Archive of Spotlight Feature Articles

Education and Outreach on a NOAA-Sponsored Ocean Expedition

For Some it Means Seeing Beyond Limitations to Possibilities.

By Fred Gorell

How do you describe an expedition to unknown or little known ocean areas? How do you communicate the excitement, the joy of discovery, the delight when scientists find answers that fit neatly into puzzles, or their surprise and wonder when they don't? Education and outreach are the means of communication and they are key objectives that sail with NOAA-sponsored ocean expeditions, and connect scientist-explorers with other scientists, students and teachers ashore, often in real time.

"Reaching out in new ways to stakeholders, to improve the literacy of learners of all ages with respect to ocean issues," was one of four key objectives cited by the year 2000 Report of the President's Panel on Ocean Exploration. The 2004 report of the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy stated, "Strengthening the nation's awareness of the importance of the oceans requires a heightened focus on the marine environment, through both formal and informal education efforts."

How much education and outreach can a single ocean expedition contribute? "Plenty," is the answer.

The 2004 Gulf of Alaska Seamount Expedition is a good example of how much can be accomplished in terms of education and outreach. NOAA and partners explored five of Alaska's large seamounts--ancient submerged volcanoes--between July 30 and August 23, using the Alvin manned submersible to depths up to 3,500 meters. The exploration was exciting - scientists in Alvin looked out on seamounts that had never before been seen by human eyes. The science of the mission will likely identify new species and will certainly help us understand the biology and geology of a seafloor where ancient submerged volcanoes reside. Education and outreach helped carry the expedition's story of exploration and science, but education and outreach are also a story on their own.

To reach into classrooms, three lesson plans were developed for Grades 5-12 and placed on the award-winning Web site at oceanexplorer.noaa.gov. Each plan was tied to the specific expedition and to National Science Education Standards. The site now holds more than 160 such lesson plans. During the expedition, elementary, middle, and high school teachers from throughout Alaska participated in a professional development offering where the teachers learned first-hand how to conduct lessons related to the Gulf of Alaska Expeditions.

The team of scientists-explorers made five satellite phone calls during the cruise.

(Left) While Jeff Pollach, right, works on a submission for oceanexplorer.noaa.gov Web site, teacher-at-sea Carey DeLauder, a science teacher at UCAP school in Providence, is on the line with students at her school. Shortly, she'll pass the phone to Dudley Foster, left, Alvin Expedition Leader, to patch the call to former UCAP employee Catalina Martinez in the Alvin submersible. (Right) News photographers covered the story as students at UCAP school in Providence, R.I. gathered around a speakerphone for a satellite phone interview with NOAA scientist and former UCAP employee Catalina Martinez, while she was in a submersible more than 8,000 feet deep in the Gulf of Alaska.

In one call, Teacher-at Sea Carey DeLauder connected with her students at UCAP, a middle school in Rhode Island serving at-risk students from several school districts. DeLauder then handed the phone to other scientists, and to a former UCAP student now assigned to the research ship. Finally, the students interviewed Catalina Martinez, who described for them what she saw from the view port of the submersible, deep on the side of an ancient volcano. NOAA scientist Martinez once worked at UCAP and served as coordinator for the Gulf of Alaska mission.

On the UCAP side of the call, Director Rob DeBlois, several teachers and 18 students filled a conference room. The Associated Press and the Providence Journal Bulletin each sent a reporter and photographer.

"What do you see? What is visible?" 12-year-old student Nephtali Navarro asked into a speakerphone around which the students huddled. His question went by satellite to the research ship thousands of miles away, and then down to the Alvin submersible.

There was an anxious pause before the answer came back from Martinez. "I see a lot of sediment, as we sat down in a cloud. I saw a couple of big bright red shrimp go by and a lot of jelly organisms and various types of corals."

"I hope the kids will see how fascinating the world is and what they can do when they are educated," said DeBlois. "The more they see beyond the boundaries of their neighborhoods, the farther they can go and they'll see possibilities instead of limitations."

Later in the cruise, outreach calls were made to other students at UCAP, to teachers gathered at the Alaska SeaLife Center, to scientists at the Institute of Genomic Research in Rockville, Md., and to a class of at-risk students in Indianapolis, Ind.

The cruise received signature coverage on the Web site, including pre-cruise background essays, a mission plan, and biographies of cruise participants. While at-sea, the mission team filed logs and essays, and developed images, videos, and other multimedia products for posting on the Web site, usually within 24 hrs. A live link was included on the site called 'Ask the Scientist' so that questions could be submitted during the cruise and answers were posted on the Web site. Post-cruise summaries written by scientists will be added to the Web site with accompanying images.

The mission team included a number of students who had an enviable opportunity to work with leading scientists and sophisticated equipment. An intern, a Knauss Sea Grant Fellow and nine other students participated in the cruise as part of the science parties, including two graduate students from the University of Alaska Fairbanks, three from Oregon State University, two undergraduates and two recently graduated baccalaureates.

(Left) As part of outreach and education, media availabilities are planned at the conclusion of most ocean expeditions, for reporters to interview mission scientists and submersible operators. Here, reporters interview one of the Alvin pilots. (Right) One of the scientists, Amy Baco-Taylor from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, shows the expedition poster she created for the Gulf of Alaska mission, and answers questions about coral specimens taken from the deep.

The excitement and the importance of exploration and science were well covered by media at several points during the cruise. Early in the cruise, AP and the Providence newspaper covered the call into the UCAP school. Later, a newspaper in the Indianapolis area covered the call to at-risk students there, and at the end of the cruise, a media availability with scientists in Astoria, Ore. resulted in extensive media coverage.

On September 13 in Seattle, the former Navy Ship USNS Capable was signed over to NOAA for conversion to an ocean exploration and research vessel. Conversion plans include installation of satellite communications for a "telepresence" capability to make students, teachers and scientists ashore, virtual members of the exploration and science party at sea. Retired Navy Vice Adm. Conrad C. Lautenbacher, PhD., under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator signs the transfer documents. To his right is Navy Capt. Juan Chavez, commander, Military Sealift Command, Pacific. To his left is NOAA Capt. John Clary, commander, Marine Operations Center, Pacific.

As with other NOAA-sponsored expeditions, education and outreach were key elements of the Gulf of Alaska cruise. A missing ingredient however, was the ability to transmit real-time video from cameras both on the research vessel and on the submersible. A few previous expeditions did have this "telepresence," the state-of-the-art capability to make students, teachers and scientists ashore, virtual members of the science team at sea. Happily, it is a capability that will be built in to the former Navy ship transferred to NOAA recently for conversion to a dedicated ocean exploration and research vessel. With "telepresence," on future expeditions, ocean education and outreach will be within reach of anyone with Internet on a computer, after a few clicks on oceanexplorer.noaa.gov.

[9/20/2004]

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