ED31C-0750 0800h
The Marine Language Exchange Program: an International Approach to Ocean Sciences
The ability of scientists to communicate across cultural and linguistic barriers is crucial for the global economic sustainability and protection of the world's oceans. Yet students with majors in the sciences and engineering constitute less than 2% of those who study abroad each year. And even fewer are students who study in countries where English is not the first language. The Marine Language Exchange program is a case study of an international and interdisciplinary collaboration between faculties in the languages and the sciences that address this gap. A consortium of U.S. and European institutions including University of Washington (Washington), Eckerd College (Florida), University of Hilo (Hawaii), Universit\'{e} de la Rochelle (France), Universit\'{e} de Li\`{e}ge (Belgium), and Universidad de Las Palmas (Spain) is developing a multilingual, marine sciences exchange program in an effort to internationalize their ocean sciences departments. The program includes a three-week, intensive "bridge" course designed to reinforce second language skills in the context of marine sciences, and prepare undergraduate students for the cultural and educational differences of their host country. Following this preparatory immersion experience students from each institution enroll in courses abroad for 6 to 12 months to study marine sciences for full academic credit. Different disciplinary approaches -Second Language Acquisition, English as a Second Language and Marine Science- prepare science students to contribute to the study and the management of the world\'{}s oceans with an awareness of the cultural issues reflected by national marine policies.
http://www.marine-language-exch.org/
ED31C-0751 0800h
Learning Activities Developed at The University of Texas at Austin Institute for Geophysics Using Ocean Drilling Science, Technology and Data
NSF GK-12 Fellows at The University of Texas at Austin Institute for Geophysics (UTIG) actively contribute to K-12 education by linking K-12 students and teachers to research scientists and recent discoveries, and by developing hands-on learning activities designed primarily for secondary school learning environments. The excitement of the new Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP), an international research program that explores the history and structure of the Earth by studying the sediments and rocks beneath the seafloor, has provided UTIG's GK-12 Fellows with an incentive to develop new, and revise existing, inquiry-based learning activities based on the science, technology and/or data of scientific ocean drilling. These activities, grouped into a curriculum module, address the mechanics of collecting cores, fossil identification and age relationships within a core, and the interpretation of geophysical logs. They expose teachers and students to the exciting science and advanced technology of the IODP and the achievements of the Ocean Drilling Program, which preceded IODP. UTIG scientists active in the IODP guided the development of the module's science content. The module activities are aligned with U.S. educational standards, but could be adapted for use in other countries that participate in the IODP. Where this isn't possible, they can serve as an example of educational curriculum materials that underscore the vital nature of international collaboration.
http://www.ig.utexas.edu/outreach/gk-12/index.htm
ED31C-0752 0800h
Fatal Attraction - a Discovery of the Earth Magnetic Field
The Educational and Outreach Group of the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica & Vulcanologia (E&O Group, INGV Rome) has recently projected for the next ``Science Festival'' (Genova next October), a new exhibition devoted to the Earth Magnetic Field. This brand new display is linked to the exhibition prepared for the last year festival, and devoted to Earthquakes and Plate Tectonics, through a common exhibit that shows the inner structure of the Earth. The aim of this exhibition is to illustrate and to divulgate to the public of all level the features and the physical processes behind the magnetic field. It will be also emphasized the role played by the magnetic shield to allow life on Earth, and its historical key role in the human cultural progress since Greek civilities and in the navigation. The people visiting this stand will try some simple and intriguing hands-on experiments on magnetism and electromagnetism (what is a field, the generation of a magnetic field by means of electricity, the ``shape of the field'', the ``strength'' of the earth magnetic field.), and will then go on with the understanding of the mechanisms behind the field generation and its time variations. Further multimedia, interactive games and installations will be employed to illustrate the characteristics of the magnetic field going from the Core of the Earth to the Space, not forgetting some natural impressive shows as Auroras and Magnetic Storms. The new trends of research, as inversions, models, Space Weather, will be shown too, to give the easiest but most complete perspective on the Geomagnetic Field.
ED31C-0753 0800h
Educational Activities of the European Geosciences Union
The Committee on Education of the European Geosciences Union has been created in 2002 and is now composed by 13 members from France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Poland, Spain and Sweden. One of the first activities of the CE has been the organization of workshops for secondary school teachers to be held during the annual General Assembly of EGU. Inspired by the AGU GIFT workshops, the EGU workshops differ from the American ones on their international aspect: - First, the audience (about 50 teachers) is entirely international, composed of teachers from all over Europe and not limited to teachers from the geographical area around Nice, where the two first workshops were held. - Second, the program of the workshops have been constructed to give the teachers not only an opportunity to upgrade their knowledge in important scientific topics, but also to exchange information with colleagues about the different school programs in different European countries. In 2004, for instance, the general theme of the 2-days workshop was "The Ocean" and the program consisted of a mixture of topical talks by leading scientists in the field (2/3 of the time) and informal talks/program presentations by the teachers themselves and the science educators present at the workshop (1/3 of the time), resulting in lively exchanges and future collaborations between teachers. Different aspects of this workshop will be described as well as other present and future activities of the Committee on Education of the EGU.