Researchers at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s Florida Marine Research Institute (FMRI) are on the edge of scientific discovery. They are working to discover the mysteries of Karenia brevis (K. brevis), the dinoflagellate responsible for many of Florida’s red tides.
In this activity, created by the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, students will investigate eight types of Harmful Algal Blooms, including an example of how scientific perspectives can change rapidly as a result of new research.
How can we make the invisible - visible, particularly the toxins and various forms of pollution we find in the Indian River Lagoon? The ORCA team has developed a technique to identify toxins in sediments (FAST) and deployed water quality monitoring equipment (KILROY) to determine the source of toxins and their rate of accumulation.
This resource contains links to hands-on activities, lesson plans, and background information on scientific resources for middle and high school educators, plus information on Florida Science Standards and Principles of Ocean Literacy.
In the past year, COSEE-OS has run a series of model workshops that bring together teams of researchers and educators in order to synergistically improve communication of complex science topics using concept mapping and web-based tools. On January 29, 2010, at the University of Maine’s Darling Marine Center, a new pilot workshop was launched that challenged scientists and graduate students (as well as a few postdoctoral researchers) to open new lines of communication at the academic level.
The Marine Advisory Program of Alaska Sea Grant provides this source of information on what climate change means to Alaskans and planning for adaptation to predicted changes.
NOAA/UAF. The mission of ACCAP is to assess the socio-economic and biophysical impacts of climate variability in Alaska, make this information available to local and regional decision-makers and improve the ability of Alaskans to adapt to a changing climate.
America’s oceans are in crisis and the stakes could not be higher. More than half the U.S. population lives in coastal counties. The resident population in this area is expected to increase by 25 million people by 2015. More than 180 million people visit the shore for recreation every year.
We have all experienced this before: Someone emails or asks you about a piece of paper, such as an application for a workshop, that they had given you weeks ago, and suddenly your mind goes blank. Did I really get that paper? What did I do with it? I’m pretty sure that I put it in its appropriate file, but what if I didn’t? This is when I start to panic, until I can get to my desk and flip through my files. I always find whatever I am looking for, but I could do without the panic attack. The logical solution? Put these forms online, which is what COSEE West did this year with our applications for our summer workshops.
How do you communicate among hundreds of ocean scientists and educators spread across the largest, but most-wired, state in the country? How do you add in the many scientists who do their research in Alaska’s seas but have home institutions in many other states? COSEE Alaska identified the development and support of SeaNET, the Network of Scientists and Educators in Alaska, as one the highest priorities of their project.
One of the many opportunities COSEE West offers our educators is online workshops, where people from all over the world can interact with each other, as well as with our scientist speakers. It is also a great way for a scientist to broaden their outreach without ever having to leave their city.
Over the years, some of our online workshop participants have been asking for live chat capability. It’s one thing to post questions and read answers, but there is still nothing like a real-time, face-to-face interaction. During our Spring 2009 online workshop on the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) and Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), we tried out a live chat via Adobe Connect. Adobe Connect is quite versatile in that it allows participants to share their desktop (one at a time), edit documents in real-time and see each other via webcams. It allowed our speaker to identify misunderstandings and address them right away, without having to wait for a question and then write something back.
COSEE-OS regularly runs workshops pairing educators and scientists, teaching them how to use concept mapping to communicate complex ideas in science to their audiences. As part of this process, the scientists and educators are matched into teams based on their understanding of several content areas. The matching process has developed over time to become a quantitative and repeatable process that has been responsible for the creation of successful scientist/educator teams.
Though most of that process is not usually shared with workshop participants, the COSEE team thought it might be information that could be shared with the teachers. To give them a better idea as to our rationale and invite them to better get to know our process, we thought of ways to convey that information in a new way. Instead of writing many emails or posting static content to our webpage, we looked to a blog as a potential tool for giving our workshop a voice.
A case study describing how Bryan Field, a veteran teacher of 12 years and science faculty member at Conant High School in Jaffrey, New Hampshire, uses the COSEE-OS multimedia tools to help his students organize information and see the bigger story.
Oceanographers and fisheries scientists have organized multi-agency efforts to the address the question of how global climate change may affect the abundance and production of animals in the region of the South Atlantic Bight. Visit the COSEE SouthEast website to access a variety of links related to SAB research, monitoring, management, and more.
Fisheries Learning on the Web is a comprehensive curriculum about the Great Lakes ecosystem with three core units: Food Web, Water and Fish. Geared toward upper elementary and middle school educators, this standards-based lesson features hands-on activities.
