COSEE NETWORK NEWS 2009
November 2009
 In This Issue CNN Vol. 2 No. 11 | November 2009 
Focus On...COSEE-Alaska Subscribe
New Collaborations
Tools That Work: Success Stories
Working Group Updates
Network News
COSEE at Conferences
Center News
COSEE Network Calendar
Publications
Announcements and Resources
COSEE Centers and Council Representatives
Focus On...COSEE-Alaska
Scenic view
What's new at COSEE-Alaska? Visit the November Center of the Month and find out!
 New Collaborations
COSEE-West Colorado Collaborative Workshop Materials Available Online Course materials from last spring’s scientist lecture/half-day workshops and the Summer Institute are now available. Teachers and the general public can access a modified course syllabus, which contains ten modules that focus on the connection between the world’s oceans and their effects on the weather and climate of inland regions of the U.S. Lecture videos of NOAA and CIRES scientists, a focusing question, accompanying classroom activities, and analysis questions or assessments are included in each module. Visit CIRES to learn more about this resource, or contact Lesley Smith for more information.
 Tools That Work: Success Stories
The COSEE Excellence in Networking Tools Sub-Group (ENTs) is reviewing all of the online networking tools that COSEE Centers have tried. This is a place to showcase the tools that have worked - and why!

COSEE-West Engages with Adobe Connect
by Jane Lee

Like many Centers, COSEE-West runs online workshops. After receiving numerous requests from workshop participants for live chat capability, they tried Adobe Connect. Find out how it went here.
 Working Group Updates
ENT Sub-Group The Excellence in Networking Tools Sub-Group (ENTs) is developing an online networking tools guidebook. Working in wiki format, we are collaboratively designing and building the guidebook, which aims to provide Centers with up-to-date descriptions, reviews and best practices in order to make choosing the appropriate networking tool easier and more productive. For more information contact ENTS co-chairs Carla Companion and Catherine Cramer.

COSEE-California home page
Web Working Group The WWG is currently developing and prioritizing new features we'd like implemented on the Content Management System (CMS), including the capability for Centers not on the CMS to add news, events, and resources to COSEE.net. Also in the works: "home" pages for non-CMS Centers and partners, customizable sidebars, an integrated network-wide blog, and a network calendar. For more information, contact Annette deCharon, WWG Chair.
 Network News
Banana Slugs Ocean Literacy CD Update
by Craig Strang

The renowned children’s music group Banana Slug String Band is producing a new album entirely focused on the content found in Ocean Literacy: The Essential Principles of Ocean Sciences K-12. The CD is being produced with financial contributions from ten Centers in the National COSEE Network, and from the National Marine Educators Association, the NOAA Office of Exploration and Research, the College of Exploration, and Dr. Sue Cook. The CD, available to the public in early 2010, will feature several well-known guest artists who have contributed their time to the project.

The following comments are from the Slugs’ head songwriter, Steve Van Zandt:

I like to view environmental science education as affecting us in three ways: the head, the heart and the hands. Ocean literacy lends itself well to this holistic approach. Our planet’s “only one ocean” continues to be an inspiration for human expression and, the more we learn, the more we use our hands to work for the health of the ocean, for it is essential to our health. In our Ocean Literacy CD project we’ve tried to capture these ideas of knowledge, beauty and a call to action. Music is powerful that way.

In Down, Down, Down the music of Michael Franti will take you on a content-filled rhyming extravaganza to walk the ocean floor learning about geology and bathymetry. In that same song, two-time Nashville Music Awards Bassist of the Year Victor Wooten plays a delightfully funky bass line. In a song that was inspired from the Imax movie The Living Sea we’ve invited Jack Johnson to be a guest singer. The song evokes a sense of mystery, marvel and celebration for the ocean. This is enhanced by the music of Karamo Cisshoko, whose stunning Cora playing brings it to an ethereal plane.

The hatching of this project began a few years ago at the National Marine Educators Association conference in Maui. Just outside our accommodations there was an amazing reef where we snorkeled everyday and witnessed a turtle cleaning station. One of the calls to action in this album is in the song Turtle Ate A Jelly. This song sends the message that turtles will mistake plastic bags for jellies. So with the cutest kid voices you’ve ever heard, we are encouraged to keep plastic out of the sea.

