Ocean Literacy Brochure as a PDF document |  Add your name to the keep me informed list.

July 2007: Finalized K-5 Concept Flows completed by team at Lawrence Hall of Science, University of California, Berkeley. Finished and ready for broad review and applications.

See current activities and next steps page

DRAFT K-12 Scope and Sequence Concept Maps/Flows developed at the April 2006 meeting - Revisions in progress, latest revisions are here

This work is all voluntary and is all self funded. If you would like to make a grant to support this website and the ocean linteracy work please contact the College of Exploration. (501c3 status with the IRS)

Google Ads to support the Ocean Literacy website

Ocean Literacy Search

The Documents

A summary pamphlet has been produced and published. It summarizes all the information in an easy to read and presentable format. Here is a PDF version of the chart in the brochure. The brochure is available free of charge for educators, while stocks last.

Please contact Jeannine Montgomery at the NOAA Outreach Unit for copies:
Jeannine.Montgomery@noaa.gov

The pamphlet contains the defintion of ocean literacy, the seven essential principles and a matrix mapping the National Science Education Standards to the essential principles and key concepts of ocean literacy.

This brochure describes and presents the essential principles and fundamental concepts. On the other side is a matrix that links the seven principles to the National Science Education Standards.

FINAL REPORT on the 2004 workshop. Available as PDF document

We regard this material as a work in progress and the content of the brochure and other documents may be amended in subsequent printings as the details become more refined.

Participate, Contribute and Help Spread the Word

We have a weblog. with two subject areas, document revisions and an action log.
To contribute your comments on the documents add your comments and contribute your thoughts now.

If you are taking action to get the word out, let everyone know what you are doing to take action, please add to the activity log.

CONTRIBUTE YOUR TIME, RESOURCES, MONEY - contact us

Current Activity of the Organizing Group:

July 2007 Finalized K-5 Concept Flows completed by team at Lawrence Hall of Science, University of California, Berkeley. Finished and ready for broad review and applications.

June 6 2007 Launch Ocean Literacy Video site http://video.oceanliteracy.net

February 2007 Teams submit proposals to NSF for continuing the work of Ocean Literacy as part of COSEEs

January 2007 Team members meet on College of Exploration live webconferencing system to discuss scope and sequence needs.

4 November 2006 Ocean Literacy Summit sponsored by COSEE NE

6 October 2006 The Organizing Group review with Dr. Gerry Leiberman how the Ocean Literacy work will contribute to the curriculum development for Environmental Education in the State of California

1 October 2006 Revised Ocean Literacy Scope and Sequence Concept Flows for K-2 published on the web for comment and review

31 September Presentation at MAMEA annual conference

30 September Small group work for one day on concept flows at MAMEA.

22 September Dr. Tim Zimmerman and Mr. Peter Tuddenham update on progress. Streaming presentation or podcast

July - August 2006 Lawrence Hall of Science work on evolving the Scope and Sequence Concept Flows, establishing guidelines for concept flow map creation.

July 2006 NMEA Ocean Literacy Committee Meeting at NMEA National Conference.

7-8 June 2006 Conference on Ocean Literacy as part of Ocean Week on Capital Hill 7-8 June 2006

30 May 2006 DRAFT K-12 Scope and Sequence concept flows and maps

18-20 April 2006 Face to face and online workshop to develop draft K-12 Scope and Sequence

10 November 2005 Comprehensive final report on the workshop completed. Available as a PDF document

12 October 2005 Updates to the brochure document and to the Matrix

22 September 2005 Created weblog to enable a log of actions and for community comments.

19 - 23 September 2005 Sarah Schoedinger, then President of the National Marine Educators Association and also working in the Office of Education and Sustainable Development at NOAA gave a presentation at the MTS/IEE Oceans Conference 2005 on the status of the Ocean Literacy Project. You can listen to her presentation and see the slides here http://ps.connect230.com/coexploration/20051005-211521-1/index.htm

A call for an ocean literacy campaign Ocean Literacy through Science Standards. (PDF)

August 2005.  The most current versions of the definition, essential principles and fundamental concepts of ocean sciences literacy have incorporated much of the feedback received thus far from scientists and educators.  The matrix showing the alignment of the fundamental concepts to the content standards of the National Science Education Standards has also been updated. Matrix in Adobe format. Matrix as Excel spreadsheet

To read the PDF documents you will need the free Adobe Acrobat Reader.
If you do not have MS Excel for the matrix then you can view the matrix with this free MS Excel Viewer

15 July 2005. Results so far presented to NMEA Annual Meeting in Maui

10 July 2005. Color brochure published: Ocean Literacy - The Essential Principles of Ocean Sciences K-12. This brochure represents the work so far. It describes and presents the seven principles On the other side is a matrix that links the seven principles to the National Science Education Standards. The brochure is available free of charge for educators, while stocks last. Please contact Francesca Cava of the National Geographic Society for copies. She can be contacted through her email francesca.cava@noaa.gov

A copy of the text in the brochure is available as a PDF document is also available.

