1998 Year of the Ocean Marine Education U.S.A.: An Overview 



The topics include fisheries, shipping, pollution, biodiversity, climate, and estuaries (wetlands). 

 These were developed mainly with Sea Grant funding. 



In 1998, CORE is sponsoring a national "Ocean Sciences Bowl" along with CORE 

 member institutions and the National Marine Educators Association (NMEA). This will be the 

 first time a national high school competition on the ocean is held. Awards will include 

 scholarships, research cruise participation, visits to ocean research laboratories, computer 

 hardware and software, and laboratory supplies and equipment. The grand prize will be a trip to 

 the International Year of the Ocean celebration at EXPO '98 in Lisbon, Portugal. This bowl will 

 be modeled after the National Science Bowl, now in its seventh year. There will be regional 

 competitions (16) followed by a final competition in Washington, D.C., during Earth Week in 

 April, 1998. It is expected that teams from up to 500 high schools will compete. Funding is 

 provided by NSF, NASA, NOAA, U.S. Navy, and other agencies, and private sources. This 

 competition should provide national visibility for the ocean sciences and be highly motivational 

 for students. It is great to see such cooperation between ocean science-related agencies. 



A "new kid on the block," the National Ocean Partnership Program (NOPP) has recently 

 appeared on the marine science education scene. Following a very short notice and limited 

 Internet armouncement, this program has nonetheless already funded five K-12 ocean-related 

 projects that may prove to have major national impact potential. These are as follows: 



"The Bridge: A Marine Education Clearinghouse" is a project to provide teachers 

 access to the multiplicity of marine-related educational and curriculum materials or, at 

 least, annotated reviews of commercial materials. This is an update and extension of a 

 Sea Grant-funded project begun over 15 years ago at the Virginia Institute of Marine 

 Sciences. "The Bridge" will be developed in consultation with the National Marine 

 Educators Association and will be linked to NMEA on the Internet. 

 "JASON IX" will continue under the leadership of Dr. Robert Ballard. This is an 

 ocean exploration project which links Dr. Ballard in a submersible, usually Alvin, to 

 students at remote, scattered sights via telecommunication/satellite. This is a real- 

 time, live, exciting experience for students and teachers (and sometimes Dr. Ballard!). 

 "COAST: Consortium for Oceanographic Activities for Students and Teachers" 

 builds on the past five years experiences of "Operation Pathfinder," the Sea Grant 

 initiated teacher training workshops. It also will extend Operation Pathfinder to high 

 school teachers and pre-service teachers in training at the college level. As with 

 Operation Pathfinder, a shipboard, at-sea experience for teachers is included. 



"Bringing the Ocean into the Pre-coUege Classroom Through Field Investigations at a 

 National Underwater Laboratory" will be carried out through Rutgers University and 

 NOAA. There is presently a shallow water laboratory located offshore of New Jersey 

 doing comprehensive ocean data monitoring. The experimental project will be linked 

 to classrooms enabling students not only to learn about the nearshore marine 



K-13 