Thanks to the members of COSEE-Great Lakes who gave us the idea to write a song showing how the ocean is part of everyone’s life. They’ll be two-stepping when they hear Ocean Everywhere because the members of the Grammy Award-winning band Michael Doucet and Beausoleil give it the real taste of Cajun music. In the Hawaiian chorus of our coral reef song E malama, malama, malama,i ke kai we are inspired to continue working to protect the ocean, with George Winston adding his beautiful slack-key guitar performance.

We thank you all for your support of this wonderful project, and we can’t wait for you to hear the CD. We are starting to plan now for a concert tour to take the message of Ocean Literacy out on the road. Let us know if you are interested in scheduling a show!

The Banana Slug String Band

COSEE-China Planning Workshop Application A COSEE-China Planning Workshop has been funded by NSF International Planning Grants and Workshops. It will take place in Beijing, China, March 6-13, 2010. Travel funds and participation support will be provided for five (5) students/postdocs, one (1) US Ocean Scientist, one (1) COSEE PI (or COSEE Council Member), one (1) US K-12 teacher, and one (1) US Education Specialist to participate in this first COSEE-China Planning Workshop. Applications are due December 4, 2009.

US participants (1 teacher, 1 ocean scientist, 5 students/postdocs, 1 COSEE PI, 1 education specialist) will be selected by the Selection Committee (Bob Chen and Xuchen Wang) based on experience in Ocean Education, diverse and unique potential contributions to this workshop, interest in China, and potential impact that this workshop may have on your career. Underrepresented minorities applicants will be viewed favorably to ensure a diverse group of participants. For details contact Bob Chen.

New Book co-Authored by COSEE National Network Director Very little of the ocean has been scientifically investigated. That is rapidly changing with the first-ever Census of Marine Life (CoML), a worldwide, 10-year undertaking involving thousands of scientists from more than 80 nations. World Ocean Census: A Global Survey of Marine Life, co-authored by Darlene Crist, Gail Scowcroft, and James Harding, is the only officially sanctioned book to bring the Census and its discoveries to the general reader. Written by this team of CoML scientists, it offers an unprecedented journey to the ocean depths, enabling readers to go behind-the-scenes of the landmark study’s extraordinary findings and adventures. Find out more on the publisher’s page.
 COSEE at Conferences
Teacher and Student Workshops Presented at Oceans '09 At the Oceans '09/Marine Technology/IEEE Annual Conference in Biloxi, Mississippi, COSEE implemented a successful One-Day Teacher Professional Development Workshop and a marine careers hands-on workshop for 150 high school students [more]

2010 Alaska Marine Science Symposium Scientists from Alaska, the Pacific Northwest, the nation, and beyond will gather in Anchorage in January 2010 to inform each other about their research in the marine ecosystems of the Arctic, the Bering Sea and the Gulf of Alaska. Plenary and poster sessions will feature the latest research on climate, oceanography, lower trophic levels, the benthos, fishes and invertebrates, seabirds, marine mammals, local and traditional knowledge, and socioeconomic research. Support from many sponsors allows registration to remain free of charge for attendees [more]

COSEE at SACNAS The COSEE Network had a significant presence at the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS) Conference on October 15 -18, 2009, co-sponsoring an ocean science symposium Sustainable Seas: An Interdisciplinary Approach to the Conservation and Management of Ocean Resources and staffing an exhibition hall booth [more]

COSEE at NSTA 2010 Philadelphia March 20, 2010 The day is packed with great COSEE presentations and will last from 8:00AM-4:30PM and will include a luncheon, also at the Sheraton Philadelphia Hotel. For details on the complete COSEE concurrent session about:conferences:nsta visit here. Conference and hotel registration is open.
 Center News
COSEE-Networked Ocean World You are invited to participate in a webinar series designed to share ideas and resources around the challenges of exhibit design and using real time data from Ocean Observing Systems. Join the webinar. Listen to the latest Ocean Gazing podcast and follow the Scarlet Knight glider!

