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COSEE-OS Reaches Broader Audiences at Ocean Sciences 2014 - 03.19.2014

COSEE-OS recently attended the Ocean Sciences Meeting held in Honolulu, Hawaii this past February. The meeting, attended by over 5,000 scientists, educators, and students was filled with sessions on oceanography research, workshops devoted to broadening the reach of scientific data, and multiple sessions on improving undergraduate education. During the week, COSEE-OS facilitated three workshops and presented two posters.

On Sunday, COSEE-OS co-facilitated the “Gears” workshop, an all-day event that involved 30 early career scientists, helping them more effectively communicate their research to a broader audience. COSEE-OS helped participants to deconstruct their science by having them create a concept map that combined both partner’s research topics along with the added concept of “climate”. Through this exercise, participants were able to more clearly connect their research to a “big picture” context.

Monday’s lunchtime workshop had participants using concept mapping as a way to share their pathway to becoming a scientist. Over 60 participants spent time crafting a map of the people, places, and events that influenced them along the way to becoming a scientist and then broke into groups to share their maps. A quick poll revealed that 90% of the participants had included a mentor on their maps. The goal of this workshop was to get participants to realize that in order to effectively bring new people into the world of science, it helps to recognize the “positive factors” that supported their own pathways into science.


In collaboration with the Institute for Broadening Participation (IBP), COSEE-OS co-hosted a pilot workshop entitled “Positive Factors that Impact Success in STEM”. Participants learned about the positive factors that reduce barriers to participation in STEM fields and that also enable individuals to succeed in their careers. After hearing from Dr. Ashanti Johnson, Executive Director and Allyson Fauver, Director of Policy & Analysis, both at IBP, participants self-selected into groups representing four positive factors (i.e. mentors, role models, authentic science engagement, and campus and classroom culture & climate) to explore and discuss ways to further incorporate these factors at their home institutions.

On display in the OSM Poster Hall for the duration of the meeting, presented in two different sessions were two posters including Mapping Out Your Message: Workshop and Webinar Models that Support Collaborative Critical Thinking and Sharing the Importance of Ocean Science Salinity Beyond the Scientific Community. Both posters have been archived online and are freely viewable as PDFs.

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