We regard this material as a work in progress and the content of the brochure and other documents may be amended in subsequent printings as the details become more refined.

20 June 2005 Ocean Literacy Education Theme Track at the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography Summer meeting in Santiago de Compestela, Spain.

25 May 2005. Thank you to everyone who has contributed to the review of the drafts and has completed the survey. We are now working on the first version of a brochure for teachers and educators that will encourage the study of ocean sciences.

20 April 2005. A public review of two documents: the draft definitions and concepts document (PDF) and also the matrix (XLS file - this is a large MS Excel file) which aligns the concepts to the NSES. If the you cannot view the matrix as an MS Excel file here is a summary of the matrix in PDF format.

A survey was completed you can view the the survey about these documents. Accepting results from survey closed on Friday 6 May 2005.

15 - 31 October 2004 A major online conference was organized and offered here on the TCOE virtual campus and conference center. (Workshop was held October 15 - 31 2004) 84 educators, scientists, teachers were invited and participated. (See who attended this conference here) The workshop is now over. You can still read the proceedings if you wish. If you have a user id you can: Enter Here

January 2002 The National Geographic Society and the College of Exploration conducted a three week online conference to map ocean topics to the National Geography Standards. A small group gathered after the online conference to compile the results. One of the results of this total effort is brochure that shows the ocean connections to geogrpahy standards. Also a website at the National Geographic.

Future Related Activities and Programs

continued work on science scope and sequence
mapping ocean lessons, curriculum, content websites to the scope and sequence

Sponsors and Endorsers

This effort (workshop and review process) was sponsored by the National Geographic Society's Oceans for Life Initiative, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Centers for Ocean Sciences Education Excellence (COSEE) and the College of Exploration (TCOE) . It was endorsed by the American Zoo and Aquarium Association (AZA); the National Marine Educators Association (NMEA) and The Ocean Project

The Organizers and Conveners:

- Francesca Cava, National Geographic Society
- Sarah Schoedinger, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
- Craig Strang, Lawrence Hall of Science, University of California at Berkeley
- Peter Tuddenham, College of Exploration

The Process

The process so far is described below. Help us with some of the next steps.

In preparation for the work in 2004 we created a rather detailed diagram and related text in a mind map that contains a description of the process and also a number of related documents and links to related efforts and projects.

The Workshops

These documents are a result of several workshops and meetings and the work of a group of organizers, conveners and editors.

Large Group (84) Online Workshop, October 2004

A major online conference was organized and offered here on the TCOE virtual campus and conference center. (Workshop was held October 15 - 31 2004) 84 educators, scientists, teachers were invited and participated. (See who attended this conference here) The workshop is now over. You can still read the proceedings if you wish. If you have a user id you can: Enter Here

If you wish to read the archives of the workshop as an observer please register here. You will be taken through a registration process and then onto the workshop center. Once you have a user id and password use that in the future to enter through the "Front Door - Enter Here" link above.

Why did we convene this workshop?

Small Group Workshop in Berkeley, February 2005

The most recent meeting was a follow up to the online workshop in October 2004. Several scientists and education leaders met in Berkeley, CA in February 2005 to consolidate the significant input from the online workshop and to confirm the ocean content that should be aligned to the content standards of the National Science Education Standards.  Over a 2-day period, this group worked to create the ocean literacy matrix and refine the ocean literacy concepts.  These documents were then further revised by a working group of the lead institutions with additional input from ocean scientists from different disciplines.

Continual Process

There has been and continues to be important work to improve society’s ocean literacy. We created a mind map and reference library of ocean literacy work prior to the workshop which includes links to a number of related activities. We will update this with the results as they become available.

Video Clips

Leaders in the ocean community on the importance of ocean literacy.

Oceans For Life - Oceans and Geography

In January 2002 the National Geographic Society and the College of Exploration conducted a three week online conference to map ocean topics to the National Geography Standards. A small group gathered after the online conference to compile the results. One of the results of this total effort is a website at the National Geographic.

Other activities

More to come.... this is a work in progress