OS13M-01
The NOAA Ocean Exploration Program: Scientists' Participation in Outreach and Education
The NOAA Ocean Exploration Program (OE) dedicates 10% of its annual budget (in FY05, approximately \$2.3M); to education and public outreach (EPO). One requirement for OE funding is an agreement on the part of grant recipients to actively cooperate with OE's various EPO endeavors. As a consequence, but also because of the desire and initiative on the part of OE Principal Investigators, the OE's EPO efforts have resulted in significant mutual benefits to both the program and individual scientists. Since the program's inception 5 years ago, EPO activities have been implemented mainly through OE's award-winning web site and through events and activities initiated by OE's Directors of education programs and media relations. Notable successes have included PI involvement in development of curricula and Internet-based programs that feature week-long active public interactions with OE scientists. Now, OE is poised to initiate a major ongoing satellite-based EPO program from its new dedicated research vessel, the Okeanos Explorer, which will become operational in 2007. A pilot program in the summer of 2005, on the NOAA ship Ron Brown, demonstrated that this capability was an effective venue for reaching tens of thousands of students and teachers through OE's partnership with the Institute For Exploration and, in turn, its links to both the Boys and Girls Clubs of America and the JASON Foundation. On this cruise, the Chief Scientist (Dr. Debbie Kelly, University of Washington) and her team led the science in near-real time, from a remote science command center located at the university although the research vessel was on a Mid-Atlantic Ridge cruise more than 4000 miles away. Two-way broadband communications, including HD video, was streamed via satellite to Internet 2 pathways between scientists on shore and on the ship as well as from an ROV being used to explore and study the submerged Lost City hydrothermal site. OE plans to have a large number of such science command centers distributed throughout the US. This will enable more ocean scientists to participate in near-real time in OE expeditions and will also provide the means for them to communicate the scientific, educational, and societal values of their research to a very large public audience.
OS13M-02
On the Hudson River: New and Innovative Programs Linking Scientists to Educators, Their Students, and the General Public
A major goal of the NSF funded Centers for Ocean Science Education Excellence - Mid Atlantic (COSEE MA) is to improve the communication between educators and ocean scientists for the benefit of educators, their students, and ultimately the scientists themselves, as public understanding and appreciation for ocean research grows. COSEE-MA is working on a plan for developing web products and programs that facilitate timely connections and exchange of information between ocean scientists and educators. One such program is centered on the Lagrangian Transport and Transformation Experiment (LaTTE), an NSF funded project focused on the Hudson River outflow. LaTTE is a multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional project with a strong linkage between the scientists engaged in the research and the educators bringing the research to the students and the general public. On example of this interaction grew out of a partnership Rutgers developed with the Liberty Science Center (LSC) in Jersey City, NJ. Through this partnership a pilot program "On the Hudson River", a professional development workshop for 12 educators in August of 2005. Participants interacted with Rutgers scientists and COSEE-MA educators for 3 days to learn about the Hudson River estuary and related resources they can use with their students. Through this program scientists were able to introduce the research and techniques involved in the LaTTE effort. Teachers were able to bring back to the classroom that knowledge plus hands-on technical experience. Additional examples take advantage of improving wireless communication systems. With this new technology, scientists on board the ships were linked to reporters and educators on shore. This interaction facilitated the real-time transfer of information between ship and shore; scientist and the general public. With these new and innovative projects, public outreach and education has become an important component of research in the Hudson River Estuary.
OS13M-03 INVITED
Outreach - What's in it for me and how can I stay sane?
As faculty and scientists, our job is sometimes modeled as a three legged stool: teaching, research and service. Recently the expectation of research institutes and federal science organizations and funding agencies for scientists to conduct outreach has been placed on top of that stool. This three legged stole is not the best model to support effective outreach while maintaining expertise in these other activities. We will discuss a different model that better supports our work. I will also present some examples and partnerships of how outreach activities fit this model, support our responsibilities while maintaining our sanity. If we are to take outreach seriously, we must also address the training of our graduate students. Historically, outreach has not been a core responsibility of scientists. Therefore (similar to teaching) the mentoring of science graduate students often does not include training in outreach. Make no mistake about it. One of the most important skills that need to be developed during graduate student days is the skill of communicating work to a wide array of audiences. That facility enables students to speak effectively about their research with scientific peers, then walk into an undergraduate classroom to tell a batch of 19-year-old students about the same exciting stuff. Additionally, it equips them to communicate their work accurately to friends and neighbors, and it even makes it possible for them to communicate directly with the public. But how can we familiarize them with concepts and processes important to communicating science successfully to a variety of audiences who are characterized by one or more of the following: They may have scant knowledge of science; They may not even be sure they are interested in science; They will encounter your messages in the context of their hectic, workaday world; They are increasingly diverse in both backgrounds and interests. This presentation will address one approach on how this is accomplished through concentrated activities on three skills important to all informal education efforts: explanation, storytelling, and strategic research. Attaining these skills impacts their ability to teach and conduct research.
OS13M-04
Muilti-Directional Teaching and Learning: Who Reached Out?
