Establishing a Center for Ocean Science Education Excellence (COSEE) in Alaska provides a unique opportunity to capitalize on the International Polar Year's spotlight on the Arctic, the wealth of ocean and climate change research currently underway in Alaska, as well as the richness of Alaska's local and traditional knowledge inherent in its indigenous populations. As envisioned, COSEE Alaska will be a cohesive system of infrastructure, educational tools, cultural context, and scientific interactions used to further an ocean literate populace as well as demonstrate the link between the impacts of coastal climate change and human activity. To achieve this vision, COSEE Alaska will create a network of scientists and educators in Alaska dedicated to developing activities that focus on ocean and coastal ecosystems and communities experiencing the impacts of ocean climate change and to sharing results with the COSEE network, and the nation. These activities will address a suite of five objectives: [1] Increase collaboration and interaction among ocean scientists, educators, students, and coastal communities in Alaska and the nation with an emphasis on ocean climate change; [2] Provide tools and services to help ocean scientists effectively participate in education and outreach with a focus on ocean climate change and ocean literacy; [3] Enhance teacher capabilities for incorporating ocean climate change information and "place-based" knowledge into existing curricula; [4] Increase access to and participation in ocean sciences by underrepresented and underserved populations; and [5] Increase and broaden communication about ocean science and traditional knowledge of ocean climate change to audiences in Alaska and the nation, including the COSEE network.
Through COSEE Alaska, we provide the training, educational opportunities, outreach, and scientific tools to integrate knowledge from both the peoples of coastal Alaska and the scientific communities concerned with ocean climate change. COSEE not only provides to the public the awareness of how climate change is already impacting the U.S. arctic, but also provides back to coastal communities information on the global attempts to study and mitigate the impacts of change. Through its partnerships with other COSEEs and the COSEE Network, its ocean climate change web portal for educators, use of distance learning techniques, and informal education activities for Alaska tourists, COSEE Alaska will broaden its impact far beyond the Alaska population.
