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Education in the National Estuarine Research Reserve System
New! Searchable Education Calendar of Events!
National Estuarine Research Reserves are federally designated "to enhance public awareness and understanding of estuarine areas, and provide suitable opportunities for public education and interpretation." The reserve system is one of only three programs within NOAA in which education is federally mandated, and the reserve system provides a range of educational programming to key audiences in reserve watersheds.
National Estuarine Research Reserves
offer education and training for professionals who make decisions
about coastal resources on a regular basis such as planners, conservation
council members, resource managers and community leaders. The Coastal
Training Program ensures that community members have the science-based
information they need to make decisions about coastal resources.
In addition to targeting coastal decision makers, most reserves
provide K-12 education, ranging from hands-on field experiences
for students to professional teacher development opportunities. In addition, the reserves invite
students and teachers to learn about estuaries by actively participating
in the EstuaryLive
program, an interactive field trip over the internet. These are
great opportunities to learn, teach about estuaries, and engage
students in activities that will excite them and get them to explore
the estuarine environment. Reserve educators also provide regularly
scheduled public programs and special events, and they are always
eager to partner with schools, community-based organizations and
volunteers. To search the NEW calendar of educational activities taking place at reserves, click this link.
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To learn about a reserve visit the site-based pages, and to learn more about a specific reserve's educational program, visit the reserves that currently have an education website.
For more information about education in
the estuarine reserves, contact Atziri.Ibanez@noaa.gov.
To learn about results of an inventory done on the NERRS K-12
programs and the recommendations provided to improve program design
and implementation, among others, read the Inventory
and Assessment of K-12 and PTD Programs in the National Estuarine
Research Reserve System, Pandion Systems, Inc., 2003.
In the summer of 2007, more than one thousand classroom teachers and informal science educators shared their thoughts and opinions on teaching estuarine related topics via an online needs assessment. This assessment - which determined obstacles to teaching about estuaries, and teacherís preferences for accessing and utilizing various educational products - will shape the development of teaching and professional development materials about estuaries. This assessment was conducted by TERC, a non-profit educational research and development organization, and NOAA's National Estuarine Research Reserve System. To read the final report on the survey results, please click here.
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