EDUCATIONAL PASSAGES

“Where learning sets sail and mini-boats ride the waves”

WELCOME ABOARD!!

Five- foot, unmanned, GPS- monitored sailboats will sail the oceans of the world and bring students, teachers and others fascinating learning opportunities. As long as the sail is up these boats continue sailing and reporting their speed and position until they make landfall in some far away land. This project is fun and provides lessons in oceanography, earth science, boat building and design. Imagine the international relations experiences as students arrange for foreign students to meet their boat as it comes ashore.

Included in this program is an introductory school meeting or assembly, and Maine Maritime Academy Day, where students present their boats to the Captain of the State of Maine training ship, tour the ship, see the facilities, have lunch and meet with the admissions staff. We can help you arrange guest lecturers from the Academy, perhaps the University of Maine Oceanography professors, meteorologists, and other professionals.

We have numerous handouts to assist you, including how schools can customize their boats, suggestions for recovering your boat, helping with finders instructions, and getting your

boat ready to go to sea. One of the beauties of this program is you can simply follow our suggestions/guidelines or “customize” it as you wish. For example you might wish to arrange your own launching off a ship in a major harbor in your area or work with the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) and put sensors on your boat to study water temperatures, air pressures, or perhaps the salmon fisheries.

Another nice thing about this program is anyone on the web can monitor these boats at www.iboattrack.com which means schools can join together to do a boat. It’s the hands on learning, the diversity, the fun, and the appeal to a wide range of grade levels that make this program unique. Educational Passages is merely a group of interested volunteers who think they’ve come up with a fascinating educational tool and would like to see this spread down the East Coast. We are in our infancy and our goal is simply to make this program as meaningful to your students as we can. We therefore pledge to do whatever we can to make your program a resounding success.