Discovery Hall Programs (DHP) offers teachers and informal educators learning opportunities every summer. These field-based, multi-day workshops make professional development fun, and include conversations with scientists, field activities and exploration of relevant classroom activities. All workshops are offered at no cost to teachers, though a refundable registration fee is required. Enrollment for the 2016 workshops is now open.

Fins, Fishes, and Fisheries, which focuses on learning about fishes, sharks and rays, is back June 12-16 for another summer. Sponsored by the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium (MASGC), Fins packs action into every moment of this 4.5-day program. Teachers can expect to long-line aboard our 65' research vessel, the R/V Alabama Discovery, board smaller boats for a morning of gill-netting and seining, tour an aquaculture and research facility, and take home specimens and lessons for their students.

With the new Alabama science standards including climate change, Climate Change in the Gulf of Mexico, July 17-20, will help bring teachers up-to-date in this rapidly developing field and provide time to explore relevant classroom and outdoor activities. Also sponsored by the MASGC, this workshop will address the effects the changing climate has on our oceans, and how these changes impact human life and health. Topics will include hurricanes and storm surge, ocean acidification, sea level rise, and paleoclimatology.

Finally, the Technology in Marine Science – ROVs workshop puts teachers in the driver's seat of ocean exploration, on July 24-28. Learning about the deep ocean and how to build and fly a remotely operated vehicle is the focus of this workshop. Teachers will leave the workshop with an ROV to take back to their classroom so they can integrate this exciting STEM activity into their classrooms. Participating teachers will receive priority registration for the Sea Lab's annual Student ROV Competition in the spring. This workshop is supported by the Deep-C Consortium and the international Marine Advanced Technology Education, or MATE, program.   

While not a summer workshop, there are still spaces remaining in the engaging single-day NOAA How Do We Explore? workshop approaching on February 20. NOAA's Okeanos Explorer research vessel combs the depths of the world's ocean, and this workshop provides teachers with lesson plans, activities, and insights on how they do it! Grab your space today so you don't miss out!

Please visit our website (http://www.disl.org/educational-programs/professional-development-for-educators/list-of-workshops/) or contact DHP Registrar Sara Johnson for more information, DHPSummer@disl.org or 251-861-2141 x7515.