The first Global Ocean Science Education (GOSE) Workshop in June 2015 brought together ocean scientists and education professionals from 15 nations. Panels discussed ocean science education across the K-12 pipeline, undergraduate and graduate education, and public education. Working groups discussed the future of global ocean science education, opportunities and steps for building international collaborations, and establishing a global network of networks.
For the collaborative Acoustics Teacher Technology Experience (TTE) with American School for the Deaf (ASD), COSEE-TEK staff designed a new do-it-yourself hydrophone based upon the design by Vivas and Lopez presented in this manuscript entitled "Construction, calibration, and field test of a home-made, low-cost hydrophone system for cetacean acoustic research" (2014). This design is low-cost, effective and simpler than previous designs, using a piezo-electric element potted with epoxy in a simple housing to record the sound. The DIY hydrophone project has evolved with design improvements, refined methods, and increased collaboration with community colleges and the Marine Technology for Teachers and Students (MaTTS) program at University of Rhode Island.
Students play a game that demonstrates the importance of primary production by Arctic Ocean ice algae and the use of isotopes to trace sources of nutrients in food webs. They also discuss the implications of shrinking Arctic sea ice as a result of climate change.
A new report, "Opportunities for Creating Lifelong Ocean Science Literacy", is now available. COSEE OCEAN sponsored an inquiry group to examine the current state of ocean science literacy, writ broadly, and to provide an expert perspective on how ocean literacy can be further developed and enhanced, especially through less-recognized channels such as opportunistic learning, the private and “third” sectors, and the enormously varied activities under the heading of “informal science education.” T
Our COSEE partner in Florida is offering a new opportunity to support middle school science teachers through the Ocean 180 Video Challenge, bringing ocean science research into classrooms through film.
COSEE-TEK has sponsored two Ocean Science and Technology Days at the Mystic Aquarium that provide scientists the opportunity to broaden the impact of their science to over 3500 visitors annually. COSEE-TEK worked with UConn’s Department of Marine Science to develop 10 exhibits and demonstrations that featured ocean science and the technologies. Post visit surveys have indicated that visitors really enjoyed interacting with the scientists and having hands-on opportunities with the technologies. Click here to download the brochure.
COSEE-TEK’s citizen science based, water quality monitoring project entitled “The Courtship of EVA & BOB” utilizes an easily constructed, cost effective basic observation buoy (BOB) as a floating platform with capacity to carry a suite of environmental sensors for extended periods of time. This document provides detailed information on the preparation, deployment and recovery of the buoy and all associated sensors to help facilitate educators in their local water quality monitoring efforts.
COSEE-TEK’s citizen science based, water quality monitoring project entitled “The Courtship of EVA & BOB” utilizes an easily constructed, cost effective basic observation buoy (BOB) as a floating platform with capacity to carry a suite of environmental sensors for extended periods of time. This document provides detailed information on the preparation, deployment and recovery of Ethylene Vinyl Acetate (EVA) passive samplers to help facilitate educators in their local water quality monitoring efforts.
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) created this booklet to show its findings on global climate change to the public. The 80-page packet contains accessible and easy-to-understand explanations of many of the phenomena associated with global climate change and dozens of graphs to show the scientific support for the theory. This packet includes chapters on greenhouse gases, ocean changes, and snow/ice melting. Useful as supportive material for high school courses covering climate change.
Fit for grades 3-8, this is the lesson plan for a hands-on demonstration of how the moon and sun affect the ocean in the form of tides. Students join hands in a circle to simulate the world’s oceans, and lean back in order to demonstrate the pull of celestial bodies on the water.
This activity, made by the COSEE West program, gives a visual demonstration of the effects of increased acidity in seawater. Using dry ice, a natural indicator such as red cabbage dye, and a pH meter, students can see what happens when a lot of carbon dioxide is placed into water. The color change in the cabbage dye indicates the change in acidity, and that change can then be quantitatively measured using a pH meter or pH paper.
This activity, made by the COSEE West program, gives a tactile demonstration of the effects of increased acidity in seawater. The lesson plan has the students douse egg shells, sea shells, coral skeleton, or other calcified animal products in various liquids including vinegar, lemon juice, and soda water to see the effect that increased acidity has on marine organisms. Students are encouraged to look at the pH of the liquid by using pH paper, red cabbage juice as an indicator, or a pH meter, and then study the effect that acidic solutions have on calcium-carbonate based products. (High School)
This activity booklet created by NOAA encourages ocean stewardship ideas to younger elementary students (K-3). This activity book can be printed out for a fun and educational afternoon! These pages include a word search, fun facts about marine debris, tips about packing a more marine friendly lunchbox, coloring pages and information about marine sanctuaries around the United States. This NOAA-created activity is geared toward kindergarten through 3rd grade students.
Get to know your Hawaiian seabirds and shorebirds with these activity pages. Break the secret code to find out information about different kinds of birds that live in and around Hawaii. Color, cut out and glue together seabird pictures in order to make a hanging mobile for your room. Unscramble words to find out about the Golden Plover, and plot the course that it flies from Hawaii to Alaska every year. Finally, learn more about marine debris by helping a Laysan Albatross navigate its way through a maze of nets and trash to get to its food. Fun for grades 2-7.
Scientific Process in Practice was a 2 hour long, weekly seminar designed to complement a field course for incoming oceanography majors (sophomores and juniors). Through hands-on activities, this seminar aimed to help students succeed in the field and later science courses.
Created by graduates students in the UH Communicating Ocean Sciences course, the goals of the lesson are primarily to demonstrate how scientists assess reef health (i.e. how we count reef inhabitants) and secondarily to explain the importance of coral reef ecosystems.
Ocean FEST family science nights feature hands-on ocean-themed science activities for students in grades 3–6 and their families. Our goals are to: (1) educate participants about ocean and earth science issues that are relevant to their communities; and (2) inspire students — especially those from underrepresented groups — to pursue careers in the ocean and earth sciences. This web page offers the pdf for eight activities used for this program. All activities have resource lists and are linked to Hawaii standards.
HIMB has developed a series of high school lessons that uses Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) and telepresence technology to explore the coral reefs of K?ne‘ohe Bay. The AUV was developed for HIMB by engineers at the MIT Sea Grant AUV Lab. Science content relates to water quality, reef biodiversity, and threats to coral reefs. Teachers can also utilize each set of lesson materials independently of the AUV. Lessons introduce science topics and describe how to conduct transect-quadrat investigations and estimate basic diversity statistics, or analyze water quality data. If you are a teacher interested in the Reef Mission project for your science class, please contact us via email. Or, if you would like to use our lesson modules in your own classroom independent of the AUV, they can be downloaded here:
