SPLASH INTO SCIENCE

       SAMPLE ITINERARY

DAY 1

DAY 2

DAY 3

DAY 4

DAY 5

Group arrives in Miami, FL and is met by a WorldStrides representative.

 

 

Hotel check-in

 

Orientation

Students are welcomed by their Course Leader and participate in a Mix-n-Match activity that introduces the program and educational topics:

Waves and Water

Energy and Ecosystems

Atmospheric Cycles

Marine Life

Environmental Interactions

Marine Careers

 

Dinner

 

Everglades Nat’l Park

Swamp Sounds Lab

Experience the only subtropical preserve in North America … at night.  Study the different types of waves (sound, seismic, water, and light)  and sonar technology while listening to the sounds of thousands of birds, insects, and reptiles that make the Everglades their home.

 

Evening Program:

Common Grounds

Teamwork is the key as students solve stimulating brainteasers that focus on the marine life students will observe throughout the program.

 

Overnight in the Everglades

 

Breakfast

 

Hotel check-out

 

Everglades Nat’l Park Shark Valley

Take a tram tour through Shark Valley (no, there aren’t any sharks here), and identify alligators, snakes, and countless birds in their natural habitat.

 

Everglades Safari Park

Airboat Adventure

Journey into the Everglades and study the hardwood hammock and Florida mangrove environments aboard a safari airboat.

 

 

Lunch

 

Depart for Key Largo

 

Hotel check-in

 

Dinner

 

Evening Program:

Moons and Masks Lab

Students practice snorkeling and water safety during an interactive program in the swimming pool while learning about the atmosphere and weather cycles. 

 

 

 

 

Overnight in Key Largo

Breakfast

 

Reef Snorkel Trip

Rockin’ Reefs

Snorkel the spectacular offshore reefs and see thousands of brilliantly colored tropical fish and coral. Study the concepts of plate tectonics and carbon dating and the geochemical properties of sea water. 

 

Lunch

 

The Turtle Hospital

Rescue, Rehabilitate, Release

Go behind the scenes at this world-class sea turtle hospital.   Students examine x-rays, learn about conservation efforts, and feed rescued sea turtles as they study the diversity of marine life.

 

Dinner

 

Island Dolphin Care Center

Survivor

Get prepped for your dolphin swim while learning about different trophic levels of marine ecosystems and the interdependence of organisms in marine environments. 

 

 

Overnight in Key Largo

Breakfast

 

Garden Cove Kayak Trip

Mangrove Mystery

Students kayak through four different Floridian habitats as they study different ways in which organisms interact and depend on one another through food chains within these different ecosystems. 

 

Lunch

 

Swim with Dolphins!

Dolphin Diversity

Swim with these playful creatures and study their anatomy and physiology and marine animal behavior patterns. Practice classification principles and discover how internal structures serve to help animals survive and adapt in different conditions or environments.    

 

Dinner

 

Evening Program:

The Search for Atlantis

The impact of human interaction on environments culminates in an activity that combines teams and clues in search of “lost” environments.  Students will successfully translate notes and map clues to locate the new “life source” and revive the lost ecosystem.  

 

 

Overnight in Key Largo

 

Breakfast

 

Hotel check-out

 

Reef Snorkel Trip

Walkin’ the Plank

Experience a second snorkeling adventure and participate in a fun, interactive challenge of wits to determine how much was learned during the program. 

 

Lunch

 

 

Depart for Miami

 

 

Group departs

Miami, FL for home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Note: Travel time from different parts of the country may modify this itinerary.

 

 

 

SK5e – 5/4 Splash Into Science