Collaborative Research: Centers for Ocean Sciences Education Excellence -- California

University Of California-Berkeley, Berkeley CA

Investigators

Abstract

This award provides continued funding for COSEE California (COSEE CA) which has demonstrated its ability to develop successful, catalytic activities that spark and nurture collaborations among scientists and educators to advance ocean literacy. COSEE CA combines the resources and expertise of original partners, Scripps Institution of Oceanography and Lawrence Hall of Science, University of California, Berkeley, with two new partners, San Diego Unified School District and The College of Exploration. With the goal of increasing public awareness and understanding of the ocean, COSEE?CA will embark on three major initiatives: 1) Supporting the Ocean Literacy campaign (developing and validating an ocean sciences learning progression to accompany the Ocean Literacy scope & sequence, and disseminating the Ocean Literacy framework); 2) Strategic national dissemination of Communicating Ocean Sciences to Formal and Informal Audiences by streamlining the implementation process to reach large numbers of new institutions; and 3) supporting sustained partnerships among teachers, facilitators and researchers to develop cutting-edge educational tools that promote inquiry through the use of technology-mediated visualizations, simulations and investigations. Together, these three initiatives comprise a coherent strategy for building the nation?s capacity for putting into practice the Essential Principles of Ocean Literacy at all levels of formal education. COSEE CA is focused on the following objectives: 1) bring the content knowledge and technology tools of ocean scientists into the world of K-12 and postsecondary education; 2) build Network-wide collaborations that provide COSEE with national standing and a collective voice; 3) develop and disseminate model programs that increase the public?s understanding of the ocean; and 4) conduct educational research to bring ocean sciences into mainstream science education curriculum and standards.