Education Activities at Gray's Reef
We are glad you are visiting us via the internet! While we would like for you to experience the reef first hand,
for most that is simply not possible. So we'll just have to bring the reef to you and the good news is you won't
even have to get wet!
We offer many different opportunities to explore our reef and we hope one of these ways will be just right for you.
Please read on for ways to explore and learn what NOAA Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary - One of America's Ocean
Treasures has to offer you!
We have developed many education publications that are free for the asking. Please review our listings and request those
materials you think will be useful in your classroom.
Gray's Reef education staff works closely with our science team to translate research data and
findings into meaningful and useful information specifically for educators;
and have developed Classroom Activities just for the classroom!
Gray's Reef offers workshops on watersheds. The workshops are in-depth, with information and
experiences you won't get just anywhere. Besides all of that, they're fun too!
Ocean science technology may seem boring and difficult to understand but when taught through an ROV (remotely operated vehicle) Building
Workshop ocean science technology and exploration becomes as real as the PVC pipe you cut to create your machine. Learn to build an ROV that you as the pilot really
"fly" in a pool! Then teach your students how to do it, so they can compete against other student teams from throughout the southeast in the Gray's Reef Southeast Regional
MATE ROV Competition held each spring in Savannah.
New as of January 2009 - Join Gray's Reef staff and crew aboard the 41-foot NOAA research vessel
Joe Ferguson for a half day information and activity-packed education
cruise offered once per month on a designated Saturday. Nine educators are selected for each
cruise on a first-come, first-served basis. Earn professional credits.
Ever wish there was ocean science information about the southeast coast readily available? Well, it's here! The Gray's Reef
Ocean Science Course addresses Georgia Performance Standards currently in ocean science for middle grades. Materials, teaching
aids and background information on ocean floor topography, water on the earth's surface, watersheds and oceanography in terms of
tides, currents and waves are based on information gathered on our own southeastern coast.
Since most will never go to Gray's Reef 20 miles off our coast and 70 feet beneath the ocean's surface,
we will be glad to bring the reef to you! The staff of NOAA's Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary offers fascinating
presentations on current research at Gray's Reef and in other marine sanctuaries as well as
about ocean issues, awareness and stewardship. For your next public seminar, meeting and/or conference, ask us to speak!
Our gorgeous educational posters, created by Gray's Reef staff both current and past, are true works of
art and they are loaded with fascinating information. They are available to teachers in hard copy, although our supplies are
very limited. As a means to comply with the paper reduction act of the federal government we now offer eight of our posters in
digital form available on a CD. We encourage you to request a CD, so you can make your own copies at your media center or at a
local printer. Just request our Gray's Reef Poster CD.
Ever have a burning desire to look like an orange Gumbie? Well, now you can! Each year a NOAA research
ship conducts various projects at Gray's Reef such as ocean floor mapping, fish counts, invertebrate surveys, fish tagging and
marine debris surveys, to name a few. The NOAA ship serves as both home and lab for these scientists and the ship's permanent
crew. Space permitting, a few berths are offered to educators to gain invaluable experience working alongside the
research team and ship's crew. Come on, be an orange Gumbie!
Want to take your students diving from their seats without needing a towel afterwards? Through our
close partnership with the University of Georgia Marine Extension Service Marine Education Center and Aquarium located on the
campus of Skidaway Institute of Oceanography, the education staff of Gray's Reef presents distance learning programs on many
ocean topics. We bring Gray's Reef, watersheds, whales, dolphins, manatees and sea turtles right to your classroom through
incredible high definition underwater footage.
Gray's Reef has lots of information about ocean science, technology and stewardship based on our research and explorations, and
those of partner agencies and universities. Each month we compile web articles and digital bytes on current issues relevant to
the sanctuary, announcements of workshops, seminars and other opportunities specifically of interest to educators and their
students. Link to the most recent newsletter and peruse archives of previous editions to find out what's biting at Gray's Reef!
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