In thinking about digital equity, we try to understand what resources are available for teachers, students and community that are the very best.
There are embedded links for those who can access them. What we love to do is to show you supercomputing that you probably don’t know you use.
How do your Students See the Sea and learn Ocean Literacy?
Thinking About Oceanography, NOAA, Updates on Marine Life
I hope for your help to explore and protect the wild ocean in ways that will restore the health and, in so doing, secure hope for humankind. Health to the ocean means health for us. Sylvia Earle
Place Learning , Museums and Aquariums, Other resources
The Smithsonian has a wonderful exhibit in the Sant Hall using wonderful computational resources. Here are my Iphone photos of transformational ways of teaching and learning from that site.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=92735&id=593996326
The Dept of Commerce Science on Sphere is so compelling that students often sit through the demonstrations and seem to be mesmerized. Adults too find the use of digital media an easy way to learn complex information. Thanks to computational science we can teach in new ways. Teaching earth science and geography is enhanced by digital media.
The power of us is to use transformational resources and ideas that change the way in which we teach and learn. The education director of the Dept of Commerce talked about the fact that we often teach with textbooks with ten year old information when people working in Outreach may be serving students with ten days old research. Breaking the silos with the use of project based work, or partnership learning is powerful .
THE SCIENCE EDUCATION SYSTEM
NOAA is one of many agencies, institutions, and organizations working to improve the nation’s science literacy and technical workforce. To understand its role in education it is critical to understand the major players in the system and the role of the federal government in the education system. This section outlines the roles of various entities in the K-12, higher, and informal education systems.
NOAA’S ROLE IN EDUCATION
The national need to educate the public about the ocean, coastal resources, atmosphere, and climate and to support workforce development in related fields is well established.
The source of the last two paragraphs and the whole report is here. You can download or purchase the report here.
Authors:
John W. Farrington and Michael A. Feder, Editors; Committee for the Review of the NOAA Education Program; National Research Council
Authoring Organizations
Description:
There is a national need to educate the public about the ocean, coastal resources, atmosphere and climate. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the agency responsible for understanding and predicting changes in the Earth’s environment and conserving
You may not think of the powerful resources that help us to visualize and image the collected knowledge that we have. Supercomputing , and computational resources enrich our learning resources.
Tranforming Education
All rivers, even the most dazzling, those that catch the sun in their course, all rivers go down to the ocean and drown. And life awaits man as the sea awaits the river.
Simone Schwarz-Bart
There was a recent Census of Marine Life
( Data Mining )
Earlier this month, a consortium of the worlds leading marine scientists released the first ever, Census of Marine Life. This Census is the result of a decade long effort to assess the diversity, distribution, and abundance of marine life.
The Census efforts lead to the discovery of more than 6,000 new species, yet scientists estimate that we still are only scratching the surface. The current catalog of ocean species contains nearly 250,00 species but the estimate, derived through extrapolations, is that the oceans likely contain more than a million.
The Census is an unprecedented snapshot in time that will not only benefit scientists but will serve to educate the masses and help raise awareness about the perils the oceans face today. There has been a census of Marine Lifehttp://www.coml.org/. There is a treasure trove of resources at the previous URL.
There is an abundance of projects available for teacher and student use in both of the resources.
NOAA resources shared.
Websites
Education Program
National Marine Sanctuary
Foundation www.NMSFocean.org
National Geographic has a upcoming set of Migrations expeditions.
http://www.jason.org/science/live/great_migrations/natgeo/event.aspx
National Geographic Channel’s Great Migrations is a seven-part global programming event, three years in the making, that takes viewers around the world on the arduous journeys millions of animals undertake to ensure the survival of their species. Coming this November to National Geographic Channel.
Many students and teachers have not had hands on in this subject area. In the Washington DC area there is a wonderful place for learning which is SERC. I started with local water resources, then estuary studies, and then an eat a crab lab from SERC.
SERC is located near Annapolis , Maryland, but is a virtual field trip from the Smithsonian for many of you who are distant. http://www.serc.si.edu/education/dl/index.aspx
It is an outstanding piece of professional development and project based learning.
For your students in eleventh grade. There is also Earthwatch.org. They can get scholarships and so can you, to work in the field.
Bonnie Bracey Sutton
Earthwatch Fellow
Power of US Foundation
Teacher Member of NIIAC which worked through the Commerce Department.
The Power of Us 
Census in the Arts
“Both artists and researchers are driven by curiosity about the world around them. They observe and then communicate their observations. Both can learn from each other.”
Odd Askel Bergstad
Project Leader, MAR-ECO
Overview of Artwork Inspired by the Census of Marine Life (PDF)
Census discoveries have proven to be an inspiration to artists around the world. The artwork here is a testimony to the excitement generated and the creativity it inspires when the natural and artistic worlds come together.