Experiential Education & Citizen Science

My philosophy is that science is best taught as a verb, and not a noun. Additionally, the more ‘citizens’ we involve in the process of science, the greater the understanding and ownership of the processes affecting our planet, and ourselves. I founded SUSiE with the mission of advancing a new generation of ocean scientists and explorers. We’re succeeding in our mission by dropping students with a diversity of backgrounds full-stop into live research expeditions at sea, and under sail. The transformation in each and every one of our students has been remarkable. From learning to glue PVC to using pneumatic coring drills underwater, the act of participating in hands-on research empowers students to understand the science from an entire different perspective; one not easily taught in a classroom.

I developed iCORAL™ predicated on the emerging field of citizen science. The need for global monitoring of coral reefs at higher resolution, frequency, and scale is widely recognized. Unfortunately, there are not nearly enough scientific teams to even remotely accomplish this. However, there are 6+ million active SCUBA divers taking 3+ dive vacations annually to reefs around the world. iCORAL™ aims to rally these divers, as citizen scientists, to utilize their SCUBA skills to collect valuable imagery data when and where they vacation.

"Until you've actually done it..."

I believe the best learning comes by doing. Like a SUSiE alumni once said, “You can read about installing stations all day long, but until you’ve actually done it, you’ve really got no idea what it takes.”

SUSiE is Experiential Education

I founded SUSiE around the pedagogy of science as a verb, not a noun. SUSiE Expeditions is the epitome of this with its unique experiential education programs. Students are taken way off-grid and learn to command every aspect of an actual scientific research expedition at sea. They're charged with sailing and navigating the vessel, executing field ops, conducting controlled experiments, and collecting and analyzing data, all towards accomplishing a predefined set of mission objectives.

Curriculum Design

Each year, I design the research plan and mission objectives for each SUSiE Expedition. I then design and create the student curriculum to accompany the expedition's focus. Lectures and presentations are given on the aft deck at night, often providing the background and preview for the hands on work the students will tackle the following day.

Practicals

An essential part of my field research curriculum is practicals. Students first learn and practice on land, the skills, techniques and protocols they will be tasked with underwater. Students here learning the radial-belt transect technique they'll use to collect image data for iCORAL™ photomosaics.

Sailing is Experiential+

Something amazing happens to our students when they command the helm of a 50' catamaran under sail. The demonstration of teamwork is always impressive, and many students express that the sense of empowerment and accomplishment they've gained from this is something they've never experienced before.

Student Field Ops

I've led and trained SUSiE student and citizen scientists to execute an assortment of research related field operations. Students seen here installing arrays with coral fragments they've prepared for controlled growth experiments.

Student Deck Ops

Interestingly, a common highlight of SUSiE Expeditions expressed by many of our alumni is the amount of different types of tools they get to use while aboard. From PVC cutters to pneumatic drills, many have had little to no previous experience with hand tools. The student here is using a lapidary saw to cut samples from a sea fan for stable isotope analysis.

Remote Field Laboratory

Each year, SUSiE Expeditions sets up a remote field laboratory at the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park. Students gain hands-on experience in numerous techniques used in coral reef research. The student here is isolating the algal symbiont cells from the coral tissue to determine concentrations and evaluate coral bleaching.

Portable Seawater Systems

Many SUSiE Expeditions require seawater systems for controlled experiments. Students here set up a portable seawater system to incubate coral fragments in Alizarin red, an organic dye used to measure long-term growth rates corals.

Experiential Citizen Science

Many things simply cannot be learned in the classroom. Students here examine the annual growth rings (like tree rings) in the skeleton of a sea fan. By actively involving students and citizens in the entire scientific process, SUSiE forges its mission of advancing a new generation of ocean scientists and explorers.