Contact: Michele Walker, 919-733-2293, ext. 229, or 1-888-4RCOAST

Students From Across Country Will Visit Rachel Carson Reserve
Via Internet During Estuary Live May 3-5

BEAUFORT, N.C. – The online education program EstuaryLIVE will bring North Carolina’s Rachel Carson Estuarine Research Reserve to classroom computers across the state and country as students participate in virtual field trips during the Spring event May 3-5. 

The program uses the Internet to transmit live images and sound from the estuary to elementary, middle and high school classrooms. Participating teachers can connect to the trips using an Internet-ready computer and free software. Registration is required. See the Estuary Live Web site at www.estuarylive.org to register or to view the schedule.  

As teachers facilitate the trip, classes identify questions and submit them on the question submit page to the estuary, where naturalists and scientists in the field answer them. Class sessions are divided into grade levels and topics to provide the appropriate level of general estuarine education.

In addition to online field trips to the Rachel Carson Reserve site, the program will feature sessions on blue crabs, oysters, water quality, coastal geology and dredging, coastal weather, decoy carving and sand sculpting.

To prepare for the EstuaryLive electronic field trips, teachers and students can use the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s new Estuary Discovery Kit for high schools. The kit may be downloaded from NOAA’s web site at http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/education/kits/estuaries/welcome.html.

For more information about the program, visit the Estuary Live Web site at www.estuarylive.org, or contact Coastal Education Specialist Amy Sauls at amy.sauls@ncmail.net.

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