National Ocean Sciences Bowl in 2013: A National Competition for High School Ocean Science Education

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristen Yarincik
2021 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 102-103
Author(s):  
Gail Scowcroft ◽  
Tina Bishop ◽  
Liesl Hotaling ◽  
Paula Keener ◽  
Janice McDonnell ◽  
...  

Abstract Ocean science education and ocean literacy are overarching components of all Ocean Decade challenges. Educating the next generation of ocean scientists will help achieve Ocean Decade objectives, while increasing public ocean literacy will motivate citizens to engage in the ocean science enterprise. During the UN Ocean Decade, a coordinated flow of information among scientists, educators, policy makers, business leaders, and the public will help guide research priorities in addition to enhancing citizens' ocean literacy. Ocean literacy is about more than the acquisition of ocean science knowledge. It also relates to critical needs for citizens to become responsible in sustainably using the ocean and its resources. Society must gain scientific understanding of the ocean's responses to pressures and make management decisions that are fundamental for sustainable development of its resources. U.S. ocean science education, outreach, and communication initiatives have been greatly expanded since 2002 due to the work of the National Science Foundation-funded, national Centers for Ocean Sciences Education Excellence (COSEE; now the Consortium for Ocean Science Exploration and Engagement) network. The infrastructure established by COSEE is well-poised to take on the establishment of a network of networks to forge U.S. leadership in robust international collaborations in support of Ocean Decade objectives.


Author(s):  
Lynda Dunlop ◽  
Lucy Atkinson ◽  
Maria Turkenburg-van Diepen

AbstractHydraulic fracturing (‘fracking’), like other complex social and environmental issues, is a controversy about science which raises educational questions about how best to prepare young people to understand, respond to and, where necessary, act (or not) in response. It raises political questions. We present a state-of-the-art review of research literature on fracking and education using systematic strategies, with a view to finding out how it is framed in educational situations and how politics enters the science classroom. This serves as an illustrative case of how contested scientific and technological interventions with implications for the environment and society are treated in school science. The review is supplemented by interviews with 10 teachers of science and engineering working in schools or colleges near sites of operational exploratory fracking. We find that the research literature on teaching hydraulic fracturing is sparse, with only 25 studies relating to teaching and learning about fracking. Few studies (n = 7) relate to high school education. Where it features in science education, fracking is used as a context for interdisciplinarity and critical thinking, and lends itself to approaches using discussion, dialogue and modelling. Outcomes from fracking education range include knowledge gains and critical thinking. Teachers interviewed tended not to see a place for fracking in the curriculum or in the classroom and were averse to including politics in upper high school science education. Our analysis suggests depoliticization through absence of this specific complex environmental issue from the public (education) sphere, reinforced by the desire for ‘balance’ in high school science education and instrumental approaches to science education which prioritize assessed learning outcomes. Dealing with complex social and environmental issues such as hydraulic fracturing in the years of compulsory science schooling is necessary because scientific knowledge is necessary but not sufficient to prepare young people for the critical scientific literacy required to meet sustainable development goals. There is a need to assess and respond to the educational needs of local communities affected by industrial interventions such as fracking. These findings are likely to be relatable to other issues where there are local and global consequences of action or inaction and where the environment and health are pitted against economic and energy demands.


2003 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 26-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.R. Isern ◽  
H.L. Clark

Global processes that actively shape the Earth and ultimately impact society must be investigated over the spatial and temporal scales at which they occur. To characterize the temporal behavior of dynamic processes occurring in the ocean, new types of infrastructure are needed that are capable of providing long-term, high-resolution observations of critical environmental parameters. With funding from the Major Research Equipment and Facilities Construction (MREFC) account, the National Science Foundation's Division of Ocean Sciences plans to initiate construction of an integrated observatory network that will provide the oceanographic research and education communities with a new mode of access to the ocean. The Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) has three elements: 1) a regional cabled network consisting of interconnected sites on the seafloor spanning several geological and oceanographic features and processes, 2) several relocatable deep-sea buoys that could also be deployed in harsh environments such as the Southern Ocean, and 3) new construction or enhancements to existing facilities leading to an expanded network of coastal observatories. The scientific problems driving the need for the OOI are broad in scope and encompass nearly every area of ocean science. Once established, the observatories constructed as part of this initiative will provide earth and ocean scientists with unique opportunities to study multiple, interrelated processes over time scales ranging from seconds to decades; to conduct comparative studies of regional processes and spatial characteristics; and to map whole-Earth and basin scale structures.


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