Wendy's science class is going to the Wild Waters aquarium. Her teacher got the school group package, which costs $314. The package covers the entrance fee for the group, a private meet-and-greet with otters and sea lions, and an activity guide. Wendy's teacher upgraded the package to include a tide pool exploration kit for each of the 26 students, bringing the total to $522. What was the cost of each exploration kit?
The upgraded package cost $522 - $314 = $<<522-314=208>>208 for the tide pool exploration kits.
Each exploration kit cost $208 / 26 students = $<<208/26=8>>8. Answer: \boxed{8}.
To find the cost of each exploration kit, we need to subtract the cost of the basic package from the total cost of the upgraded package.
The cost of the basic package is $314.
The total cost of the upgraded package is $522.
Therefore, the cost of the exploration kits is $522 - $314 = $208.
Since there are 26 students, the cost of each exploration kit is $208 / 26 = $8.
To find the cost of each exploration kit, we need to determine the additional amount spent on upgrading the package to include the tide pool exploration kits.
The total cost of the upgraded package is $522, and the original cost of the school group package without the kits is $314. Therefore, the additional cost for upgrading to include the tide pool exploration kits can be calculated by subtracting the original cost from the total cost:
Additional cost = Total cost - Original cost
= $522 - $314
= $208
Since there are 26 students in the class and an exploration kit was provided to each student, we can divide the total additional cost by the number of students to find the cost of each exploration kit:
Cost of each exploration kit = Additional cost / Number of students
= $208 / 26
= $8
Therefore, the cost of each exploration kit is $8.