Mass Audubon, GOMI and Plum Island OSEI
The GOMI summer OSEI institute was held from July 7 – 10 on the campus of Endicott College in Beverly, Massachusetts. There were 52 participants, including 10 teachers, 24 students, 10 scientists and 8 facilitators. The students were from Salem, Newburyport and Chelsea, Massachusetts and ranged from middle through high school.
The institute was divided into four themes: Salt Marsh Invaders, Striped Bass Survey, Imperiled Rivers (water diversion) and River Herring. Teachers and scientists working together learned how to develop curriculum around local watershed issues, while students learned the connection between local issues and the broader Gulf of Maine bioregion. Everyone learned the importance of acting locally while thinking bioregionally.
The Chelsea and Salem teams are continuing their GOMI work back home on local creek restoration, while the Newburyport team is conducting an invasive plants survey and cleanup along the Newburyport salt marshes.
``This project has allowed us to share the experience of inquiry-based science with middle and high school teachers and students,’’ said Liz Duff of Mass Audubon.
``The students are beginning to develop civic engagement and leadership skills, and we began to learn how current ocean science research and scientists can impact grade 5-12 science education as we develop ocean science research based curriculum units that are implemented in classrooms.’’
Click here for images from the GOMI Summer OSEI (pdf)
Mass Audubon, GOMI and Plum Island OSEI Featured on Network TV
The COSEE-NE project OSEI involving the Gulf of Maine Institute and Mass Audubon is featured on The Early Show on CBS (channel 4) February 13 between 8:00 and 9:00 AM. Viewers across the nation will be able to hear about environmental stewardship projects happening right here in Massachusetts, thanks to a focus on John Terry, Founder and Director of the Gulf of Maine Institute (GOMI), and Liz Duff, Mass Audubon's Education Coordinator for the Salt Marsh Science Project. The piece will include footage of the Newburyport GOMI team who have taken on a stewardship project working to eradicate the invasive perennial pepperweed in Newbury. Working in partnership with Mass Audubon and Parker River National Wildlife Refuge, these efforts are expanding within the Great Marsh Region and beyond. Also featured will be a GOMI team from Chelsea
Participating Schools and Institutions
Schools
Rupert Nock Middle School, Newburyport, MA
Collins Middle School, Salem MA
Excel Academy School, East Boston, MA
Boston Public Schools, Boston, MA
Insitutions
Mass Audubon
Gulf of Maine Institute
Lowell Parks and Land Trust
Marine Biological Laboratory
Plum Island Ecosystems Long Term Ecological Research
Chelsea Green Space and Recreation Committee
Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries