Current Programs: Coastal Ocean/Shelf

Barrier Island Discovery Program

This program is a 4-hour field excursion aboard the educational pontoon vessel Callinectes, operated by Barrier Island EcoTours.  Students work in collaborative teams to investigate, compare, and photo-document three different barrier island environments: 

• Salt-marsh back-barrier (Capers Island)
• Beach of eroding island (Capers Island)
• Beach of an accreting island (Dewees Island) 

Michaux Center provides cameras for students to use for visual interpretation of environmental components.  The Barrier Island EcoTour naturalists describe the biological, physical and geological aspects of each environment.  Following the field excursion, the Center provides teachers with CDs of their photo collections and teachers work with their students to create a photo documentary of their experience for presentation to parents and peers at their school.

At Sea!

At Sea! is a 6-hour program aboard a 183’ NOAA research vessel, the NOAA Ship Nancy Foster.  This cruise engages high school students in oceanographic data collection along a transect from the Cooper River, through the Charleston Harbor estuary, and offshore into the open ocean.  Students collect geological, physical and biological samples/data, and compare the transformations along the transect.

A Pre-Cruise Workshop is included to train students in the methodologies they’ll use to analyze the data and to teach them the science content.  The high school students and their teachers also participate in a Post-Cruise Workshop at the Center to summarize the data collected and begin preparation of a team presentation. 

For more information, click here.

Project Oceanica



Click here for more information about our Coastal Ocean program leader, project Oceanica at the College of Charleston.

At Sea! students conduct biological tests.