COSEE-Ocean Learning Communities hosted an exhibit table in Portland, Oregon at the North American Association for Environmental Education (NAAEE) Conference, October 7-10. The exhibit provided information on COSEE-OLC as well as having flyers available on all the individual COSEE Centers. The response was very positive and many who came by the exhibit were familiar with the work of COSEE in their State or Region.

Carla Companion 
COSEE-Ocean Systems is pleased to announce the addition of two new staff members to our Center: Carla Companion and Medea Steinman. Carla comes to us from the Seacoast Science Center in Rye, New Hampshire where she worked as an exhibit intern and seasonal naturalist. She has degrees in Environmental Education and Marine Biology and experience in teaching, blogging, and hosting online events using social networking tools. She will be putting her expertise to work as our research associate on social networking and currently serves as co-chair of the COSEE Excellence in Networking Tools Sub-Group (ENTs).

Medea Steinman
Medea is our new Marine Education Associate. She has a Master of Science in Teaching plus formal classroom teaching and education consulting experience. Medea will be strengthening COSEE-OS relationships with educators, providing them increased support for using COSEE-OS tools with their audiences. She will also work on developing and supporting educator-scientist connections that are sustained and that deliver science content effectively.

COSEE-Ocean Systems presented their Educator-Scientist Collaborative Workshop on Ocean-Climate Connections at the University of Connecticut's Avery Point campus on October 8-10, 2009. For this event, 15 educators were matched with 5 ocean and climate scientists to improve their collective understanding of Earth's major ocean-climate systems. COSEE-OS staff facilitated interactions between the scientists and informal and formal educators to infuse cutting-edge research topics into educational products such as concept maps that hyperlink to scientist-vetted images, video, news items, and educational resources.

This workshop was the first COSEE-OS concept mapping workshop to combine groups of formal and informal educators when working with scientists; the goal of which was to give the scientists a breadth of educator perspectives, and for the informal and formal educators to mutually benefit from each other's experience in a diversity of teaching experiences. Read more about our workshops here.

COSEE-Alaska launched SEANET, a network of ocean scientists, educators, and communicators involved in communicating about research in Alaska's seas. Visit SEANET.

COSEE-SouthEast The Climate Change Forum is focusing on the methods of indicating sea level fluctuation, featuring the research of Dr. Pamela Marsh of Georgia Southern University.

COSEE-Great Lakes is in the groove in Ohio!

COSEE-Great Lakes The new edition of the Sweetwater Seascape newsletter is now available.

Dr. Elizabeth Hinchey Malloy, science advisor to COSEE-Great Lakes, is a co-author of an article in EOS in which COSEE is acknowledged as an effective outreach partner: J. A. Harrison, J. H. Cohen, E. Hinchey, A. Moerke, and P. von Dassow, 2009. Developing and Implementing an Effective Public Outreach Program. EOS 90(38): 333-334. Sept 22.
 COSEE Network Calendar
November 2009
COSEE-Ocean Learning Communities Nature Mapping for Beaches Training, November 10, Port Townsend Marine Science Center

COSEE-SouthEast Ocean Awareness Day, November 11, Rocky Mount Children's Museum & Science Center

COSEE-CGOM SAME Conference, November 13-15, Camp Timpoochee, Niceville, Florida

COSEE-Ocean Learning Communities Family Science Weekend, November 14-15, Seattle Aquarium
 Publications
Research Experiences for Science Teachers Research experiences for science teachers can have a direct impact on the achievement of their students, increasing their performance significantly on state assessments. There are also economic benefits - to the schools and to society at large - in having science teachers take part in research experiences. These findings are reported by Samuel C. Silverstein of Columbia University and colleagues in the October 16 issue of the journal Science. Dr. Silverstein is the founder and director of Columbia University's Summer Research Program for Secondary School Science Teachers (CUSRP). [more] Photo: Anita Edwards, middle school teacher and CUSRP participant. Credit: Columbia University

