An "education vacation" in the islands -- the Gulf of Maine's Isles of Shoals, in particular -- is offered to adults taking non-credit courses this summer at Shoals Marine Laboratory.

Weekend and five-day courses are scheduled on Appledore Island by Cornell University and the University of New Hampshire, which jointly operate Shoals Marine Laboratory. Topics range from natural history and island gardens to pastel and watercolor painting.

The informal, non-credit classes supplement the laboratory's May-August program of college-credit marine science courses. This summer's non-credit courses are:

• "Island Bird Study," May 23-25, with Arthur C. Borror of University of New Hampshire and Steve Mirick of the Audubon Society of New Hampshire. Scheduled at the peak of spring migration, the class also visits resident birds of Appledore and other Shoals islands.
• "A Garden Is a Sea of Flowers," July 25-27, with John M. Kingsbury and others responsible for recreating the 19th century island garden of author Celia Thaxter.
• "Pastel Painting on Appledore Island, Where a Flower Garden Meets the Sea," July 21-25, with professional artist Elsie Dinsmore Popkin. The class is taught in the same garden and surrounding landscape that inspired American impressionist Childe Hassam.
• "Pools of Color, Layers of Paint," July 21-25, with science illustrator Patricia Savage. This watercolor class explores the rugged landscape of Appledore Island and its shoreline plant and animal community.
• "A Sea of Life," Aug 18-22, with marine biologists, geologists and historians Sarah Cohen, Frederic Martini, Peter Stifel and Robert Tuttle. Field trips and lectures survey life forms from whales and seabirds to microscopic plants and animals that fuel the ocean's food chain.
• "The Ebb and Flow of Life on a Rocky Shore," Aug. 25-29, led by Shoals Director Jim Morin, with Borror, Stifel and Tuttle. The islands' unusually rich intertidal zone, where plant and animal inhabitants have adapted to life between the tides, is the sight- and sound-filled setting for this class.