In designing and executing an outreach program, we learned some very interesting lessons, several of them unanticipated. Our program was phased. In summer 2004, we engaged two high school teachers for a month at the Darling Marine Center of the University of Maine to help select teaching materials developed in several undergraduate courses for potential use in a high school setting. The topic was fluid dynamics generally and biological fluid dynamics specifically. We chose these issues because they appear to be the easiest route of first exposure to concepts and methods of continuum mechanics. Lesson one from the exercise was that no teaching material can be too fundamental. In summer 2005 we engaged one of the previous teachers and five more to develop standards-relevant curricular materials based on our previous summer's selections and foci. The materials developed highlighted pressure, buoyancy and fluid drag, especially at low Reynolds numbers. They are now in review for posting at the ASLO website. Lesson number two was in styles of pedagogy, which were actively horse traded in all directions among the educators involved. Experienced high school teachers are fonts of knowledge about methods that work for teaching introductory material.
http://www.marine.maine.edu/~jumars/
OS13M-05
Salutations from the Southern Ocean: A Scientist's Web Log Reached Further than Expected
Going to sea is a large time commitment for all sea-going oceanographers. Planning and preparations are intensive and the actual participation in the cruise often entails exhausting weeks at sea working around the clock. The experience is consuming at the time and hard to communicate after the fact. Often only shipmates or fellow oceanographers can understand or share that experience. A real time web-log is a surprisingly effective and rewarding tool for education and outreach of that experience, both personally and professionally. Liz Sikes served as chief scientist for an NSF-funded research cruise aboard the R/V Roger Revelle east of New Zealand from February 26 to March 25, 2005. The desire to communicate with her 10 and 8 year-old daughters on a regular basis while on a ship halfway around the world led to nearly daily emails (with photos) geared to entertain and inform rather than strictly educate. With the realization that these regular e-mail updates could benefit a larger audience, the e-mails quickly evolved to speak more broadly to Sikes' 10-year old daughter's 4th grade class (whose science curriculum included oceanography). John Wilkin (Liz's husband and a physical oceanographer) edited the emails into a simple web-log and posted it on the IMCS home page. A Center for Ocean Sciences Education Excellence - Mid-Atlantic (COSEE-MA) staff member, Eric Simms, guided tailoring of the web-log to a broader audience. The COSEE-MA was an effective and efficient conduit for adapting the content to a level appropriate to the anticipated audience. The COSEE-MA staff, within a short time frame, notified interested teachers and informal educators to the evolving web-log using established email communications (listservs, web sites, etc.). During the cruise, text and digital photographs were sent every 1-3 days to shore-based collaborators, featuring research activities, scientists and crew members, and general experiences of being at sea for an extended period of time. The log was available and continues to reside, at: http://marine.rutgers.edu/faculty\_esikes.html (the web site is also listed below) and became a featured link on the Rutgers IMCS home page in March 2005. The primary audience for the log was students, ranging from upper elementary to high school, as well as informal educators and the public. The increased visibility and access to the log once it was posted on the IMCS departmental home page was significant. The NSF Broader Impacts Criterion for the sea-going science project was successfully addressed through the fostering of international academic partnerships. However, the education and outreach opportunity from the web log added much to the value of the cruise for everyone involved, with impacts reaching further than intended. Surprising positives included: (i) an improved understanding of the roles and responsibilities of the ship's crew and scientists by their families and friends, (ii) the cost-effective dissemination of near real-time updates from a shipboard scientist to multiple audiences via the Internet, (iii) creation of a post-cruise Internet-based oceanography resource as evidenced by inquiries from museums, educational service providers, and radio and print media for further information on the topics covered in the "blog", and (iv) the virtual engagement of students in real time, field-based scientific research.
http://marine.rutgers.edu/faculty\_esikes.html
OS13M-06
Sounds in the Sea: Description of a Multimedia Lecture Created to Stimulate Young Adult's Interest in Ocean Science
Over the last several years I have authored and presented a talk on the use of sound in the ocean to mostly middle and high school kids. The goal of the talk is to use sound as a vehicle in order to stimulate their interest in (ocean) science. Since most kids are "into" music, they are open to a listening experience. Even more importantly, however, is that science is often viewed by kids as not being "cool" because it entails a great deal of memorization, little reasoning, and is often pursued by a stereotypical student who is not "cool" themselves. Regardless of whether this is absolutely true, the stereotypical mold is often well established at an early age and many kids turn off to science for this reason. On the other hand, music is loved by all. Associating science with sound presents a possible way to link music with science and to thus make science "cool" instead of some totally nerd-o-logical field of endeavor. As one aspect, by linking environmental science with physics and physiology I try to reinforce their interest in learning more than just a narrow area. A good talk which links sound, science, and also marine mammals (which many are fascinated with) therefore has potential to not only reinforce the already interested, but to also foster a new look at science by those who have perhaps been already turned off at a young age. Resonating the building with the sound of a blue whale always provokes a sense of wonder on their part. Moreover, having a practicing scientist tell you "there is still a great deal to discover" makes a big difference. I generally derive a great deal of personal satisfaction from giving this talk. If I connect with just one kid I consider it a success. As a former performer it seems like a natural extension of my career to do "science gigs" instead of "battle of the bands".