On Location in Belize: Project Overview

A team of students and faculty from the University of New England is conducting a unique trip that will combine marine research with cutting edge education initiatives. Students from the University of New England (UNE) are working with the Gulf of Maine Aquarium (GMA) to bring the results of their study of coral reefs in Belize, Central America to Maine classrooms. This is no ordinary research trip; this project is dedicated to finding out why coral reefs are disappearing at an alarming rate and reporting this information back to classrooms all over Maine. The UNE students will send daily digital still photos, video clips and text via satellite phone transmission. If all goes well with the satellite phone connection, we will also be able to chat with the researchers each day as their work progresses.

This is an excellent opportunity to inspire marine conservation among students from an early age. We hope you and your students will take advantage of this opportunity to log on and learn!

The principal parts of this section include:

Meet the Researchers: Learn a little about the background of each of the people conducting research, and get an introduction to their research topic.

About Belize: Learn about the beautiful country of Belize, and why its location is both unique and crucial to understanding of coral reef ecosystems.

About Coral Reefs: Compare the Tropical ecosystem with cold water systems such as the Gulf of Maine

Research Topics: Delve into more detail on each of the research topics. Follow the daily progress and data collection.

Classroom Activities: Check out our classroom-ready learning activities. Included are several ways to communicate with the researchers: Chat, Message Board, and Email!

Links and Bibliography: To learn more about coral reefs, use this handy list of other web sites and basic references used by the researchers. If you have any suggestions for additions, please email them to us!

Chat: As their diving schedule, and the reliability of the satellite phone system allow, the researchers will join us each day to chat about their work. This section is not only for classrooms: if possible, we will host evening chat sessions as well as early afternoon.

Photo Gallery: Here we'll put images which don't fit directly into any other pages, but that we find too interesting not to include somewhere. To save you time in downloading images you might not need, each image is just a thumbnail, with a link to get a full view for the ones you're interested in.

Message Board: If you can't join us during the chat times, check out our Message Board: Join a conversation or start a new one. The researchers will check it whenever they are able!

What's New Today: Check in on this page to quickly find where the latest information and images from Belize may be found.