Rutgers Ocean Days

Thanks for bringing your students to Rutgers University to celebrate ocean sciences!

An opportunity for students to share their marine science projects with Rutgers Oceanographers AND for Rutgers Oceanographers to share their science with your students.

Rutgers Ocean Days 2013 – Our Changing Ocean

Rutgers Ocean Days 2013 was a HUGE success! Thank you to all the students for your hard work preparing and participating, to all the teachers for making this happen for your students, and to all the Rutgers scientists who participated and worked so hard to make the events happen.

** To see photos from the three days of events visit the appropriate flickr page: Rutgers Ocean Days – Elementary School, Rutgers Ocean Days – Middle School, or Rutgers Ocean Days- High School.

** To read press coverage about the events visit: “Rutgers Research Highlights Ocean Days”

Rutgers Ocean Days 2013 Competition Winners:

Tuesday, April 9th – Grades 3-5 (“Fish & Adaptations”)

  1. How do scientists tag & track fish populations? (Lincoln School, Poster)
  2. How do living things affect each other? (MLK Elementary School, Poster)

Wednesday, April 10th – Grades 6-8 (“Fish & Climate Change”)

  1. Anxious Anglers (Homeschool group, Film)
  2. Impact of Climate Change on Fish Biomass (Cambridge School, Poster)
  3. How does the increase in temperature due to global warming affect the migration pattern of the Southern Elephant Seal? (Paterson Talented & Gifted Academy, Poster)

Thursday, April 11th – Grades 9-12 (“Climate Change & the Ocean”)

  1. Swimming in acid (East Orange STEM Academy, Poster)
  2. The effect of acid rain on algae (JFK High STEM Academy, Poster)

Rutgers Ocean Days: What is it? 

Rutgers Ocean Days brings students (grades 3-12) from public, private, and informal science education programs to Rutgers University to celebrate their scientific accomplishments. The goal of Rutgers Ocean Days is to excite and engage students in ocean science by providing a platform for them to learn from Rutgers oceanographers and to share results from their investigations with one another and Rutgers oceanographers.

This event encourages students to develop questions and participate in an inquiry-based scientific experiment or develop a research project that builds upon their marine and ocean science knowledge.  Through their investigations, students will become actively engaged in ocean science rather than just learning the content, and will be able to act as science communicators and peer educators. Through the Rutgers Ocean Days preparation and events students are exposed to a range of New Jersey Science Content Standards, both subject specific and science practices.

What does this look like for you and your students?

We develop Rutgers Ocean Days to offer your students a variety of activities (classroom, day-of stations, and science presentation) that complement one another to expose your students to current marine science research, to answer a motivating question, and to address a range of NJ science content and practice standards in a fun and engaging way for your students.

The themes for Rutgers Ocean Days 2014 will be announced in August 2013. Through these themes we ask classes/clubs to investigate a component of the theme and think about how it relates to their lives. As you talk through the ideas that the students generate, ask your students: how they could test or research that idea or question in an investigation? Our goal is for the students not simply to present a series of “facts” about the ocean but rather their observations and discoveries about the ocean.

The themes will help students understand how they are part of the ocean they are studying (as emphasized in the Ocean Literacy Principle 6: the ocean and humans are inextricably interconnected). In addition, Rutgers Ocean Days exposes students to all of the strands of the New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards – Science Standard 5.1 (Science Practices).

Student Presentations:

Each class/club will develop and present a presentation on their investigations during the Science Expo at Rutgers Ocean Days.  The students will share their investigations with other students as well as Rutgers University faculty, graduate students, and undergraduates.

** Students should work in groups no larger than 5 for conducting their investigations and preparing/presenting their presentations. **

All posters will be presented during the Science Expo. Each class/club will have an area of the meeting room to set up their display. Members of the class/club will rotate through presenting on their investigation and observing other students’ investigations.

2013 Poster Information:

• Poster Information Packet
• Poster Entry Form
• Poster Rubric
• Download the Sample Poster
• Advice about Scientific Investigations

Logistics & Important Forms:

** Reminder – send Kristin you information about bus vs. cars and how many by April 1st

** Students NEED to bring their own lunches to the event

Photo Release Form  - needs to be completed by every parent and brought to the event

IMCS Assistance & Contact Information:

The East Coast MARE Team at IMCS is ready to help in whatever way we can. We can help your students to develop questions or design the investigation, to provide assistance undertaking the investigation, to brainstorm poster content, to assist in the development of the storyboard for a film, and many other tasks. See the blog post on Science Investigations to learn helpful hints for how to conduct experiments in your classroom.

For questions or additional information on the Rutgers Ocean Days please contact Kristin Hunter-Thomson at hunterthomson@marine.rutgers.edu. Please include “Rutgers Ocean Days” in the subject line of your email to ensure a prompt response.