In an effort to increase the visibility of the National COSEE Network within target audiences, the National COSEE Office is working to establish an organized COSEE presence at various national science and education society conferences and meetings including:
Ocean Scientists - American Geophysical Union (AGU) and Ocean Sciences (AGU, ASLO, TOS)
Diversity (Students Underrepresented/Underserved in STEM Disciplines) - Society for Advancing Chicanos and Native Americans in Sciences (SACNAS)
Science Education - National Science Teachers Association (NSTA)
Posters and other conference presentation materials are displayed here.
Ocean Inquiry Project (OIP) — a strategic partner of COSEE-Ocean Learning Communities (COSEE-OLC) — connects ocean scientists and members of the public in deep and meaningful learning experiences, while doing rigorous, scientific data collection. In 2011 OIP sought to understand the impact of these experiences on the participating scientists.
Despite legislative initiatives to bolster Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) education, U.S. students, particularly those from the Gulf Coast, and their Mexican counterparts, continue to perform poorly on international assessments. To address the need for enhanced STEM education, the Gulf of Mexico Coastal Ocean Observing System Regional Association (GCOOS-RA) is working with its data partners to develop the skills needed to understand and appreciate the science and technology required to manage the living resources of the Gulf of Mexico, make informed voting decisions, power the future work force, and compete in a global economy.
A focus of COSEE Florida is establishing opportunities for ocean scientists and preservice science middle grade teachers (interns) to work together on ocean science research projects. The Research Experience for Preservice Teachers (REPT) Program was launched in 2011 as a summer research experience for six preservice teachers and scientist mentor teams. Evaluation of the REPT cohort experiences examine the extent to which (1) preservice teachers increased their understanding of the nature of science, science research, and the scientific enterprise, and (2) members of the ocean scientist mentor teams sharpened their mentoring and research team management skills.
UCLA’s Marine Biology Quarter (MBQ) is an intensive, hands-on, immersion field research experience abroad for undergraduates. During the 2010 MBQ in Moorea, French Polynesia, undergraduates developed broad skills in marine ecology research, including exploring ecosystems, designing projects, scouting locations, performing fieldwork, and analyzing and interpreting data.
Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, site of the Gulf of Maine and the World Ocean REU, provides undergraduates the opportunity to develop skills conducting independent scientific research in lower trophic level oceanography using state of the art methods and research technologies. Our goal is to increase the number of underrepresented minority students pursuing graduate degrees in ocean science, with an emphasis on engaging Native Americans.
In August 2011, an external evaluator was hired to assess our first three years as an REU site; here we present an overview of our program and those evaluation results, focusing on the short and long-term impacts of the program on minority participants and their post-program academic and career paths.
The North Atlantic Bloom (NAB) webinar series features the research of scientists from the 2008 NAB Experiment and focuses on key concepts in ocean science. The NAB scientists partnered with COSEE-Ocean Systems to produce the series, which includes multiple interactive concept maps, an integrated set of activities based on actual cruise data, and comprehensive presentations that upon one another for a final, cohesive program.
Student Enabled Network of Sensors for the Environment using Innovative Technology (SENSE IT) integrates STEM skills into a robust interdisciplinary curricula and teacher professional development effort by teaching high school students to construct, deploy and interpret data from their own environmental sensors. The project fosters STEM career awareness among students, teachers, guidance counselors, administrators and parents. SENSE IT provides students with a real-world application and an opportunity to see their STEM skills used in a compelling and engaging project.
The Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) will reshape the way ocean science is conducted. Recent advances in the delivery of web-based education, and use of visualization technology and data visualization tools in educational contexts, have led to the development of on-line platforms for instruction that engages students in active scientific inquiry by collecting and analyzing data of real world phenomena.
This poster describes the ORE Program, a pilot project to improve technology and engineering literacy in 6-12th grades using REMUS and an underwater docking station.
Underrepresented minority (URM) students were applying to the MATE internship program in lower numbers than their non-URM counterparts. In 2009- 2010, MATE conducted a national study to examine the barriers to participation in marine technical internships aboard research vessels. 136 college students from six different college technical programs participated in focus groups and surveys in an effort to understand why some students were more likely to participate than others.
The Association of Polar Early Careers Scientists (APECS) is an organization for undergraduate and graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, early career faculty members and educators with interests in Polar Regions. APECS developed during the 4th International Polar Year (IPY 2007-2008) with the primary objectives of stimulating interdisciplinary and international research collaboration and developing effective future leaders in polar research, education and outreach.
The COSEE Florida Ocean Science Learning Network takes advantage of the abundance of high quality informal education centers across the state. The community-based centers have proven to be ideal venues for connecting ocean scientists to local audiences, including collaborations with educators, because of their well established school and public outreach programs.
