Experience Bermuda from Shore to Sea. Join a select group of high school students for a once-in-a-lifetime adventure investigating Bermuda’s marine environment at BIOS while learning offshore sailing and navigation, and experiencing the Sargasso Sea on board Bermuda’s 112 ft. national tall ship, Spirit of Bermuda. Led by experienced staff and instructors, this unique joint shore to sea field course gives participants the experience of a sail-training program that infuses a global science perspective with both cultural and historical elements. No sailing experience is required. Eight professional crew provide instruction on basic sailing skills, navigation techniques and safety.

A donation to BIOS means empowering Bermuda’s students. For students from Harrington Sound Primary, that means an annual field trip on a BIOS research vessel for a plankton tow. For Clearwater Middle School students, it means learning from BIOS educators about marine debris, then personally participating in a beach clean up.

Since 2015, the Mid-Atlantic Robotics IN Education (MARINE) program has been a core component of BIOS’s Ocean Academy, which offers a suite of hands-on education and research opportunities for students and teachers in Bermuda. BIOS is pleased to announce that MARINE has a new lead sponsor in RenaissanceRe, which has generously funded the program for the next two years, supporting the program’s goals of engaging participants in scientific concepts and enhancing science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education in the classroom.

In 2000, BIOS realized its vision of serving as a year-round educational institute with the development of spring and fall semester programs designed for undergraduate students interested in ocean and atmospheric sciences. The initial fall semester program consisted of three courses—coral reef ecology, marine invertebrate zoology, and marine biology and oceanographic research—and was created in partnership with the University of Rhode Island (URI) and Roger Williams University (RWU), both located in Rhode Island on the east coast of the United States.

Since 1987, the National Science Foundation (NSF) has funded a research internship for undergraduate students called the Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program. The internships, which usually run for 10 to 12 weeks, are hosted at universities, research institutions, and professional scientific organizations and allow participants to work alongside faculty members and scientists on research projects in a wide range of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields.

Canadian Associates of BIOS (CABIOS) student Annaliese Meyer, a microbiology student who worked with BIOS chemical oceanographer Damian Grundle, presented at two conferences in 2019 and early this summer moves to Australia for continued research in astrobiology.

A partnership between BIOS and two Massachusetts-based institutions was strengthened with the addition of a new microbial oceanography course, held for the first time at BIOS in January.

For more than two decades, BIOS has hosted a variety of intensive and immersive summer courses for an international cohort of undergraduate and graduate students.

In early March, a group of 21 Road Scholars visited BIOS as part of a Bermuda-based learning adventure entitled Bermuda Unveiled: Historic Forts, Secret Gardens & More. Since 1975, not-for-profit Road Scholar, originally known as Elderhostel, has been giving older adults access to experiential learning opportunities around the globe.

Our educators have compiled a list of ocean-themed resources, from curriculum components to webinars and games, to help keep your kids’ minds active while they’re not in the classroom.