Curriculum Information
This section contains basic information about each shipboard
learning station and ideas for integrating these concepts into your classroom. Click each link below for
detailed information.
- Water Quality students
may use wet chemistry, a hydrolab or a colorimeter to determine important
water quality parameters, including dissolved oxygen, salinity, temperature,
and pH. Data is recorded and made available for use at the Living Classrooms
Foundation website. Students may take a hard copy back to their classroom.
- Plankton Studies students tow for plankton
and examine specimens under the videomicroscope. Organisms may be identified
and recorded. Teachers may bring blank videotapes to record the plankton samples.
- Navigation - students learn the basics of navigation,
how to plot a course, compass skills, triangulation and speed-time-distance
problems. This station has many math applications.
- Oyster Students examine and dissect live oysters
while discussing the animal's life cycle, habitat and importance to the Chesapeake
Bay region. Oystering boats and the history of oystering are also discussed.
- Helm students steer the vessel with the assistance
of the Captain. This involves correlation with the navigators, steering a
compass course, completing the ship's log, standing lookout and understanding
of basic rules of the road.
- Weather students record weather observations,
including wind speed and direction, wave height, temperature, barometric readings,
relative humidity and cloud cover.
- Buoyancy - students will explore the physics
of buoyancy, gravity, and displacement by building boats out of simple materials,
such as aluminum foil, newspaper, and duct tape. These boats will be entered
in the Buoyancy Challenge, where weights are added to the vessels to see which
is the most buoyant.
- Sail Theory (Lady Maryland only) - students
will gain a basic understanding of what makes a sailing vessel work while
using a working model of Lady Maryland to discuss ballast, buoyancy,
and Bernoulli's Principle. The participants in this station are also responsible
for carrying out the procedures necessary to sail Lady Maryland.
- Mechanical Advantage (Mildred Belle only)
students experiment with the block and tackle on Mildred Belle's
cargo mast to explore the concept of mechanical advantage and its applications.
- Town Meeting (Sigsbee only) - students
are presented with an issue: the decline of oysters in the Chesapeake Bay.
They are then given roles to play, such as watermen, factory workers, farmers,
and recreational users. Each team of students is asked to use problem solving
skills to determine the impact their specific group of people has had on the
oysters and how they plan to help bring back the oyster population.