COSEE West partnered with COSEE Coastal Trends to present an Ocean Observing Systems (OOS) based curricula and hands-on activities workshop to enable K-12 teachers and informal educators to use real-time or near real-time OOS data. For the past two years, COSEE West has hosted a week long OOS summer workshop for teachers and informal educators in which several scientists presented ocean science content related to their work which uses or contributes to OOS online data.
The Centers for Ocean Sciences Education Excellence-Ocean Systems (COSEE-OS) aims to bring ocean literacy and current scientific content into both formal classrooms and informal education settings across the country. As part of a COSEE-OS grant that builds on the success of an interdisciplinary, semester-long class offered by the University of Maine, the University of New Hampshire has developed a new academic collaboration between the Departments of Education and Earth Sciences. Ongoing during spring semester 2010, the novel Exploring Informal Science Education Through Ocean Inquiry course explores the potential an ocean context offers for teaching a range of science topics. This program integrates fundamental concepts with “big picture” connections and resources in a highly flexible and engaging delivery system.
Ocean Inquiry Project (OIP), a non-profit organization in Puget Sound, WA, delivers inquiry-style marine science education using a hands-on curriculum while gathering research-quality data in Puget Sound for scientific partners. A collaboration between COSEE Ocean Learning Communities and OIP is bringing together ocean researchers, volunteers from environmental organizations, informal educators, and local youth groups for day-long field-research learning experiences on Puget Sound. These field experiences strive to give the diverse participant groups a better appreciation for the process of science, how oceanographic data is collected, and an increased understanding of the Puget Sound ecosystem and the role humans play in the ecosystem’s health
This collaboration has benefited the non-scientists and scientists alike. In this presentation, we will discuss our approach, and provide examples of the successes and challenges encountered during this collaboration.
Graduate students often enter marine sciences with disparate backgrounds and experiences. Understanding biological oceanography, because of multiple interactions among organisms and with the environment, can be daunting to new graduate students. We use concept mapping as a tool to allow students to better integrate information and turn it into knowledge by explicitly visualizing ideas.
The Center for Ocean Sciences Education Excellence Central Gulf of Mexico has implemented a five-day Teacher Scientist Institute in several states each year during its first and second grant periods. These Institutes are designed to be similar in format and provide abundant opportunities for scientists and teachers to work together, learn each others’ cultures, and develop a relationship for future work together.
To support the COSEE mission of engaging scientists and educators to transform ocean science education, COSEE NOW team members have been conducting an annual online scientist survey since 2004 (most recently with the aid of ASLO). This presentation by Chris Parsons, the COSEE NOW evaluator and principal of Word Craft, offers a summary of six years of results on ocean scientists’ involvement in, practices and needs related to education and outreach.
"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime" – Chinese Proverb.
Can we teach scientists to "fish" for their audiences from all walks of life, and enjoy the experience so much that they contribute to informal education for a lifetime? Using cutting-edge multimedia tools and a novel workshop model, COSEE-OS is helping scientists better communicate with the public by working with informal science educators.
Error is a given when trying to communicate the relationships among complicated science concepts. Communication research has identified at least 11 sources of error that the scientist needs to minimize: error due to the sender, encoding, the message, the channel of communication, the receiver, decoding, the audience, the physical environment, the social environment, the political and economic environment, and/or time.
COSEE-OS has developed a professional development model for scientists and online tools to minimize these eleven sources of error (not eliminate them because that is not an achievable goal). Particular attention is paid to minimizing the encoding and decoding sources of error through the use of online concept mapping tools which graphically communicate the scientist's logic of how they think, non-linearly, about the relationships among their various concepts of interest.
The Ocean Gazing podcast is one of COSEE NOW’s primary educational outreach tools. The aim is to provide scientists with a forum for telling their stories about ocean observing science and the broader impacts that science is having on people beyond academic institutions.
In each biweekly episode, Ocean Gazing integrates interviews, ambient sounds gathered in the field and the lab, music, audio recordings from listeners (from children to adults), and the unveiling of a mystery sound. The scientists have said they enjoy participating in the podcast as a mechanism for making their science accessible and promoting the work they do in an engaging and accurate manner. We have between 300 and 400 downloads for each episode, and we are actively promoting Ocean Gazing on Facebook. We've created CDs containing the first 26 episodes and high school curriculum companion pieces for a handful of the podcasts. These are being distributed to scientists and educators.
COSEE West conducted online workshops to disseminate ocean science content to larger audiences than could be reached using in-person activities. Teachers and educators not served by a COSEE Center could be reached through distance learning.
