ST. PAUL and DULUTH, Minn. — Minnesota Sea Grant has released a new video highlighting the 2026 Lake Superior Shipboard Science Immersion, a weeklong professional learning experience that brought Great Lakes educators aboard the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s research vessel Lake Guardian.
Held on July 7–13 on Lake Superior, the program gave educators from every Great Lakes state firsthand experience with Great Lakes science. Participants worked alongside scientists to collect and analyze water and sediment samples, sample organisms from deep water and take part in science and learning activities aboard the vessel and on shore.
The experience gives educators direct exposure to Great Lakes science that they can bring back to their classrooms, programs and communities.
Sea Grant’s Shipboard Science Immersion is organized through the Center for Great Lakes Literacy in partnership with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Great Lakes National Program Office and the Great Lakes Sea Grant Network. The annual program brings together classroom and nonformal educators who work with students in grades 5-12 and is hosted on a different Great Lake each year.
This fall, Minnesota Sea Grant will publish an ArcGIS StoryMap with a deeper look at the 2026 experience, including educators’ reflections on what they learned and how they plan to use the experience with their students.
Interested in taking part in a future Shipboard Science Immersion? Visit Minnesota Sea Grant’s Shipboard Science Immersion webpage or the Center for Great Lakes Literacy’s webpage to learn more about the program.
Minnesota Sea Grant is a system program of the University of Minnesota and one of 34 federal-university Sea Grant partnerships across the country supported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Great Lakes and coastal states that encourage the wise stewardship of our marine resources through research, outreach, communication, education and technology transfer.
CONTACT:
Heidi Ferris, Environmental Literacy and Workforce Development Extension Educator, Minnesota Sea Grant, University of Minnesota and University of Minnesota Duluth, [email protected].
Marie Thoms, Associate Program Director, Communications Director, Minnesota Sea Grant, University of Minnesota and University of Minnesota Duluth, [email protected].
Amanda Shie, Communications Associate, Minnesota Sea Grant, University of Minnesota and University of Minnesota Duluth, [email protected]