and create a supportive atmosphere that fosters communication, leadership development and team-building skills. Participating middle schools will select students to participate in CSI with emphasis on students who have demonstrated an interest in science.

For more information please contact:

Alisha Mullet (203)-406-3312