The heart of our students' educational experience on board the Half Moon lies in the various scientific topics they study in the field as we progress up the Hudson River. The educational crew designs these studies to enable students to observe, measure, and analyze natural patterns in the world around them. We stick to basic methods of gathering data, using devices that help the student gain insight about the workings of the world (as opposed to just reading an LED from a digital probe). Students also use primary source documents from the 17th century as well as collecting their own source data to generate their own primary source documents.

The educators on board the Half Moon continuously seek new ways to enhance the educational experience we can offer our students, and as such readers following this web site may note that we've changed the format for the second leg of the voyage. Each student crew member partners with a member of the opposite duty watch (Port or Starboard), ensuring that one member of the team is always free to collect data. While focusing on their individual fields of study, the students also assist their peers and collaborate on a number of communal crew projects. In this way, every day brings new knowledge, new hands-on experiences, and new intellectual challenges.

We'll present the students' work in three stages:

Stage One: Orientation. Early on, students familiarize themselves with the wide variety of instruments available and consider what natural phenomena they wish to observe for their presentation. At the end of the orientation phase, each student partners with a member of the opposite duty watch; together, each pair selects a specific topic to study from the broad categories of water science, weather science, and mechanical advantage.

Stage Two: Data Collection. During each leg of the voyage, the Half Moon sets anchor for a full 24-hour layover, allowing the students to focus on an intensive period of data gathering and analysis. On this leg of the voyage, our layover is located at the Hudson River Maritime Museum on Rondout Creek in Kingston, NY.

Stage Three: Presentation. On their last night on board the Half Moon, our student crews culminate their educational experience by delivering their reports on the scientific topics they've studied while during their Voyage of Discovery.

We'll update this section regularly as the students progress through the stages of their research, so check back often!