The Center for Ocean Science Education Excellence -- the Colorado Collaborative (CCC) proposes to develop a synergistic partnership between the University of Colorado-Boulder (CU) and COSEE-West (University of Southern California and University of CA at Los Angeles) to bring ocean sciences education to inland audiences, make it personally relevant to their lives and increase ocean literacy. By combining the intellectual strengths of each organization, CCC will expose non-coastal teachers and students to high quality ocean sciences education. The hallmark of CCC will be an ocean scientist lecture series combined with a Summer Teacher Institute that will engage regional ocean scientists in ocean sciences education to facilitate the integration of ocean sciences research and education. Each year will have a different focus on cutting edge ocean science research, such as air-sea interactions and regional climates; polar ice and sea level; and oceans, climate and public policy. Running themes of the CCC will include stewardship of the oceans and a systems approach to earth science. The use of videoconferencing to deliver presentations to teachers across Colorado and in the Los Angeles Unified School District, along with a summer teacher exchange program, will allow teachers from diverse geographic and cultural backgrounds to interact and develop a camaraderie that will carry to their students' classroom experiences. By reaching out to teachers and schools with ethnic, socioeconomic and geographic diversity, we hope to increase opportunities for under-represented populations to participate in ocean sciences education and consider careers ocean science. The overall intellectual merit of this project is in the value of collaboration between coastal and inland research scientists, classroom teachers and outreach educators to develop ocean literate students, who will in turn impact their community and become informed voters. The intellectual merits and anticipated outcomes of the proposed partnership include: enhanced teaching and communication skills of the research scientists and graduate students; K-12 students who are motivated and excited about ocean sciences and are exposed to new ideas, resources and potential careers; interaction of teachers with scientists will allow teachers to incorporate cutting edge research into their teaching; and interactions between teachers in Colorado and California will promote a global awareness of the impacts of a changing hydrosphere in different regions, as well as cross-fertilization of ideas and future collaborations among teachers and scientists. Evaluation of the program will help elucidate the ocean science education needs of inland audiences, which will be shared with the COSEE Network. The broader impacts of the proposed program are three-fold. First, we will deliver a high quality teacher professional development program to a segment of Colorado school districts, the rural schools, which are traditionally under-served. This program will open new pathways for students who rarely get a chance to interact with scientists or get first-hand knowledge of the ocean-- a realm that that to some may seem light-years away from their home. Second, we plan to develop the scientist lecture/Summer Teacher Institute program into a sustainable model CU scientists can plug into when proposing their education outreach portion of their research proposals. Finally, the partnership between COSEE-WEST and CCC will yield a richer program that combines the intellectual strengths of each organization and will have impact beyond their local school districts.
The COSEE West – Colorado Collaborative (CCC) is a partnership between COSEE West and the University of Colorado’s Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES), which was formed with the purpose to bring ocean sciences education to inland audiences, make it personally relevant to their lives and increase ocean science literacy. CCC’s specific goals are outlined below, and the associated outcomes are discussed. Provide an opportunity for non-coastal teachers and students to engage in high quality ocean sciences education with the purpose of making ocean science relevant to the lives of inland audiences. The four years of teacher professional development and three years of teacher exchanges between California and Colorado were successful endeavors as indicated by the daily evaluations, overall course evaluation and the pre- and post-program teacher learning assessments. Daily workshops included a scientist presentation; activities linked to each speaker’s topic (lab- and computer-based) and during the Summer Institute a day long field trip. An evaluation based on the first two-year’s cohort of teachers indicated that the manner in which activities were presented provided a good model for teachers to adapt in their classroom, and the hands-on activities were engaging, especially for male students. Engage regional ocean scientists in ocean science education to facilitate the integration of ocean sciences research and education. A total of 22 scientists participated in the program by providing lectures on their cutting-edge work. The majority of the lectures were videotaped and archived (http://cires.colorado.edu/news/multimedia/index.html). The speakers came from 7 different University of Colorado departments and 5 outside institutions spanning from Denver to Fort Collins. Many teachers plan to incorporate the scientific research and the process of science they gleaned from the lectures into their curriculum. One California teacher commented, "I met some amazing scientists, and I’m really excited to integrate the inland sea and Earth’s history timeline into 6th grade to prepare for 7th grade." The teachers consistently ranked the lectures by the scientists as the most valuable aspect of each day. One of the most successful aspects of CCC was the model provided for scientists interested in partnering with CIRES Outreach and Education. Three different NOAA grants provided additinal funding to CCC, and the directors from each grant were guest speakers. Consequently, a fourth year of the program was offered due to the infusion of extra grant money. Increase opportunities for under-represented populations to participate in and contribute to ocean science education. School districts serving a high proportion of Free and Reduced Lunch students and rural school districts in Colorado were deliberately targeted. Teachers came from 16 Colorado school districts with nearly half identified as rural with a significant poverty level. Additionally, nearly every Colorado participant traveling to California for the teacher exchange came from a rural district (13 out of 15), which provided them with authentic ocean science experiences. These teachers indicated that they looked forward to sharing these experiences with their students, and planned to integrate what they had learned into their classrooms. With the diversity of scientists presenting each year, both in terms of profession and institution, the teachers were exposed to the many career opportunities available in ocean sciences, and they can share this knowledge with their students. One teacher commented, "I am also thrilled to introduce my students to many more scientific opportunities and careers as a result of this week." Develop a strong partnership with COSEE-West in order to expose a broader audience to a wider range of ocean sciences research and education The partnership developed between the two entities has been one of the highlights of this grant. Videoconferenced workshops were successfully implemented between Colorado and California. The teachers appreciated the chance to participate in the CU workshops as stated by one teachers, "The video conference is an excellent educational tool and strategy to provide class room teachers with the opportunity to participate in worth-while and meaningful professional development at the local building site level, in addition to staying within yearly budget." One of the teachers from a rural site also commented positively about the opportunities the videoconferencing provided her, "Living in Steamboat makes it difficult to take workshops, especially in the winter. The COSEE videoconference made it easy, I felt like I was there." In Years 2 – 4 we instituted a teacher exchange program: 5 teachers from California attended the Colorado Summer Institute in June, and 5 teachers from Colorado attended COSEE West’s OOS Institute in August. Overall, the program was a success, and teacher insights can be gleaned from the blogs hosted by each site: http://cires.colorado.edu/blogs/cosee/ and http://cosee-west.blogspot.com/. As stated by one Colorado teacher in the blog, "Collaborating with teachers from other schools and Colorado and California led to many thoughtful discussions about the role of Marine Science in the classroom. I, for one, am looking forward to incorporating more Ocean Literacy into my science classroom."
