COSEE-OS is dedicated to fostering educator-scientist collaborations with a focus on investigating how inland audiences can better understand how the oceans affect their everyday lives. Since 2006, over 100 educators from 18 states -- as far away as Idaho and New Mexico -- have participated in summer professional development workshops at the University of Maine and the University of New Hampshire. Some of our workshop attendees have been sponsored to participate in national conferences.

Based on experience from these and other COSEE-OS initiatives, we have crafted a new model of "Scientist-Educator Workshops" to co-create online learning resources that align with National Science Education Standards, Climate Literacy and Ocean Literacy Principles. Each workshop focuses on the current research topics of the internationally known scientists who participate fully in all aspects of the workshop. Pedagogical techniques such as concept mapping and on-line collaboration tools are employed to foster sustained interactions between the educators and scientists. Visit our workshops page for information on past events; for upcoming workshops, click here. For information on how some educators are using our tools in their classrooms, click here.

COSEE-OS engages audiences in free public webinars to help scientists and ocean science content reach broader audiences. Many of our webinar participants are educators. Since 2010, COSEE-OS has pioneered several webinar models, and continues to test the application of webinars to different audiences. All that is needed to participate in a scheduled webinar is a phone and an internet connection. Participants can ask questions and participate, making the session both interactive and informative.

Perhaps our most ambitious and innovative achievement has been development of the Ocean Climate Interactive which highlights fundamental science concepts as well as their "big picture" connections. This software tool ties directly to hundreds of resources including those for pre-college audiences. Some of these resources have undergone extensive review by teams of scientists and educators.

We have also offered a college course co-developed by professors from the University of Maine's College of Education and School of Marine Sciences. Designed for pre-service educators and marine sciences majors, the course utilized an inquiry-based instructional approach to learn about physical sciences content and relevant ocean examples that could be used to illustrate them.

For more information, please contact Annette deCharon.