Overview of the Sea Scholars Program

Sea Scholars is an educational outreach initiative consisting of an interdisciplinary curriculum program. It is designed to allow middle school teachers and students (grades 5-8) gain real-world knowledge about oceanographic science, social science, maritime cultures, communication, literature, and the language arts.

The Sea Scholars program is organized around the notion that real-life oceanographic ship operations, problems. and destinations present appropriate classroom topics which integrate all principal subjects. Sea Scholars will connect the Navy's oceanographic fleet with classrooms around the country via emerging technology, including the World Wide Web (WWW) and satellite communications. The program is not a highly structured planned unit, but is a wide-ranging set of resources from which teachers may select, based on the needs and interests of their middle school students.

Topics will include: sea and seafaring, nautical skills, oceanography, geography, meteorology, marine biology, geology, communications, literature, the arts, and interdisciplinary studies of distant lands and peoples. Ocean Voyagers encourages teachers to incorporate their own lesson ideas, teaching styles and instructional techniques, as appropriate for their students.

The Sea Scholars Program was designed by professors from St. Norbert College and staff from the Oceanographer of the Navy's Office and the Naval Oceanographic Office.