Communicating Ocean Sciences: a course that improves education & public outreach

Among all disciplines of science and geoscience, ocean/marine/aquatic sciences are inexplicably and idiosyncratically underrepresented in K-16 education. Concepts and topics about the ocean are hardly taught in K-12 schools, and hardly appear in K-12 curriculum materials, textbooks, assessments or standards. The NSF-funded Center for Ocean Sciences Education Excellence-California (COSEE CA) has brought together educators at the Lawrence Hall of Science, UC Berkeley with faculty at UCB to address this issue. Together educators and ocean scientists have developed and teach a university course entitled Communicating Ocean Sciences that is now being taught in several institutions of higher education nationwide. The course is designed for undergraduate and graduate science students interested in improving their teaching skills, or simply interested in improving their ability to communicate about complex science concepts. The goals of the course are to: 1) introduce diverse future scientists to the importance of K-12 education, public outreach and the "broader impact" of their research in ocean sciences; 2) introduce diverse students in science majors to possible careers in K-12 teaching; 3) encourage thoughtful, mutually beneficial collaborations between ocean scientists and educators co-teaching the course; 4) provide significant ocean sciences instruction and college-age role models for under-represented K-12 students. The course involves university students in a semester of seminars and six weeks of teaching Ocean Sciences to elementary and middle school students under the supervision of experienced classroom teachers. To date, approximately 100 students have taken this course at the University of California, Berkeley and three other campuses. By academic year 2005-06, we expect that a dozen colleges and universities will be offering the course. This paper focuses on the content, outcomes, and potential of the Communicating Ocean Sciences course. First, we describe the background and design of the course. Next, we explore the implementation of the course at the University of California, Berkeley and describe participant, instructor, and institutional experiences of the course. Finally, we discuss the potential of the course to transform teaching and learning of Ocean Sciences across the United States.