K-12 Program & Curriculum Development

The Ohio Sea Grant Education Program is considered a leader in the nation in the area of K-12 teacher education, curriculum development and materials that focus on the Great Lakes region. Projects and products are geared for K-12 teachers and their students. Our program is also strong in education research and evaluation.

Expanding Delivery Modes for Education About Great Lakes Systems (E/TER-2, 2002-2005)

Ohio Sea Grant has made important contributions to K-12 education through its proven research capabilities in professional education, widely accepted curriculum materials for Great Lakes systems, successful educational technology projects, and network of formal educators and their classes in grades K-12. The current project uses all those attributes in a combination of activities that will produce new education opportunities, partnerships and outreach for Great Lakes research.

The project goal is to increase the geographic and scientific literacy of Ohio's secondary teachers and students through increased access to and appropriate use of data about the interdisciplinary sciences of the Great Lakes and how the lake systems change over time.

To accomplish this goal the three-year project

• makes available to secondary science classes a set of new classroom activities using current Great Lakes data that address the subject matter objectives and process skills for the Ohio science education standards;
• provides Sea Grant outreach to informal science education institutions on the south shore of Lake Erie, and collaborates through them to reach additional education audiences;
• utilizes on-line access and distance learning to facilitate access to Sea Grant/Great Lakes materials and data among teachers and students who cannot directly reach Stone Laboratory or other Ohio Sea Grant facilities and personnel;
• includes in new curriculum delivery modes the teaching of skills reflecting the state of the art in the decision sciences, so that people may utilize their enhanced scientific literacy for individual and group decisions about environmental issues related to Lake Erie and the Great Lakes system.

Sea Grant Education Network Project: Escape From Exotics (E/NIS-3, 2001-2003)

As part of a national project for Aquatic Nuisance Species Outreach, Ohio Sea Grant continues development of the Internet instructional site entitled Exotic Aquatics on the Move. New species information components are added for use by learners, and the site is continually reorganized for project participants in Sea Grant organizations from Washington to Louisiana to New York.

In 2003 a distance learning short course is being tested and implemented for teachers to earn continuing education credits as they learn about Alien Invaders. For course participation information contact Dr. Fortner.

Lake Erie Distance Learning From F. T. Stone Laboratory (USEPA Region V funding, 2002-2003)

With new videoconferencing equipment and funding for line time, personnel at Stone Lab will broadcast the summer public lecture series to mainland sites where teachers and the public may gather to learn about Lake Erie science and environmental policy from experts. Virtual workshops are being developed for dissemination to schools, to be accompanied by on-line access to workshop leaders from regular classrooms during spring and fall seasons.