OSEI News - January 2006
One of the characteristics of OSEI is that successive generations keep busy. This past quarter has seen activity generated from this year’s projects in OSEI III as well as OSEI II. In November, the OSEI III Mass Audubon/Plum Island/Gulf of Maine Institute Project hosted a Coastal Conference. In December, OSEI II researcher Ralph Stephens presented a poster of his OSEI II Plymouth Waves lesson plan (pdf) at the AGU meeting in San Francisco. The OSEI II carbon cycle lesson plan was reprinted in the newsletter of the Southern New England Marine Educators (SENEME), as well as being the centerpiece in the January edition of NSTA’s magazine for middle school science teachers, Science Scope.
Throughout the fall of 2005, OSEI facilitators Sukey Padawer and Joel Rubin worked with Boston Public School (BPS) science supervisors and materials' management specialists to set up a central aquarium at BPS’s Campbell Science Center, in order to facilitate district-wide distribution of mud snails to seventh grade science classrooms. This officially launches the next phase of the OSEI II "Diversity of Life" (DOL) project. During academic year 2004-05, the OSEI II DOL team designed and field-tested activities and curriculum materials using marine organisms (zooplankton, and the mud snail Nassarius obsoletus), to augment the BPS ``Diversity of Life" Kit, a middle school inquiry-based curriculum developed by FOSS (Full Option Science System, a nationally renowned educational collaborative based out of University of California's Lawrence Hall of Science). Goals for 2005-06: centralize materials distribution; increase number of trained or mentored teachers; pilot-test activities in selected BPS classrooms; collect data, evaluate feedback, and continue ongoing communication with FOSS curriculum developers.
Coming up: The 13th Ocean Sciences Meeting, a joint meeting of ASLO, ERF, TOS and AGU, will be held February 20–24, 2006 in Honolulu, and COSEE-NE will be there. Four presentations about OSEI and OSEI II projects will be given:
*The Stellwagen Bank Ecoscenario: a FOSS Populations and Ecosystems Module for New England; Jody Calabro, Erik Zettler, Valerie Saucer, Robert F. Chen, Marilyn Decker
*The Ocean Science Education Institute (OSEI): Bridging Ocean Scientists and Educators; Kim Frashure, Robert F. Chen, Sukey Padawer.
*Mud Snails: A Local, Marine Replacement in Diversity of Life, a FOSS module; Valerie Saucer, Jacqui Steinbeck, Brittan Wilson, Sukey Padawer, Robert F. Chen, Marilyn Decker
*Diversity and Plankton in the Classroom; Sukey Padawer, Phil Manna, Juanita Urban-Rich
In addition, COSEE-NE PI Bob Chen will be delivering a presentation titled ``Education and Outreach for Fame and Fortune,’’ a case study (of Bob’s own experience) that will present evidence for the impact of education and outreach activities while satisfying the needs of a researcher in academia.