Three different online workshop models were created. A base model had online presentations by scientists, with scientists available to answer participants’ questions online. A professor model had scientists presenting ocean science content during an undergraduate course, followed by an online workshop in which undergraduates served as mentors for ocean science content (supervised by the professor and graduate students) and teacher leaders served as pedagogy mentors to educator participants. An undergraduate field research model built upon the professor model: scientists presented ocean science content to undergraduate students during a field research course, followed by an online workshop in which undergraduates conducted field research a nd exchanged findings online with participants. Participants also had an opportunity to observe field research being conducted.
COSEE West and other COSEE Centers have conducted a variety of education outreach activities, including one day professional development workshops with scientists and educators. Although the literature indicates limited benefits of one day professional development workshops for implementation of science content in the classroom, there are other benefits to these workshops.
Ocean observing systems (OOS) provide a wealth of real-time data that can be put to use in classrooms and informal learning centers. This presents an exciting opportunity to connect students and the public to real-world science. Additionally, when students analyze real-time data in structured learning environments, it can help them improve their inquiry skills while exposing them to relevant ocean science topics to increase their level of ocean knowledge. However, building tools to help students, teachers and the public access and understand real-time data effectively presents many logistical and design challenges.
To address these challenges, a collaborative group of scientists, classroom and informal educators, education researchers, and data translators have worked together to develop several novel approaches to bring real-time OOS data to classroom and public audiences. This team was brought together by the Centers for Ocean Sciences Education Excellence Networked Ocean World (COSEE NOW), a virtual community of scientists and educators seeking to foster collaborations that will engage participants in the development of new products that promote the Ocean Literacy essential concepts.
COSEE Central Gulf of Mexico engages scientists in summer institutes in two ways: (1) During a week-long face-to-face experience and (2) During a three-week long on-line experience. In the face-to-face experience, scientists and teachers are teamed together to develop lessons/materials the teachers can take back to their classrooms. During the on-line experience the scientists prepare a presentation using a variety of interactive electronic formats and also engage with the teachers through a discussion board.
Partnerships between scientists and educators have been occurring as mechanisms for science education reform over the last two decades. The work they have done together includes: scientists providing science content as part of professional development for teachers and development of curriculum; and graduate students teaching lessons in K-12 classrooms. In most of these instances, the scientists provide their science expertise, which the educators use to ensure the scientific accuracy and credibility of their activities. For this project, informal science education institutions are explored as venues for scientists to communicate with the public and engage in a different model of partnership. In this instance, ocean scientists and educators develop new understanding and practice, as they co-teach a college course.
The CIRES Education and Outreach Program offers a suite of programs aligned with the Essential Principals of Ocean Sciences (EPOS) and the Essential Principles of Climate Sciences (EPCS). One such program, the COSEE West – Colorado Collaborative, provides a means by which scientists can participate in ocean and climate sciences education outreach through a teacher professional development program. The purpose of the program is to bring the global oceans to inland audiences.
COSEE Ocean Learning Communities has developed a learning community of marine volunteer organizations, resource managers, University and State agency scientists and formal educators who through organized events/workshops have worked to increase ocean literacy and stewardship of the marine environment through public engagement. This learning community offers ocean/marine scientists opportunities to improve their outreach skills, spread the word about their research, and get help with research efforts.
COSEE Ocean Learning Communities experiments with strategies to catalyze and support a community of ocean scientists, learning science researchers, educators, and citizens interested in the marine environment. COSEE Ocean Learning Communities has experimented with adapting the poster session of scientific conferences as a tool for connecting ocean scientists and learning science researchers and their research with the public.
To communicate science effectively there are challenges scientsts should consider when trying to craft audience-appropriate messages. The use of concept maps, people as facilitators, and effective teaching strategies can help scientists communicate effectively.
This study looks at challenges which can occur during message packaging and understanding. Specifically it focuses on the use of concept maps as an effective tool for creating audience appropriate packages. Concept mapping allows both specialists and learners to see connections among related concepts. It shows the big picture, while also allowing one to focus in on details. When a learner makes connections between concepts, her/his understanding of the material deepens.
The Center for Ocean Sciences Education Excellence – SouthEast (COSEE SouthEast) develops strategies for engaging scientists and educators for increased ocean literacy. COSEE SouthEast employs innovative methods at the pivotal junction of science and education to: 1) extend scientific research to the public, 2) teach educators about the nature of science, and 3) connect informal science education (ISE) facilities with research and formal education communities.
An ever growing number of scientists recognize the need to increase awareness about ocean science research, especially in regard to policy initiatives on climate change. Howerver, scientists may find it difficult to reach an audience outside of their community. At the same time, educators are searching for accurate and engaging science education resources to inspire students to become interested in scientific discovery.
Collaborations between scientist and educators can meet both of these needs and provide unlimited access for students to learn about science. If increased access to scientific knowledge requires research, focused objectives and a transfer of knowledge between scientists and educators, then scientist-educator fellowship teams are a way to bring the appropriate people together around a specific project that can help bring scientific knowledge to a broader audience.