COSEE West – Colorado Collaborative is a partnership that focuses on making ocean sciences relevant to inland audiences; it also exposes teachers from the interior Southwest and Southern California to ocean-/climate-related issues faced by each.
COSEE-CA researchers have developed a survey that measures understanding and attitudes about the ocean and the role that ocean sciences play in supporting understanding of Earth systems. A measure of ocean literacy, or the understanding of the mutual impact between humans and the ocean, is necessary to properly assess where awareness of ocean concepts is lacking and for potential interventions.
Since 2008, educators have convened for five days during the summer at UCLA, USC and three informal science center partners; NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Ocean Institute and Cabrillo Marine Aquarium. Throughout the day, hands-on activities engage educators in marine science concepts, ocean observing technology, how to collect data and use online data in the classroom. Each day a featured researcher presents their research using drifters, gliders, satellites or other ocean observing technology, followed by questions and answers. Ocean Literacy Principles are tied to lessons and activities.
The Marine Advanced Technology Education (MATE) Center and COSEE NOW are using ocean drifters to teach college students about the interrelationship of ocean processes and understand how oceanography relies on technology to observe and measure the state of the oceans.
The Aquarius mission is brimming with educational content that hits all four areas of STEM: science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The design and engineering of the satellite, the science of ocean observing, the technical specifications for the mission and the importance of understanding global processes through data can all be illustrated using Aquarius as an example.
In this poster, NASA’s education and outreach team illustrates their multi-pronged approach to creating educational products and opportunities for educators to utilize information and data about Aquarius.
The OAO (Oceanographic Autonomous Observations) team operates automatic platforms such as gliders and profiling floats and is also strongly implicated in the technological development of their "new generation" in terms of scientific payloads. The acquired multi-sensor data, particularly focusing on marine biogeochemically-relevant data (e.g. oxygen, nitrate, chlorophyll-a, amount of light penetrating the Ocean) together with temperature and salinity, then serve within the wide fields of fundamental research and operational applications. Within this framework and making use of the exceptional characteristics of such autonomous platforms (e.g. multidisciplinary real-time data in high resolution, possibility for sub-regional to global perspectives), the OAO team also seeks to contribute the more and more towards educational and outreach activities. On a local/and international basis, thus several activities are proposed and the development of attractive outreach approaches is undertaken.
Process studies employing autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) off central California have advanced the scientific understanding of harmful algal blooms (HABs), as well as the educational resources to explain them. These process studies gathered multidisciplinary observations from AUVs, moorings, ships, aircraft, and satellites. Moored systems included autonomous robotic biochemistry systems for in situ detection of HAB species and toxins.
Integrating the knowledge gained from a series of process studies, we developed a visualization of processes that influence bloom ecology in Monterey Bay, California. This visualization, rendered to static and dynamic content, emphasizes how HAB ecology is profoundly influenced by processes that originate at the boundaries of coastal marine ecosystems. In its dynamic form, the illustration is presented in language that is accessible to resource managers and the general public.
A poster presentation of the Lamont-Doherty Secondary School Field Research Program in Piedmont Marsh, including a description of the marsh, list of participants, and information on plankton tows, sediment accretion, fish, phragmites, soil carbon, hydrology, and nutrients concentrations.
The upper layers of the Canadian Basin constitute a large reservoir of freshwater and buoyancy that derives from river runoff, sea-ice meltwater, and relatively fresh North Pacific waters. We use salinity, oxygen isotopes and nutrient concentrations to study the varying contribution from freshwater components in a series of Arctic Ocean cruises between 1989 and 2005.
The Mediterranean, a semi-enclosed regional sea with more than twenty riparian states, has its specificities and characteristics from an environmental and societal point of view. It represents a challenging “playground” for all concerned, including actors within the fields of research or decision-making. In the light of this, it also seems necessary to develop strategies and collaborations to educate and outreach on “Mare nostrum” and the today’s challenges associated.
We believe that public outreach is one of our duties to society. We organize activities in order to popularize oceanography and the impact of climate change on marine ecosystem in the schools. The activities are mainly proposed to 10-12 year old children and they are organized in two meetings. These activities started in the framework of the European IP Project SESAME (Southern European Seas: Assessing and Modeling Ecosystem changes), but they continue today.
In 2007, The Island School launched the BESS Program targeting the next generation of Bahamian leadership who will be most important for the social, environmental, and economic stability of this island nation.
BESS students enroll in a year-long, high school post-graduate program that includes a semester at The Island School and a six-month internship at a conservation-related organization such as Bahamas Reef Environment Education Foundation, the Bahamas National Trust, or the Cape Eleuthera Institute. The internship gives students real-world work experience and helps them develop an understanding of the environmental and conservation issues that are of primary importance to The Bahamas.
