Bermuda Curriculum Support

Focused on STEM curriculum standards, the programs offer field trips, interactive lectures, student workshops, and professional development for educators

Through Ocean Academy, ASU BIOS strives to support local teachers and educators in the development and delivery of STEM curricula. Half-day field trips are available through the Curriculum Enrichment Program (CEP) and Mid-Atlantic Robotics IN Education (MARINE) to allow local teachers to bring ASU BIOS's cutting-edge science and immersive experiences to their students.

For public schools, all field trips are aligned to the Cambridge International Curriculum, and for private schools, our offerings are adapted to ensure lessons are in alignment with individual school curricular standards. Additionally, Ocean Academy staff arrange and host work shadow placements and serve as judges at science fairs throughout the academic year.

All 2.5 hour excursions are suitable for 10 to 20 students and include bus transportation, boat transportation (if applicable), experimental materials, and an ASU BIOS educator.

Field trip offerings

Are you a teacher interested in the experiences that BIOS can offer your class?

Please contact [email protected] if you have a question or complete this form to book one of the following experiences:

Field Trip Request Form

Students will learn about the roles and importance of phytoplankton and zooplankton in marine food chains. They will participate in a plankton tow aboard an ASU BIOS boat and learn the process of net deployment and retrieval. Collected samples will be brought back to the laboratory to be examined under microscopes.

Proficiency Scales

P3 Biology / Food Chains

P4 Biology / Food Chains

P6 Biology / Food Webs

M1 Biology / Ecosystems

Students will review the states of matter and participate in their own laboratory experiments. Students will learn about the water cycle, build their own precipitation graphs, and explore factors that influence our day-to-day weather. Classes will have the option of taking home a weather station for use at their school.

Proficiency Scales

P4 Chemistry / Properties of Materials

P5 Chemistry / Changes to Materials & Earth and Space / Water Cycle

M1 Chemistry / Materials and their Structure & Earth and Space / Cycles on Earth

Students will use identification keys to classify fish and zooplankton found in the ocean around Bermuda. They will participate in a plankton tow aboard an ASU BIOS boat, examine the plankton sample under microscopes in the laboratory, and use an identification key to determine what type of plankton they have collected.

Proficiency Scales

M1 Biology / Life Processes

S1 Biology / Classification of Living Organisms

Molecular Biology | Fishing for Fingerprints

Students will learn how ASU BIOS scientists are using environmental DNA (eDNA) to understand the biodiversity of Bermuda’s marine environment. Students will practice aliquoting solutions with a micropipette, loading a DNA gel and separating DNA strands of different lengths. Students will use gel electrophoresis techniques to decipher species based on DNA base pair lengths and conclude what groups of species were present in their water sample.

Proficiency Scales

M3 Biology / Structure and Function

S1 Biology / Biological Molecules

Students will be introduced to the defining characteristics of corals and the ecological importance of coral reefs for Bermuda and globally. A hands-on identification lab will allow students to examine the skeletons of common hard coral species before viewing live specimens and learning about coral research at ASU BIOS.

Proficiency Scales

P3 Biology / Living and Non-Living Things

M1 Biology / Life Processes

Ocean Acidification | Chemistry of a Changing Sea

Students will explore how carbon dioxide dissolves in seawater, changing its pH and affecting the health of marine life. Through hands-on experiments and demonstrations, they will investigate the chemistry behind ocean acidification and its ecological consequences. Students will use real data to interpret trends and connect their findings to global climate change.

Proficiency Scales

M1 Chemistry / Properties of Materials

S1 Chemistry / Acids, Bases and Salts

Students will learn how scientists survey reef fish populations using methods such as transects, stationary counts, and roving diver surveys in our classroom. Working with collected data, they will practice graphing, averaging, and interpreting their results in Google Sheets.

Proficiency Scales

M2 Thinking and Working Scientifically

M3 Thinking and Working Scientifically

S1 Practical Assessment

S2 Practical Assessment

Students will explore how sound travels through different mediums and factors that affect pitch. In the laboratory, they will learn how to use hydrophones to identify different marine sounds. Students will discover how marine life uses sound to communicate and learn how scientists use sound to study the ocean.

Proficiency Scales

P5 Physics / Light and Sound

M3 Physics / Light and Sound

Students will build their own circuits to investigate materials that are conductors or insulators. They will make predictions, observe their findings and record the results of their circuit experiments. Students will practice constructing circuit diagrams, identifying symbols and recognizing when diagrams are incorrect. Using their knowledge of circuits, students will pilot student-built remotely operated vehicles in ASU BIOS’s Innovation Test pool. (In the event of inclement weather, an alternative third workshop will be offered.)

Proficiency Scales

P4 Physics / Electricity and Magnetism

P6 Physics / Electricity and Magnetism

M1 Physics / Electricity and Magnetism

Students will explore aspects of marine engineering with three hands-on workshops. Using a computer simulation, students will control a remotely operated vehicle and learn about engineering solutions used for marine conservation. Students will solder a prototype circuit board to complete an electrical circuit that they can take home. Finally students will compete in a remotely operated vehicle piloting challenge inat ASU BIOS’s Innovation Test pool. (In the event of inclement weather, an alternative third workshop will be offered.)

Proficiency Scales

M3 Physics / Electricity and Magnetism

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Bermuda Curriculum Support

Field trip offerings

Are you a teacher interested in the experiences that BIOS can offer your class?

Plankton | Ocean Food Chains

The Water Cycle | States of Matter

Identification Keys

Molecular Biology

Corals | Characteristics & Classifications

Ocean Acidification

Reef Fish | Data Collection & Analysis

Ocean Sounds | The Science of Sound

Circuits | Diagrams & Conductors

Engineering | Robotics

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