In the orientation phase, students select a topic of study that interests them and familiarize themselves with the instruments they'll need to collect data.

On this Voyage of Discovery, the students organized into four teams, each focusing on a specific field of study. In turn, each pair of students would worked closely with one or two senior crew advisers.

The students spent the evening of Day Two learning about theirs topics and practicing the use of their equipment.

You can scroll down or use the links below to jump directly to a research topic.

Students: Lydia, Raheem, & Ryan
Senior Crew Advisers: Sarah Read & Jennifer Reilly

The Celestial Tracking team plans to use a quadrant and directional compass to track the course of the sun across the sky. While the primary goal of their guiding question will involve reading the bearing (or azimuth) of the sun at sunrise and sunset, they will continue to track its altitude bearing throughout the day to determine the time of local noon.

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Students: Eliu, Erica, & Joey
Senior Crew Adviser: Tony Roy

While the ship is docked at Rock Landing, the Current Speed team will use a hand-held compass to record the current's direction, and biodegradable wood "biscuits" and a stopwatch to measure the time it takes for the current to carry an object the length of the weather deck. They will then determine the formula to turn this data into a measurement of the current's speed.

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Students: Hannah & Kelsey
Senior Crew Adviser: Kelly Falvey

The Height of Tide team will use a stationary depth marker to record the change in water depth over the course of a tidal cycle while the ship is docked at Rock Landing. They will also practice using a traditional lead line and compare their soundings results.

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Students: Jay, Jacob, & Kristen
Senior Crew Advisers: Tom Kilroy & Woody Woodworth

The Mechanical Advantage team will construct a block-and-tackle simple machine in several configurations, measuring the force needed to lift a fixed weight a fixed distance, as well as the length of line that must be pulled through the machine to obtain those results.