The world’s first floating wetland classroom...teaching
how to make the Elizabeth River swimmable and fishable by 2020.

Field trips are underway aboard The Learning Barge, the world's first floating wetland classroom, and teachers are raving. Up to 60 students are visiting daily through the end of November, while the barge is moored in downtown Portsmouth.

The Learning barge was christened with clean water on September 14, 2009 even as it floated in one of the most polluted tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay, the Elizabeth River. Powered by sun and wind and equipped with composting toilets and a rainwater filtration system, the 120-by-32 foot craft is designed to both model and teach ecology and sustainability to the next generation of lower Chesapeake Bay stewards.

Here’s what teachers are saying:

"So interactive. Kids stayed engaged. Wonderfully organized, taught and reinforced… Tied to the SOLs, just awesome."
...J. Boyer, 5th Grade Teacher, Ocean View Elementary School, Norfolk - Post-survey.

""All your activities relate to my science curriculum and the 4th grade study of the Chesapeake Bay… Children learn best by doing and you provided us with the opportunity to experience many hands-on activities. My favorite field trip ever."
...Latasha Chambers, 4th Grade Teacher, Williams School, post-survey, Learning Barge.

"Not just an education, an experience…The live critters were a big hit." 
...Frank Blacklowe, 4th Grade Teacher, Christ the King, evaluating his Learning Barge field trip.

The Learning Barge will be winterized from December through April - then she'll be back, teaching all ages how to make the Elizabeth River swimmable and fishable by 2020. For more information email Robin Dunbar, rdunbar@elizabethriver.org.

Dominion Virginia Power is the lead sponsor of the vessel at $375,000, while Lowe's provided a $125,000 grant that made possible an enclosed river lab.

The primary audience: Grades three through eight in schools of the Elizabeth River watershed (Chesapeake, Portsmouth, Norfolk and parts of Virginia Beach) for a two-and-a-half hour field trip. The students will move through six learning stations, each with experiential learning activities that help them answer the question, "How can I help make the Elizabeth River swimmable and fishable by 2020?"

Civic groups in the watershed are also welcome to visit the Learning Barge for an educational experience after school hours ($5 per person, minimum of 20 attendees, maximum of 60 attendees - group reservation is required).