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22 



Subject: Expansion of Pre-College 

 {K-12) Teacher Programs 



Background: There exist too few 

 precollege teachers, specifically 

 elementary teachers who have the 

 content, knowledge and confidence 

 to teach science. This is one of the 

 primary reasons that too many 

 elementary students perform poorly 

 In the sciences. It is well 

 documented that a key to reversing 

 this dangerous lack or scientific 

 understanding demonstrated by 

 students is by teaching teachers. 

 Successful workshops, 

 undergraduate and graduate courses 

 relative to marine sciences should 

 remain as an area of priority and be 

 expanded at the local, state, 

 regional, and national level. When 

 new technologies and/ or advances 

 in scientific theory are developed, 

 workshops and courses must be 

 made available for teachers, thereby 

 allowing them to infuse this "new" 

 knowledge and complementary 

 methodologies/activities into 

 existing curricula. New or revised 

 curricular materials may also need 

 to be developed. Teaching/learning 



experiences to assist with integrating 

 these materials in classrooms wouia 

 follow. 



Opportunity: New and/or extended 

 partnerships need to be developed 

 among the education community 

 and marine scientists in government, 

 academia, and the private sector. 

 These partnerships must include - 

 bur should not be limited to - fiscal 

 support, equipment, personnel and/ 

 or resource materials (hard-copy, 

 audio/video, diskette, laser discs, 

 Internet, or other related types of 

 materials). The ocean science 

 community can collaborate with 

 instructional material developers to 

 produce content- correct and 

 content -current materials, and can 

 rapidly modify existing materials to 

 add new content. "Year-round" 

 academic years for precollege 

 students are increasing in various 

 school districts/parishes within this 

 country. This paradigm shift will 

 provide the opportunity for 

 increasing competitiveness of this 

 country's youth. 



Hurdles: The benefit to each partner 

 may not have been delineated due to 

 inadequate marketing strategies or 

 fiscal constraints exhibited by 

 potential sponsors. Recruitment of 

 teachers for enrollment in science 

 classes is often difficult. 



Rationale for Partnership: A 



partnership is necessary since 

 educating and training teachers is a 

 continuous effort. Children represent 

 our future and investing in them 

 through teacher training programs is 

 a "win-win" situation for all the 

 partners involved. The continuous 

 partnership ensures delivery of 

 timely research findings into the 

 classroom. 



Expected Product: Teachers who 

 ennance their current knowledge and 

 teaching st.ategies also have an 

 increased self-confidence which 

 translates back in the classroom in a 

 positive and enthusiastic manner. 

 Marine and aquatic sciences/ 

 oceanography can be taught by 

 teachers and learned by students in a 

 sense of wonder, excitement , and 

 awe. 



Subject: Marine Information Network 



anyone looking for information. The 



opportunity is especially strong now 



with some on-line networks (e.g. the 



Virtual Library of Oceanography at 



http://www.mth. uea.ac.uk/ocean/ 



oceanography.html). 



INFORMAL EDUCATION - The average American probably toows more about space 



than he or she does about the oceans. Given that so much of quality of life and 



economic prosperity are dependent on oceanograph y it is timely to address the need for 



increased public 



awareness of this field. 



The ocean research 



commimity is a treasure 



trove of fascinating 



findings. There are a very 



limited number of efforts 



to provide regiilar 



educational opport\inities 



in oceanography for the 



public (an outstanding 



recent example is the 



Smithsonian's Ocean 



Planet Exhibition, the first 



traveling exhibition of this 



kind). Related to this need 



is the issue of providing 



information to policy 



makers at the federal, 



state, and local levels. A 



network or coalition is 



needed to foster this kind 



of dissemination of 



information, as well as 



serving as a focal point for 



ocean-related issues. 



Background: Ocean science data can 

 be too fragmented or hidden in 

 difficult to understand scientific 

 papers with little relevance to 

 "society" or legislators on all levels. 

 The timely, accurate transfer of 

 information (i.e. data, analytical 

 products, synthesis documents) on 

 marine environment issues to public 

 leaders, educators and the general 

 public is crucial if the ocean's role in 

 numan activities is to be properly 

 understood Many problems with 

 stewardship of the marine ecosystem, 

 response to natural and human- 

 induced hazards and the full 

 appreciation of the ocean arise either 

 from the lack of information, or great 

 difficulty in locating relevant data and 

 products, or .ncompatibility between 



the few existing delivery systems. network exceeds the ability of any 



Such an informational flow assumes an single entity. Given a distribution 



Hurdles: Gathering appropriate data 

 products and maintenance of the 

 information base represent a 

 commitment of resources that must 

 be organized and checked. The true 

 usefulness of the system demands a 

 wide distribution of the products, 

 provision and maintenance of a suite 

 of user software designed to 

 accommodate anticipated data and 

 product types, and an effort to 

 educate users in their use. 



Rationale for Partnership: Garnering 

 the breadth of information for the 



educational initiative to make the 

 information useful, to supply it In 

 formats compatible with robust 

 analysis packages and provisions for 

 an interestsd party to obtain more 

 detailed answers dependent on the 

 needs of the particular user. 



Opportunity: The current 



technologies provide various models 



for making it relatively easy to 



transmit Information. The challenge i= 



to provide a "useful information flow" 



and a backup set of experts to handle 



questions. The useful information 



flow envisioned here would consist of 



a searchable catalog of data and 



products together with an efficient 



delivery system. Such a database must experts who can provide additional 



be accessible by multiple users such support to a broad range of users 



as media, legislators, public, or 



system, the network can service both 

 local interests and global issues. The 

 major issue with the partnership will 

 be a steady focal point and a 

 sponsoring agency. 



Expected Product: National catalog 

 of data, analysis products, synthesis 

 documents, software, projects, and 

 survey efforts; an overall distributed 

 data/distributed catalog architecture 

 that allows Internet-wide browsing; a 

 data/product delivery system; and a 

 suite of documented software for user 

 display, analysis, re-analysis, or 

 manipulation of the obtained 

 inforr^ation. This system would be 

 supported by a set of designated 



