Category Archives: Educational Programs

Deep Creek Kids Discover the Life in the Creeks

Last week our Educational team led a three day natural history camp for nine kids from Deep Creek and the surrounding settlements. In addition to camp songs, rounds of the game ‘screaming toes’ and scavenger hunts, our educators introduced students to the terrestrial and marine life on the shores of Red Bays, Deep Creek and Paige Creek.

Adventure Log

lifejacketsDay 1: After intros and icebreakers we went to the beach to do a scavenger hunt, and build our own mangroves on the beach. In the afternoon, the group learned how to identify the red, white and black mangrove trees of Deep Creek and explored the slippery, slimy mud found here.

 

Branae&EliDay 2: A field trip to the Island School! The kids learned how to work together to move kayaks, both in the water and on land! After all that hard work in the morning, we hiked up Paige Creek and lazily floated out with the tide, identifying fish and invertebrates along the way.

Whit&AlishaDay 3: On our final day of camp, we went seining in the creeks with two of our interns, Stephen and Liam. After a couple of attempts, we successfully caught several species of fish and learned how climate change is affecting fish in these creeks – research our Flats team is currently conducting at CEI. After a picnic lunch in Deep Creek, the group showcased what they’d learned about life in the mangrove ecosystem by creating posters depicting the life found there.

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Eleutheran Explorers have adventures at CEI

Student jumping off of High Rock
Student jumping off of High Rock

The Eleutheran Explorers Camp is quickly approaching day 4. It’s true what they say about how time flies when you’re having fun! The last few days have been filled with day and night snorkels, learning about the sustainable systems, exploring the mangroves and visiting the aquaculture cage! They also took recycled materials from resources and turned it into art! The kids have a busy and fun filled next couple of days ahead of them.

Students getting a tour of the farm with Joseph
Students getting a tour of the farm with Joseph
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Pacific Ridge School experiences the Atlantic 2013

The past 12 days have been a whirlwind for a group of 15 students from Carlsbad, Northern San Diego, California. The first week of the program, the students embarked in discovering all the different research areas that CEI is currently involved in. These are just a few of the plethora of activities that we delved into: snorkelling the cage, cutting glass with Sam for the new resource building, jumping off high rock, playing in the pink sand on Harbour Island, observing echinoderms and their tubed feet frenzy over on the sand bar, night wading around the boathouse,  followed by many more.

pac ridge pac ridgeOn day one we were out with the flats team seining in some adverse conditions. The rain held us indoors for a couple days, where the student’s day varied from discussing sustainability to dissecting a sponge and learning all about the critters that inhabit the watery pores of a lovely smelling stinker sponge!

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Wemyss Bight Primary School Meets live animals at The Island School and CEI May 28, 2013 & June 6, 2013

Wemyss Bight PrimaryThe Grade twos and threes from Wemyss Bight Primary School have each come to visit The Island School campus and learn all about how animals get their food, water and protection in order to survive. After meeting and greeting the Educational Program staff, the students went to feed the pigs at the Island School Farm.  On site we have six incredibly large pigs that consume much of the food waste from our dining hall. The grade three students helped Fran shovel the leftover food into the pig pen and students and pigs equally squealed with delight. Next, the students met (and pet!) our Muskovy ducks that provide eggs for our kitchen and saw a mother duck incubating her egg.

Students from WBPS about to participate in a game that emphasizes living sustainably!
Students from WBPS about to participate in a game that emphasizes living sustainably!

After a snack break, the students explored how a variety of marine invertebrates survive in the ocean. They touched sea urchins, juvenile conch and a sea star. Throughout their visit, the students discovered different ways The Island School and CEI strive to tread lighter on our planet and balanced all this information out with a few silly games and tons of songs. We dropped them off back at WBPS with giant smiles, high fives and hugs just in time for lunch. The Educational Program staff is looking forward to working with the Grade six class from Governors Harbour next week!

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More beach plastic surveys around Cape Eleuthera

IS students beach plastic surveyThe plastic pioneers of CEI have struck again!  Recently the Cape Eleuthera Institute embarked on a historical project studying macro and micro  plastic pollution on beaches in South Eleuthera. This unique project is the first of its kind here in The Bahamas and is led by Bahamian researcher Kristal Ambrose.

 

IMIs students beach plastic surveyThe project which is aided solely by the help of educational programs visiting CEI and students of the Island School and Deep Creek Middle School, has welcomed nearly 150 volunteers to this research project. So far the plastic team has surveyed 14 beaches on the island, with 4 remaining for assessment. Continue reading

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Lyford Cay at CEI

Lyfor Cay Grade 8Lyford Cay grade 8 had a busy 3 days here at CEI diving into the plastics curriculum as well as some of the fun yet educational activities typical of our Island School programs: Sandbar geology, Lionfish lesson/dissection, and reef ecology lesson & snorkel.
Weather was a tad windy for snorkeling at 4th hole but they did have a chance to check out the reef balls. Successful plastics research was conducted on 4th hole beach with Miss Kristal Ocean herself and the results will be used in their science class back at Lyford.

Lyford Cay Grade 8

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St. Andrews visits CEI

Lead educator Tiff Gray with students from St. Andrews
Lead educator Tiff Gray with students from St. Andrews

Last week, Educational Programs at CEI had their hands full with two classes hailing from St. Andrew’s School in Nassau, home of the Hurricanes. The first class, a group of 17 students, had a blast helping the plastics, lionfish, and bonefish research teams. Students arrived from Nassau and executed their first day nicely with lots of energy and enthusiasm! The first item on the agenda was a sustainable systems scavenger hunt, exploring the grounds and learning important facts about sustainability initiatives around campus. That afternoon, they spoke with Kristal Ambrose, Patch Reef Researcher & plastic enthusiast, on her plastics research project at CEI. Although the rain put a damper on data collection, they were able to conduct beach plastic surveys the next afternoon and utilize this data for their Math class back at

St. Andrews' students enjoying a beach bonfire on their last night.
St. Andrews’ students enjoying a beach bonfire on their last night.

St. Andrew’s. The second day they headed down island to explore the caves of Rock Sound, journal at the Banyon Tree, and swim in Ocean Hole. That afternoon they took a stroll down the beach at Paige Creek to learn about the Flats ecosystem and chat with Liane Nowell about her exciting master’s project on Bonefish. The day ended with a bonfire and s’mores on the beach! Their last day started with a joyful school reunion when the second class from St. Andrew’s arrived. Continue reading

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Emma Cooper Primary School visits the CEI campus

Emma E. Cooper Primary school joined us last week for an afternoon tour. However, this was no typical tour of campus! The entire primary school came with Kindergarten through grade 6, a total of 83 students and 8 teachers; we had quite the group! It was their first visit in 4 years and all were more than excited to be here at Island School.

 

Seven Queens University students, a group of visiting students from Ontario, Canada here fulfilling the field requirement for their teaching degree, came to lend a hand. We split the students into groups where they rotated between three different stations. In the Wet lab, they not only saw all the checkered puffers, bonefish, juvenile lemon sharks, lionfish, yellow stingrays, cobia, tilapia, etc. but they also learned how and why we are studying these marine species. The next station was a virtual tour of a coral reef – a movie by BREEF (Bahamas Reef Environmental Education Foundation) where the students learned what makes a coral reef, its importance in the Bahamas, and how to protect this fragile coastal ecosystem. The third station was split between the farm with pigs, ducks and a permaculture garden, and the sustainable systems of campus. The systems tour exposed students to how we make biodiesel for our school vans, resource/recycle ~90% of what we use, and how we reduce our energy “footprint” by using solar panels and a wind turbine to produce energy. Continue reading

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