Communicating Ocean Sciences

Session Overview
This introductory session of the course begins with participants sharing and discussing their ideas about learning and where learning takes place. The participants then experience different […]

Session Overview
This session is the second Foundation session. This session immerses students in activities and discussions about what is science and how scientific knowledge is produced. Science is a way of […]

Session Overview
This is the third Foundation session. This session probes deeper into how learning happens. The focus is on how learners construct an understanding of the world around them through experiences, […]

Session Overview
This is the first of the Designing to Support Learning sessions where students consider how to design experiences to support learning. Students access their prior knowledge about the relationship […]

Session Overview
This is the second of two the Designing to Support Learning sessions where students think critically about designing learning experiences. In this session, participants focus on applying some of […]

Session Overview
This session is one of four Apply and Refine sessions. The focus of this session is on conversations and questions, and the key role they play in supporting learning and meaning making of ideas […]

Session Overview
This session is one of four Apply and Refine sessions. It introduces and provides an overview of inquiry in informal environments. Participants conduct an investigation, then observe visitors and […]

Session Overview
This session is one of four Apply and Refine sessions, which can be done in any order. In this session, students examine the use of objects in learning experiences in informal environments, and […]

Session Overview
This session is one of four Apply and Refine sessions. In this session, students consider diversity in learning environments and how to address the needs of all learners. The focus is to build […]

Session Overview
This Review & Feedback session serves two purposes. First, students have the chance to observe their peers’ near-final activity, and learn how to review and provide critical and substantive […]

Session Overview This session uses a series of demonstrations to illustrate the causes of ocean circulation—both at the surface of the ocean and in the deep ocean. There are three demos: 1) wind: wind moves water at the surface of a small tank; 2) temperature: in a tank of room-temperature water, cold water sinks and warm water rises; [...]

Session Overview This session is about greenhouse gases and the mechanism by which they cause global warming. The presentation was designed for a lecture hall setting. It consists of a PowerPoint presentation interspersed with clicker questions that encourage students to discuss their thinking with their peers. Together, the class explores a…[Read more]

The National Academies Press published two books that we recommend to use as textbooks for Communicating Ocean Sciences to Informal Audiences. Surrounded by Science was written for informal educators and is appropriate for undergraduate students. Learning Science in Informal Environments is the research version of the book and is better suited for…[Read more]

The National Academies Press published two books that we recommend to use as textbooks for Communicating Ocean Sciences K-12. Ready, Set, SCIENCE! was written for education practitioners and is appropriate for undergraduate students. Taking Science to School is the research version of the book and is better suited for graduate students. Both books…[Read more]

Bransford, J. (2000). How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School: Expanded Edition. Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press. Description from National Academies Press: This popular trade book, originally released in hardcover in the Spring of 1999, has been newly expanded to show how the theories and insights from the original book…[Read more]

Abstract: Communicating Ocean Sciences to Informal Audiences (COSIA) is a college course that creates and develops partnerships between science educators in informal science education institutions, such as museums, science centers and aquariums, and ocean scientists in colleges and universities. For the course, a scientist and educator team-teach…[Read more]

Inverness Research served as the external evaluator of the Communicating Ocean Sciences to Informal Audiences (COSIA) Project. The Research Group, Center for Research, Evaluation and Assessment , Lawrence Hall of Science was also an evaluator of the project. The project’s Final Evaluation Reports & Case Studies are available to download.…[Read more]

Introduction: As the relationship between science and society evolves, there is an increasingly urgent need for scientists to engage and communicate more effectively with the public about scientific issues. Leaders in the scientific community are calling for science graduates to know how to communicate their scientific knowledge with the public.…[Read more]