Reef Relief’s 2016-2017 Discover Coral Reefs School Program Reached A New All Time High!

Reef Relief’s Discover Coral Reefs School Program (DCRSP) is a collaborative program between Reef Relief and the Monroe County School District that teaches students a variety of marine science topics with a special focus on the value and importance of our local coral reef ecosystem. The DCRSP has been successfully educating students from grades Pre-Kindergarten through 8th for the past 23 years. This school year, the DCRSP taught a new record amount of students!

Reef Relief taught 5,216 students through our interactive marine lessons by partnering with 15 Monroe County Schools this 2016-2017 school year. The marine science lessons are meant to supplement the STEM curriculum, and Reef Relief creates lessons to best cater the current subjects and different grades.

The primary lesson that we teach is the Introduction to Coral Reef Ecosystems lesson. This lesson teaches students that coral reefs are created from thousands of tiny coral polyp animals. Coral polyps are all connect by a living tissue to create coral colonies that together build the coral reef ecosystem. Unfortunately, coral colonies are extremely fragile and some of our anthropogenic actions, such as pollution, reckless boating, irresponsible diving and snorkeling, and sedimentation from dredging and deforestation, can disease and kill coral. Therefore, we teach that the Key West tourists and locals alike should act responsibly on the land and sea to protect our corals and to teach others about our delicate coral reefs. The other lessons that we offer include Fish Identification and Anatomy, Oceanography, Water Quality, Environmental Issues, and Marine Science Career Paths. The overall goal of the DCRSP is to create a future generation of positive environmental stewards.

Reef Relief offers this program completely FREE of charge throughout the Florida Keys.

If you would like more information about bringing the Discover Coral Reefs School Program into your classroom this 2017-2018 upcoming school year, please contact our Education Coordinator, Laurel Zaima, at (305) 294-3100 or email [email protected].

Reef Relief is a nonprofit membership organization dedicated to improving and protecting our coral reef ecosystem.

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