Teaching & Learning
- Lesson Plans
- Articles and More
- Online Courses
- Best of the Web
- Standard Course of Study
- New Teacher Support
- Field Trips: Discover NC!
- Education Reference
- Multimedia Library
For Students
About LEARN NC
LEARN NC, a program of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
School of Education,
finds the most innovative and successful practices in K–12 education and makes them available to the teachers
and students of North Carolina — and the world.
Rachel Carson National Estuarine Research Reserve
Beaufort, NC (http://www.ncnerr.org/pubsiteinfo/siteinfo/rachelcarson/rachel_carson.html)
Resource summary
- Appropriate grades: 3–12
- Subjects: science (biology and life science, environmental science, natural history)
- Provider: NC Division of Coastal Management
More from LEARN NC
- StreamWatch This lesson is intended as a long term project to determine the overall health of a stream or wetland. Students identify seasonal changes that occur within the ecosystem, ideally with a minimum of bimonthly or monthly monitoring.
More on the web
- What's wrong with the oceans? Can photography help? In this lesson from Xpeditions, students will research environmental problems facing the world's oceans and will think about how the art of photography can help solve these problems.
- Marine sanctuaries Students learn about the national marine sanctuaries found in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans and off the coast of American Samoa.
- The Office of Wetlands, Oceans, and Watersheds Students can learn about watersheds and how to protect the nation's water resources.
- Estuary Live Video streaming allows you and your students to take live virtual field trips to the Rachel Carson Reserve in Beaufort, NC. The videos archived for use at any time.
Tools
Legal
This catalog record is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License. This license applies to the content of this page only and does not apply to the referenced website.
As part of the North Carolina National Estuarine Research Reserve, the Rachel Carson National Estuarine Research Reserve is located across from the Beaufort waterfront and is comprised of several islands. It is the center of marine research and education. Habitats found within the site are tidal flats, flooded salt marshes, ocean beach, subtidal soft bottoms, hard surfaces, dredge spoil areas, sand dunes, shrub thicket and maritime forest. The Rachel Carson site can only be visited by boat. Visitors may use their own boat or contact the local boating concessions. Visitors usually land on the sandy beach at the west end of Town Marsh and cross over to Bird Shoals on foot. A trail guide for the Rachel Carson site is available free of charge over the Internet or at the Reserve education office.
Interpreter led field trips are offered to specific Reserve sites depending on accessibility and staff availability. Plan to make your reservations two seasons ahead of time. Lesson plans and pre-visit activities are provided on the website under the Teachers & Students heading. Email frontdesk@ncnerr.org or phone 252 728-2170 for more information.