Helping science educators bring the bay into their classroom

The Narragansett Bay is an inlet of the Rhode Island Sound just off the coast of southern New England. Here salty seawater from the Atlantic flows into the mouth of the bay and mixes with freshwater flowing in at the head from one of the area’s many rivers. This meeting of seawater and freshwater sets into motion a dynamic process of interactive physical, chemical, and biological components - known as an estuary. Estuaries form at the point where rivers, ocean, land and atmosphere meet. Narragansett Bay Estuary is an impressive example of an estuarine system.

Narragansett Bay reaches two-thirds of the way up into the state of Rhode Island. Since no Rhode Islander is ever more than a half hours’ drive from a shoreline, Narragansett Bay is the ideal natural laboratory for Rhode Islands’ students. With an emphasis on the AAAS’s Benchmarks and the NRC’s National Science Standards and based in the tenets of inquiry-based learning we have set out to develop a comprehensive teaching tool for science educators. Background information on the processes common to estuaries will be explored using an internet-interactive CD-ROM. Labs, activities and projects employing local real-time data will help to connect the background information with the local environment – the Narragansett Bay estuary! Links to related lessons and teaching resources including a collection of maps and pictures, scientific research papers on estuarine topics (Narragansett Bay in particular) and pertinent historic archives will be available on the CD-ROM. For those times when connectivity is not possible, the CD-ROM will provide stand alone capabilities in the form of data sets taken from recent research sources with suggestions on how to incorporate them into the curriculum

By providing educators with scientifically correct information and access to local real-time data in one easy to use format we are hoping to show them how they can "bring the bay" into their classrooms. The Narragansett Bay is a natural laboratory studied by many and accessible to everyone. It is a shame to overlook this unique chance to take advantage of a resource, which can provide so many lessons for our students.