Our Mission
COSEE Ocean Learning Communities mission is to:
* Bring together many communities (marine volunteer, scientific, educational, and business) to learn together about the oceans.
* Help these communities learn to communicate clearly and equitably between themselves and their own communities around ocean related issues and research.
* Encourage innovation and creativity as learning communities build partnerships with us and among themselves.
* Seek and build strong models of non-traditional ocean learning partnerships that can be shared throughout the COSEE Network.
* Educate scientists, volunteers, and teachers about how people learn and its connection with ocean science education.
COSEE-OLC carries out its mission by:
Cultivating and studying a marine naturalist volunteer community:
COSEE-OLC builds community with program leaders and volunteers through discussions, surveys, workshops, and more. Other events include partnership building workshops around themes of ocean science, science inquiry, and technology, field trips on a marine research vessel-and to local watersheds, communicating ocean and marine science and citizen science as well as ongoing opportunities for groups to share resources and network.
Inreach to researchers, outreach to citizens:
COSEE-OLC reaches in to help scientists reach out. COSEE-OLC gives scientists chances to interact with the broader community, make their research more accessible, and improve the education and outreach portions of grant proposals. Scientists get help promoting ocean literacy while their audience gets a peek at cutting-edge research and the opportunity to give feedback to scientists on improving the communication of their research.
Conduct and communicate research on learning science in diverse communities:
COSEE-OLC learning scientists educate teachers, volunteers and scientists about how people learn as well as study the ways that culturally diverse youth learn about ocean literacy and environmental justice. COSEE-OLC learning scientists, also associated with the NSF-funded LIFE Science of Learning Center, are researching learning in a girls’ school adopting a year-long ocean focus and a community center’s environmental justice program for Latino youth living near a Superfund water site. Learning scientists develop theoretical accounts of how specific ‘places’ are constructed for and by the youth, how this influences their learning, and how educational institutions relate to youth based on their class, race, and ethnicity. Based on this work, COSEE-OLC helps educators in both sites develop materials and experiences that enrich student engagement and learning.
