Barrier Beach Dynamics

This full-day program is appropriate for grades 4 through 12. By participating in hands-on activities, in NJMSC's classroom and at the beach students will gain an in-depth understanding of beaches and the processes that influence them.

Key Concepts

Through discussion and instruction, your field guide will cover the following key concepts during the outdoor portion of the program:

Coastal processes: (winds, waves, currents and tides)
Origins of sand and its movement
Beach zonation and the importance of dunes
Identification, succession and importance of plant life on the barrier beach
Coastal erosion
Marine debris: origins and impacts
Marine species of the barrier beach

Students will participate in the following activities at the beach:

Shell collecting and identification
Beach hike along dunes with the opportunity to observe a natural beach, bird nesting area, and the NY/NJ shipping channel
Sand sampling
Beach profiling
Longshore current measurement
Optional Marine debris investigation (“mini-beach clean-up”)
Wave analysis

Students will participate in the following laboratory activities in NJMSC's Building #22 classroom:

Sand investigation (sand sampling, grain size and shape analysis, comparisons, etc.)
Beach modeling
Species identification using taxonomic keys
Marine debris analysis
Beach profile graphing

This program supports NJ Core Curriculum Content Standards: 3.1, 3.2, 3.5, 4.2, 4.3, 4.5, 4.9, 4.10, 4.11, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4, 5.5, 5.6, 5.7, 5.9, 5.10, 5.12, 6.9

Program limited up to four (4) classes per day.
Fee: $250.00 per class

Reserve your Barrier Beach Dynamics field trip online or contact Brian Harris, NJMSC's K-12 Program Coordinator at (732) 872-1300, ext. 16.

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