Students at St. Joseph Academy in St. Augustine adopted an ocean buoy last year as part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration partnership with 15 schools across the country.

The buoy, nicknamed Dat’A Buoy, was dropped into the Gulf Stream last fall and is collecting data about its location, water temperatures and other measurements that the schools study. It can transmit data for 400 days.

Chris Williams, a science teacher at St. Joseph Academy, said his senior class calculated the velocity of the buoy as it travels the Gulf Stream.

They took the marine biology class as part of a dual enrollment program with St. Johns River State College, which is studying the impact of microplastics – tiny particles from decomposing plastic – on the environment.

 

“It’s real-life, real-time information as opposed to looking in a book and seeing what other people did previously,” Williams told the St. Augustine Record. “… I think the more you can get them involved in things outside of the classroom, the more interested they’re going to be.”