OCEAN LITERACY (n.): Ocean literacy is an understanding of the oceans influence on you and your influence on the ocean.
Through a community-wide consensus-building process, a collection of essential principles and fundamental concepts have been developed to help remedy the lack of ocean related content in state and national science education standards, instructional materials and assessments.
COSEE NOW is working on hands-on workshops and on-line training opportunities that use Ocean Observing Systems data and resources to empower teachers and scientists to improve ocean literacy.
Here are some examples
- COSEE NOW and COSEE CA are focusing on creating new models of teacher professional development, to help K-12 teachers learn ocean science concepts, skills and related pedagogy through the MARE (Marine Activities Resources & Education) program. MARE is a K-8 marine science supplementary program that brings ocean science content to the classroom.
- Communicating Ocean Science for Informal Audiences (COSIA) is an undergraduate/graduate course developed by the Lawrence Hall of Science at COSEE CA and implemented at COSEE NOW partners including Rutgers University and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). The course engages students in learning about how people learn and improving communication of science to the public.
- The Liberty Science Center is working on developing innovative exhibits and activities using real time data. Join their online discussions in the forum to learn more.
COSEE NOW has also developed a prototype Ocean Literacy Interactive Animation to promote ocean literacy in schools and informal settings. We are currently soliciting feedback from the community to help us improve the interactive. We encourage you to use this animation in your programs or share it with your colleagues. Then let us know how you used it and how you think it could be improved.