The Center for Ocean Sciences Education Excellence Southeast (COSEE SE), serving North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, is engaging its collaborative partners to advance innovative strategies to improve the transfer of ocean sciences research processes and information to reach broader audiences. COSEE SE will use communities of practice as tools to initiate two major new efforts--one targeting ocean scientists and the other targeting elementary grade science teachers.
COSEE SE will address challenges facing scientists to achieve the most effective practices for broader impacts. This includes how scientists interact with informal audiences about their research and what opportunities exist for creative avenues for developing sophisticated broader impact statements in their proposal. Three different approaches will be tested, each evaluated, and a paper identifying the results will be produced to assist the regional scientists. (1) Locally developed and executed "Brown Bag" lunch programs in a university setting; (2) short workshops at established regional, informal science education sites with each workshop having 10 scientists and 10 educators discussing presentation and engagement strategies for concepts surrounding a a single topic; (3) a K-12 Outreach Conference in partnership with The Science House, NCSU that reaches a number of scientists in one location at one time.
COSEE SE will also address the challenges that face elementary school teachers who teach sciences by providing resources, professional development and mentoring in Charleston County School District (CCSD). Demographic statistics of the CCSD indicate that elementary school students are predominately African American. Other educational research has revealed that most elementary teachers have had little training in science education and practically none in ocean sciences. As a result, CCSD represents a model set of schools that are not connected to their coastal environment and teachers with few resources and relationships with scientists. While this effort is restricted to one county, evaluation of the effort has the potential to reach other coastal counties. While it is not in the scope of this effort to assess the long-term impact of COSEE SE on elementary students, there is research that reveals students who have at least one exciting moment in ocean science have greater potential of considering ocean sciences as a career.
In addition, COSEE SE will continue to distribute ocean science information through its data base and web presence. The COSEE SE team will continue to use its extensive regional network to assist researchers and educators as they communicate science.
