Over the past 5 years, COSEE-West has successfully catalyzed community-based ocean sciences education in southern California, engaging faculty from 13 universities and research institutions, educators from at least 8 informal science education centers, and over 350 teachers from 30 school districts, including the second largest school district in the nation. We propose to build on this legacy of success through synergistic partnerships and entrepreneurial catalytic activities. The overarching goals of COSEE-West remain the same: 1) Increase public awareness of ocean sciences; 2) Use ocean sciences as an incentive to increase general science and ocean literacy; and 3) Increase the number of students that choose science and ocean sciences careers. We have already created a robust and thriving network of ocean researchers, K-12 educators, informal education centers, students and the general public. In 2007-2012, University of Southern California, UCLA, College of Exploration, Los Angeles Unified School District, Cabrillo Marine Aquarium and many other institutions will build on our previous accomplishments and expand the impact and reach of COSEE-West activities. We will do this through four synergistic objectives that promote broad participation of diverse groups in ocean sciences and enhance community infrastructure of ocean sciences education: [1] ?nReach a National Audience with Scalable Educational Models. We will develop model programs for reaching large audiences through new uses of online services. We will build programs to reach teachers, informal educators, students from high school through college levels, and the general public with online services that expand a previously tested distance learning education model and leverage the role of undergraduates in outreach education, reaching far more educators and providing effective mentoring. [2] ?nInstitutionalize Professional Development Programs. We will build on our existing professional development approach to reach more science teachers at a regional scale by leveraging and institutionalizing our successful teacher workshops. We will extend the effectiveness of our COSEE-West teacher workshops by enlisting master teachers to provide additional professional development workshops and by demonstrating the value of district funding to create a sustainable mechanism for ocean sciences teacher training. [3] Improve the Effectiveness of Informal Science Education. We will enhance the outreach and education goals of our informal science education partners by fostering opportunities for collaboration with ocean scientists, and delivering cutting edge ocean sciences content in an easily understood and implemented format. We will create opportunities for close interaction between scientists, informal educators, students and teachers through science exhibit retreats and informal educator professional development. [4] Expand Diversity in Ocean Science. Our final objective is a central theme woven into all of our objectives: to expand the diversity of people with ocean literacy. Our online workshops have great potential to reach a wide and diverse audience of high school and community college students and help lower the intimidation factors that prevent many minority students from considering ocean sciences majors. Working with University support programs for minorities will further reduce barriers to equal inclusion of all races and ethnicities in ocean sciences. Additionally, a more concerted effort to reach diverse public audiences through informal education partners and engage under-served minority students in science exhibit retreats will also advance our objectives in this area.
COSEE (Centers for Ocean Sciences Education) West has been a collaboration between scientists and educators at the University of Southern California (USC), the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) and the College of Exploration (COE). COSEE-West has served as an ocean sciences education hub bringing together scientists and educators, both formal and informal educators, teachers, students (K-12, undergraduate, graduate) and the general public in the greater Los Angeles area. COSEE-West has also reached out through a series of focused on line programs to reach educators throughout the US. COSEE-West has been dedicated to three general goals: 1. Greater awareness of ocean sciences in the general public, 2. Using ocean sciences as a strategy to increase Ocean Literacy, and 3. Attracting more students to choose sciences and particularly ocean sciences as a career. COSEE West was one of the original centers funded by NSF in 2002 to form the National COSEE Network and COSEE-West was refunded in 2007. COSEE West has worked closely with a large group of informal science and research centers in the greater LA area to engage their science and education staffs in an array of ocean science related programs for teachers and the general public. Informal partners have included: Natural History Museum Los Angeles County, California Science Center, Aquarium of the Pacific, Cabrillo Marine Aquarium, Marine Mammal Care Center San Pedro, Ocean Institute Dana Point, and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Teachers as well as the ocean scientists engaged in the programs have become familiar with the opportunities that these Centers offer to provide ocean science experiences. COSEE West has served ocean scientists as a vehicle to fulfill their broader impact requirements for NSF funded projects. Accomplishments include: The development of 10 (2/year) three-week long online workshops that engaged ocean scientists from USC, UCLA and the Cal States to deliver current ocean science research content to a broad array of formal and informal educators. The workshops reached up to several hundred participants on topics ranging from coral reefs, life in the deep ocean, ocean observing systems, harmful algal blooms etc. All materials (lectures, discussions with scientists, graduate students and the teachers and related, resources) are archived and available free to anyone (http//www.coexploration.org/cosee_west/). The development of a week-long summer workshop program for 25 teachers/year in grades 6-12 focused on Ocean Observing Systems (OOS) and what data are available and how to use these data in their classrooms. The workshops moved around to different informal partner venues and engaged a variety of ocean observing scientists. COSEE West has recruited a cadre of local mentor teachers and provided them with a more in-depth learning experience in translating ocean science. They served as a resource for less experienced teachers in COSEE West programs particularly the OOS workshops. A comprehensive high school biology course focusing on marine life to teach all of the California State Biology Standards was developed by Los Angeles area high school teachers with support from COSEE-West. Lesson plans, labs, activities, games, puzzles, web interactive activities, movies with thought questions, etc. are available on the COSEE West website. The development of OceanList (oceanlist@lists.ucla.edu), a regional marine science education list server that has and continues to provide information about ocean related workshops, internships, events and training, offered by COSEE West partners and colleagues. The list server has over 850 participants. The COSEE West website (www.usc.edu/org/cosee-west) has all the ocean science resources developed over the course of the project for free and available to all. Through collaboration with colleagues at COSEE California, USC and UCLA now offer the Communicating Ocean Sciences courses (COSIA) to advanced undergraduates and graduate students. COSEE West initiatives have engaged and fulfilled the needs of ocean scientists, K-12 teachers, informal educators, and graduate science students. The COSEE West programs have reached and served the diverse audience of students, teachers and the public that are found within the Los Angeles region and broadened the participation of minorities in ocean education programs. The intellectual merits of the project have been the development of new knowledge instruments for the use of educators produced by ocean scientists that include multiple online lectures, workshops, courses and resources that are available to all through the various websites listed above. The broader impacts of the program have been through the engagement of a large number of ocean scientists and their graduate students with both formal and informal educators developing an understanding that both the scientists and the educators have something to learn from each other about delivering and using ocean science content. COSEE West has also served the National COSEE Network and the US ocean science education enterprise through multiple leadership roles of its lead PI’s and various staff members.
