In mid-December 2012, the teachers and their graduate students reconvened to give COSEE-OS feedback regarding the successes and shortcomings of the program. The results of that conversation will help in shaping future education and outreach efforts between graduate students and public school systems in Maine. In general, the students in these middle-school classrooms really seemed to enjoy all of the hands-on activities the graduate students presented them with.

For future education efforts, providing more detailed background information and context to the students on the topics to-be-taught will help them to better understand what they should be gaining from the presentation, game, or lab activity. General consensus among the graduate students was that it would be beneficial (for both the teachers and students) to have better integration of their lessons with the current curriculum in that particular classroom. This way, activities conducted by the graduate students are reinforced by other, related concepts that are being taught at the time.

"I believe that removing the cognitive barriers and dealing with the students on their own level gives them the opportunity to imagine themselves in my place and increases their interest and desire to participate in their science classes." -Noah Oppenheim

"So far my favorite part has been actually looking at plankton in the lab with the students. One of the other grad student's introduced her work as a biological oceanographer looking at plankton. Then, we whipped out the scopes and IDed some of the plankton from a tow in Frenchman's Bay I did in the morning." -Mike Kersula

"The young folks were more excited than I expected by the veligers and copepods; exclamations of wonder worthy of science nerds of any age (and these were no nerds but all sorts of students) abounded." -Mike Kersula

"The kids seemed to respond well - they were interested and really liked the demonstrations." -Nick Foukal and Melissa May on their Density Lab Exercise

	Noah Oppenheim

Noah Oppenheim is looking to develop and implement a Discover SCUBA course for students that will supplement their curricular unit on gas laws and fluid dynamics. The hope is that students will be able to gain practice using a full set of SCUBA equipment in a controlled setting and will get to experience the principles of density and pressure first-hand. This will give them the opportunity to explore a potential career path (marine diver) and make connections between what they are learning in school and real-world science.

This group of graduate students has been officially recognized as a club by the University of Maine. The SMS Grad Student Outreach & Education Club is now well on their way to securing funding from the Graduate Student Government, which will help finance the purchase of teaching materials and provide transportation money for field trip efforts.

Plans are in the works for a "Marine Science Day" where students will visit the University and participate in a variety of marine science-related activities and educational programs.