Principles of Ocean Literacy 1. The Earth has one big ocean with many features. 2. The ocean and life in the ocean shape the features of the Earth. 3. The ocean is a major influence on weather and climate. 4. The ocean makes Earth habitable. 5. The ocean supports a great diversity of life and ecosystems. 6. The ocean and humans are inextricably interconnected. 7. The ocean is largely unexplored.
This list is the product of a two-week online workshop sponsored by the National Geographic Society’s (NGS) Oceans for Life Initiative and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in October 2004, with extensive follow-up communications among some 100 members of the ocean sciences and education communities nationwide.
Rallying behind a common goal Lincoln County is a rural coastal county but it is home to the
Oregon Coast Aquarium and Oregon State University’s Hat- field Marine Science Center. These facilities have long provided the Lincoln County School District and other schools academic programming around the ocean. Although available and in the district’s own backyard, many teachers did not utilize these agencies because they didn’t have a context for how the learning opportunities available supported the extensive requirements already before them and their students. The classes and programs had always been aligned to state standards, yet this was not enough to make the available resources essential to K-12 learning on the coast. The leadership at the Lincoln County School District, the
Oregon Coast Aquarium, and Hatfield Marine Science Center/ Oregon Sea Grant identified a missed opportunity. The resources, staff and expertise of marine agencies was available to support learning but it was simply not being used. As a result, the agen- cies ended their “provider/client” relationship and developed an authentic partnership around a shared goal: Ocean Literacy. The agencies formally made a commitment to provide our local students with the opportunity to be the most “ocean literate” students in the country through their collective resources and knowledge. The Partnership acknowledged that they were not the only
agencies and resources in the area that might share the goal of increasing students’ Ocean Literacy. While the Lincoln County School District, Oregon Coast Aquarium and Hatfield Marine Sci- ence Center/Oregon Sea Grant provide much of the leadership on the project, other agencies have been invited to participate in dif- ferent projects, events, etc. What has unified every party involved, though, is a clear vision that we are working towards increas- ing students’ Ocean Literacy and each agency is responsible for contributing whatever resource and/or expertise they have to support this end.
Getting Started For the success of the initiative, there first had to be some
critical leadership and commitment to Ocean Literacy. The Lin- coln County School District included Ocean Literacy in their 2007- 2012 strategic plan but the leadership recognized a mandate alone was not an adequate or popular strategy to reach our goals. The
CLEARING 2011
Lincoln County School District, Oregon Coast Aquarium and Or- egon Sea Grant demonstrated their commitment to the initiative by allocating necessary funding and staff time to the initiative. This included staff positions at the Oregon Coast Aquarium and Lincoln County School District whose primary responsibilities were the Ocean Literacy Initiative and fostering partnerships to support Ocean Literacy. Where further funding was needed, the partnership identified grants, foundations and individual donors that would support the initiative. In 2009, the school district was awarded a Math Science Part-
nership grant that would provide intensive professional devel- opment to 33 teachers over three years to increase: teach- ers’ science content knowl- edge, the use of best practices and student learning. This Oregon Coast Aquatic and Marine Science Partnership (OCAMP) project began the work of providing teachers a structure for using field experiences around Ocean Literacy as a vehicle for meeting state standards. The Oregon Hatchery Research Center, Bureau of Land Management- Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area, Oregon Health and Science University- Center for Coastal Margin Observation and Prediction and Oregon State University are additional partners that have contributed their resources, knowledge and expertise in this project. Also in 2009, a cohort of teachers were brought together
to help identify what priorities existed in order for all Lincoln County teachers to successfully bring Ocean Literacy to their students. This group identified three target areas: provide quality instruction to students with the ocean as a context, deliver profes- sional development and support to all teachers and administra-
www.clearingmagazine.org/online
(continued) Page 41
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62