This week, 18 educators from throughout the Great Lakes region are traveling along the Lake Erie coast to conduct experiments, interact with researchers, and create new ways to bring ocean science into their classrooms as part of the COSEE Great Lakes Lake Erie Exploration Workshop.

The workshop, a collaborative project between the Ohio, New York, and Pennsylvania Sea Grant programs, began Saturday, July 18, at Tom Ridge Environmental Center in Erie, PA, and will wrap up Friday, July 24, at Stone Laboratory on Gibraltar Island in Put-in-Bay, OH. Along the way, the group will make stops in at Presque Isle State Park, Painesville Township Park, and Old Woman Creek National Estuarine Research Reserve to learn about environmental contaminants, coastal erosion, estuaries, and wetlands. Four days at Stone Laboratory, Ohio State University's island campus on Lake Erie, will give participants an in-depth look at current Great Lakes science as they sample water quality, investigate a shipwreck, and study the Lake Erie food web.

"This workshop immerses educators in science from sunup to sundown," says Dr. Rosanne Fortner, Director of COSEE Great Lakes and Professor Emeritus at Ohio State University. "They learn about the Lakes from the researchers who are bringing the science to life, and in turn the scientists become aware of the needs of learners at all levels. We're striving for science literacy, and also for scientists' literacy!"

A blog about their experiences will be updated throughout the week here .

COSEE Great Lakes, supported by the National Science Foundation's Division of Ocean Sciences and NOAA's National Sea Grant Program Office, works to promote the development of effective partnerships between research scientists and educators, disseminate Great Lakes/ocean science information, and foster best practices for education about the ocean sciences as they apply to the Great Lakes region.