LabVenture
Building climate and data literacy for Maine's middle schoolers.
Each year, GMRI hosts nearly 10,000 Maine middle schoolers in its LabVenture program — a hands-on, interactive, authentic investigation of the changing Gulf of Maine ecosystem. Completely free for Maine schools, nearly 70% of the state of Maine's fifth and sixth grade cohort experience LabVenture annually. At the lab, students use authentic tools of science and methods of inquiry to explore many of the same questions about the Gulf of Maine that research scientists at GMRI are addressing.

LabVenture Goals:
- Provide an authentic science learning experience to over 10,000 Maine middle schoolers each year, free of charge.
- Give students opportunities to understand and apply key scientific practices, such as gathering, representing, and analyzing data.
- Create spaces where students can build and apply communication, collaboration, problem solving, and critical thinking skills.
- Connect learning that happens inside and outside school through supporting resources and educator professional development.
Book a Visit
If you are a fifth or sixth grade teacher in Maine and would like your students to attend LabVenture during the 2021-2022 school year, please request a visit through our LabVenture site below. Note: Based on current CDC information, we expect to be able to safely return to our in-person LabVenture experience this fall, but that is subject to change.
LabVenture is the cornerstone education program of the Gulf of Maine Research Institute. Since its launch in 2005, LabVenture has delivered immersive, engaging, and interactive scientific learning experiences to over 130,000 Maine middle schoolers in the Cohen Center for Interactive Learning. The program was recently reimagined through our NASA funded project, as part of the Real World Real Science project which included a renovation of the Cohen Center. We continually update and revise the program's content to ensure that the over 10,000 students that visit LabVenture each year, can immerse themselves in a relevant, accessible, and cutting edge learning experience.
LabVenture is available to Maine’s fifth or sixth graders students from all 16 counties free of charge, and includes transportation to our lab. Research shows that middle school students are at a critical stage in their learning, when exposure to authentic STEM explorations can cement their interest and confidence in science.
Our goal is to give the next generation the science and data skills they will need to manage the challenges and opportunities that come with a changing climate. LabVenture is a totally unique science learning experience that places students in the middle of some of the most important questions scientists explore every day.
Leigh Peake Chief Education Officer
Leigh Peake Chief Education Officer
The experience combines traditional tools of science with high-tech interactive resources to enable students to explore Gulf of Maine ecosystems. Using NASA satellite data, as well as local fishery data, they investigate how warming ocean temperatures are impacting key species, including lobster and black sea bass. Students also have opportunities to measure live lobsters, observe plankton under microscopes, analyze real sea surface temperature data displayed on interactive touch tables, and conduct an underwater species survey at our Biodiversity Tank. As they work, they build key science skills and develop lifelong skills such as communication, collaboration, and problem solving.
Learning doesn't stop once students leave our interactive learning facility. We've also worked to connect students' LabVenture experience back to the classroom by developing and implementing coordinated curriculum modules in schools, and by giving teachers more professional learning experiences. These teacher professional development opportunities include teacher participation in the LabVenture experience from the student standpoint, where they can also engage in personal and small group reflections, and receive an introduction to classroom activities. Perhaps most importantly, teachers use these opportunities to build a community of peers dedicated to giving students authentic experiences with scientific inquiry.
In addition, students record their notes and thoughts as they move through the LabVenture experience in a digital Field Notebook, which they can bring back to their classrooms and homes.
More recently, in order to continue serving teachers and students during COVID-19 school closures, we created LabVenture Express offered remotely through GMRI Home Delivery.
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LabVenture Projects
We provide a variety of opportunities to engage more deeply with LabVenture
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Educator Professional Development
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GMRI Home Delivery
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Extending LabVenture into the Classroom
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Learning Resource Hub
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Choice-Based Assessments
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Science Center Community of Practice
LabVenture Team
Statewide Support

Poland Spring is a statewide partner in delivering LabVenture through their Good Neighbor grant program. Poland Spring supports GMRI to help foster the next generation of water stewards.
- Alfred M. Senter Fund
- Charles C. Butt
- Edwin S. Webster Foundation
- Franklin P. and Arthur W. Perdue Foundation, Inc.
- Harry W. Konkel
- Hyman Family Foundation
- M&T Bank
- MMG Insurance
- Bangor Savings Bank
- Bank of America Charitable Foundation
- Cianbro Charitable Foundation
- Harold H. Dudley Fund of the Maine Community Foundation
- Kennebunk Savings Bank
- Marr-Anderson Family Foundation
- Norway Savings Bank
- Old Bug Light Charitable Foundation
- Phineas W. Sprague Memorial Foundation
- R.H Renys, Inc.
- Robert & Dorothy Goldberg Charitable Foundation
- Robert G. & Jane V. Engel Foundation, Inc.
- Abbott Diagnostics Scarborough
- Arlene Briard
- Bath Iron Works
- Bath Savings Institution
- Clark Insurance
- Katahdin Trust Company
- Portland Pipe Line
- Machias Savings Bank
- RBC Foundation – USA
- Saco & Biddeford Savings Institution
- Skowhegan Savings Bank
- The Alfred M. Senter Fund
- WesaDoe Fund
- Annual giving $10K+
- Annual giving $5K+
- Annual giving < $5K
Read More
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Students Return to LabVenture
LabVenture Program Manager Meredyth Sullivan shares our plan to welcome students back for in-person LabVenture.
Tidings
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Relaunching LabVenture
Three years ago, a team of GMRI staff, project partners, vendors, and advisors began building an unparalleled learning experience for Maine’s middle school students, thanks …
Announcements
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Making LabVenture Accessible
Last year, we launched an all-new LabVenture experience, including updated content and state-of-the-art technology. After a little more than a year and 14,000 students served, …
Tidings
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Education Team Introduces Home Delivery
This spring, our Education team introduced Home Delivery, a menu of online learning experiences adapted from our existing education programs.
Announcements