Pew Research Reports Surge in Community College Enrollment The share of 18- to 24-year-olds attending college in the United States hit an all-time high in October 2008, driven by a recession-era surge in enrollments at community colleges, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of newly released data from the U.S. Census Bureau. [more]

Ocean Technology Internships Best Practices Manual From Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution and the Marine Advanced Technology Education (MATE) Center, A Best Practices Manual for Effective MATE Internships looks at creating effective ocean technology internships by giving an overview of strategies as well as policies and procedures to help institutions design and implement effective practical training programs. The manual is divided up into eleven sections, including recruiting, experience, evaluation, resources, and references. Though the handbook is geared specifically toward MATE partners, it can be a helpful resource for any institution looking to create internship programs in ocean careers. Download the manual (pdf).

Multicultural Initiative in the Marine Sciences: Undergraduate Participation The National Science Foundation-funded MIMSUP program is designed to increase diversity within the next generation of marine scientists. Participants receive intensive training in the marine sciences and in professional opportunities available to those who choose this career path. Applications are encouraged, in particular, from U.S. citizens belonging to groups currently underrepresented in the marine sciences (i.e., Native Americans, Alaskan Natives, African Americans, Latino/Hispanics and Pacific Islanders). MIMSUP details. Application deadline: Friday, November 13, 2009.
 Announcements and Resources
NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco Opens Facebook Page Dr. Jane Lubchenco, NOAA Administrator, has established a Facebook page to connect a growing online community of constituents, partners and citizens around the world to NOAA news, people, information and initiatives as they happen. On Dr. Lubchenco's Facebook page, you'll find updates, videos and photos, and a host of new features to come in the weeks and months ahead.

National Ocean Sciences Bowl Updates NOSB is initiating the eOSB (electronic Ocean Sciences Bowl) program this year, in partnership with Massachusetts Institute of Technology. eOSB will be implemented around the country this year and at the 2010 Finals Competition in St. Petersburg, Florida. November 9-22, 2009, NOSB, in conjunction with Deep Earth Academy, will be hosting a professional development g for NOSB coaches. The overlying theme of this webinar will be marine technology. The goal is to help give coaches the tools that they need to help their teams be successful this year in the competition, where the theme is Technology. The deadline for the Living on the Ocean Planet video contest is January 25, 2010. Any high school student or team can enter a video on the theme of technology. For more information, visit the NOSB website.

ITEST Webinar: Engaging Diverse Learners in STEM Education and the Workforce The NSF ITEST Learning Resource Center at Education Development Center, Inc recently held a webinar with a focus on student/youth diversity, highlighting specific strategies, successes and challenges related to engaging these diverse learners in STEM education and the workforce. Participants who joined this webinar to learned from ITEST projects working across the U.S., in both urban and rural communities and with youth of varying race, ethnicity, SES, English-language proficiency, and gender. Access the webinar archive. For more information visit the ITEST Learning Resource Center website.

Ocean Leadership Calendar View the Ocean Leadership Calendar. If you have any additions, send email submissions to Gregg Schmidt.
Contribute to CNN! Send news and announcements of interest to the COSEE Network community to the editor, Catherine Cramer.

 COSEE Centers and Council Representatives
COSEE-Alaska (Nora Deans, North Pacific Research Board)
COSEE-California (Craig Strang, UC Berkeley)
COSEE-Central Gulf of Mexico (Sharon Walker, Scott Marine Education Center and Aquarium)
COSEE-Coastal Trends (Laura Murray, U of Maryland Center for Environmental Science)
COSEE-Great Lakes (Rosanne Fortner, Ohio State University)
COSEE-Networked Ocean World World (Janice McDonnell, Rutgers University)
COSEE-New England (Billy Spitzer, New England Aquarium)
COSEE-Ocean Learning Communities (Phil Bell, University of Washington)
COSEE-Ocean Systems (Annette deCharon, Darling Marine Center, University of Maine)
COSEE-Pacific Partnerships (Jan Hodder, Oregon Institute of Marine Biology)
COSEE-SouthEast (Lundie Spence, South Carolina Sea Grant Consortium)
COSEE-West (Linda Duguay, University of Southern California)