Estuary Ambassadors

Welcome to Estuary Ambassadors! Here you will find the hub for all things estuary in the classroom from setting up a tank to mini lessons to extend estuary knowledge.

This idea began as a simple lab on Oyster Reefs and evolved into a mini estuary in the classroom. You can read about some of our past aquarium residents in our Meet the Tank Blog post:

We started this idea back in the 2022-23 school year and have run this project every year since, focusing on bringing experiential learning back into the classroom and promoting students “sense of place” with their local estuaries.


Interested in trying something like this in your own classroom?

Below is the project’s framework, lesson & survey examples, setting up an estuary aquarium, and find out how to get permitting in your state!


Estuary Ambassadors Handout


Example Lesson (Nitrogen Cycle)


Example Rubrics


Example Pre/Post Survey

Estuary Aquarium Handbook


Example Lab (Water Quality)


Example Pre/Post Test


Example Reflection Prompts



Interested in seeing how the data fits?

Below you can look through Savanna’s National Marine Educator’s Conference presentations, one pagers, and keep up to date on student and teacher reflections and data!

Presentation One-Page Summary

Presentation Slide Deck