Sharing the Challenge


—by Edwin Schiele

 

There is little doubt of the public’s fascination with the world’s oceans. Yet that interest is often clouded by misconceptions about the oceans and the threats they face. To counter these misconceptions and spur public interest, COSEE-NE is encouraging scientists and informal educators to work together to develop scientifically accurate programs and exhibits.

To foster these partnerships, COSEE-NE hosted a workshop called “Sharing the Challenge of Ocean Science Education." Scientists and educators came from across New England to brainstorm ideas on how they could deliver key messages about ocean science to the public.

Opening Talks

To set the tone, workshop participants first heard from four speakers. Ashley Simons of SeaWeb COMPASS talked about public misconceptions about ocean science and the need to train scientists to communicate effectively about the oceans. Billy Spitzer of the New England Aquarium spoke of how informal education centers such as museums and science centers offer scientists tremendous opportunities to get their messages out to large and diverse audiences. Susan Cook of the Ocean Education Division of the National Science Foundation (NSF) spoke of the importance that NSF places on integrating research with education and public outreach. NSF now requires that all research proposals include a “broader impact” component such as education and outreach. Leslie Harroun of the Oak Foundation discussed the current funding climate. She pointed out that ocean issues account for only 0.5 percent of foundation funding despite the fact that oceans cover 70 percent of the Earth’s surface and impact our lives in so many ways.

Five Ideas

Later, the participants broke up into five groups to brainstorm some ideas. They included:

• Developing an ocean visualization project This display or website would enable people to explore data about local seascapes in a visual manner with personal control over what they look at.

• Developing strategies for linking scientists and educators Ideas included starting an interactive website that would feature information about scientists, creating a network of science educator brokers, and encouraging educators to attend scientific meetings and even present posters.

• Using a soon-to-be-released Hollywood movie called “The Day after Tomorrow” to educate the public about global warming The fantasy film will show a world ravaged by environmental destruction due to abrupt climate change. Participants talked about making a short trailer to accompany the movie to more accurately illustrate the scientific facts about abrupt climate change.

• Creating a museum experience to highlight the connection between the health of coastal environment and social wellbeing Museum visitors would be given “currency” that represents their wellbeing. They would be offered choices that would either help or harm the coastal environment. Visitors would gain or lose currency based on the choices they made.

• Recruiting citizens to help monitor the coastline and collect data Such a program would educate citizens about ocean science and provide scientists with valuable information.

Looking Forward

Because this was a pilot workshop, COSEE-NE sought feedback. Most participants responded enthusiastically. However, they also offered ideas for how the workshop could be improved and for how COSEE-NE could offer follow-up support.

One of the workshop’s goals was to foster partnerships between scientists and informal educators. All of the participants that responded said that they had met colleagues that they hoped to contact again. One quarter of the respondents also said that they planned to work with other participants to design new programs and exhibits.

Many participants made suggestions on how COSEE-NE could help move the ideas they discussed forward. Respondents mentioned two needs in particular: support in finding funding and support in finding more potential collaborators.

In response to these suggestions, COSEE-NE will take the following steps.

• Select two to four projects and recruit a scientist and educator to lead each one.

• Organize three more workshops that will incorporate suggestions the participants made.

• Plan to develop a website to help scientists and educators find partners for future projects. COSEE-NE plans to launch a password-protected test site by the end of May.

COSEE-NE hopes that these steps will encourage more scientists and informal educators to come together to develop exciting new ocean science programs and exhibits for the public.