On October 12 and 13, BIOS debuted a new classroom education module focused on the water cycle and weather in Lisa Siese’s P6 classroom at Somerset Primary. The module is part of the Institute’s Curriculum Enrichment Program, which is designed to enhance science, technology, education, and mathematics (STEM) instruction in local classrooms by bringing immersive experiences and hands-on activities to teachers and students.

Summer internships for college-aged students were among the educational experiences that were hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. As college campuses around the world shut down, students missed out on opportunities to gain skills in non-classroom settings, network with professionals and mentors, and explore potential career fields.

This September, BIOS is debuting a new citizen science program designed to encourage Bermuda’s residents and visitors to engage with the natural environment by collecting data from around the island. By utilizing an array of online tools and apps, and working alongside BIOS educators, people have the opportunity to directly contribute to ongoing research at BIOS and local conservation efforts.

Priel Minors, 16, a senior school student at Cedarbridge Academy, was chosen by educators at the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences (BIOS) and ConnecTech, to participate in a weeklong “BioCoding at Home” course offered virtually by the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory’s DNA Learning Center. BIOS’s Ocean Academy provided a scholarship to cover the cost of the course while ConnecTech provided work space and coding support.

In July, BIOS collaborated with the Bermuda National Library (BNL) to produce a virtual reading session for the Youth Library’s summer reading program. This program, designed to encourage school-aged children to continue using their literacy skills during the summer months, runs from late June through late August and consists of a variety activities and workshops that young readers can participate in to earn points for prizes.

Among the many lessons we’ve learned from the COVID-19 pandemic is the value of having a highly skilled scientific workforce that is capable of leveraging its education to serve the broader community during a time of need.

When more than 1,100 Bermudian primary school children took part in the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences [BIOS] Explorer programme at the East End research facility in the spring of 2011, two colourful lionfish, Simba and Nala, were among the stars of the show.

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Saltus alum John Paul Skinner swears he has the “best job ever.” In his role as Education Officer at the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences (BIOS), “JP,” as he likes to be called, regularly divides his time between running a number of diverse educational programmes and taking students into the field—“the really fun part,” he says, as it typically involves a boat ride out to Bermuda’s reefs.

After the successful inaugural episode of Ocean Diaries—a virtual education program and collaboration that aired as a Facebook Live event on the Bermuda Aquarium, Museum, and Zoo (BAMZ) Facebook page last month to over 2,000 views—the team of educators at BAMZ, the Bermuda Zoological Society (BZS), BIOS, and the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute (BUEI) quickly remobilized to begin working on episode 2.