Ocean Acidification Curriculum Collection
Presentation Abstract
If we accept the premise that certain human behaviors are contributing to a decrease in ecosystem functions that are essential to ourselves and other species, then changing those behaviors is essential to our future. What better time and place to do that than in school? It’s much easier to make behaviors then to change them. For over a dozen years, students from all political and cultural backgrounds are a captive audience in classrooms taking in lessons from their teachers. Three factors make this a prime moment to instill or enhance an emphasis on environmental stewardship of the oceans in schools: 1) the threat of ocean acidification has increased interest in ocean science; 2) growing interest among youth in the environment and 3) the adoption of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) by the State of Washington. We will briefly describe the NGSS, and how ocean acidification is good fit for illustrating several of the core disciplinary ideas and crosscutting concepts emphasized in the NGSS. We will also describe some of the challenges and concerns teachers have in adopting new curricula. We will then highlight actions individuals and organizations are taking to bring ocean science into the classroom. These will range from a project to provide bus tickets to the beach, to an online collection of ocean acidification curriculum materials. And finally, we will suggest several actions leaders, scientists, and citizens can take to seize this opportunity to prepare our greatest resource - the next generations - to address the changing oceanic and climatic conditions they will inherit.
Session Title
Session S-06A: Novel Actions to Address Ocean Acidification in the Salish Sea
Conference Track
Ocean Acidification
Conference Name
Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference (2014 : Seattle, Wash.)
Document Type
Event
Start Date
1-5-2014 5:00 PM
End Date
1-5-2014 6:30 PM
Location
Room 6C
Genre/Form
conference proceedings; presentations (communicative events)
Contributing Repository
Digital content made available by University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University.
Subjects – Topical (LCSH)
Environmental education--Curricula--Washington (State); Ocean acidification--Study and teaching (Elementary)--Washington (State)
Geographic Coverage
Salish Sea (B.C. and Wash.); Washington (State)
Rights
This resource is displayed for educational purposes only and may be subject to U.S. and international copyright laws. For more information about rights or obtaining copies of this resource, please contact University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA 98225-9103, USA (360-650-7534; heritage.resources@wwu.edu) and refer to the collection name and identifier. Any materials cited must be attributed to the Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference Records, University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University.
Type
Text
Language
English
Format
application/pdf
Ocean Acidification Curriculum Collection
Room 6C
If we accept the premise that certain human behaviors are contributing to a decrease in ecosystem functions that are essential to ourselves and other species, then changing those behaviors is essential to our future. What better time and place to do that than in school? It’s much easier to make behaviors then to change them. For over a dozen years, students from all political and cultural backgrounds are a captive audience in classrooms taking in lessons from their teachers. Three factors make this a prime moment to instill or enhance an emphasis on environmental stewardship of the oceans in schools: 1) the threat of ocean acidification has increased interest in ocean science; 2) growing interest among youth in the environment and 3) the adoption of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) by the State of Washington. We will briefly describe the NGSS, and how ocean acidification is good fit for illustrating several of the core disciplinary ideas and crosscutting concepts emphasized in the NGSS. We will also describe some of the challenges and concerns teachers have in adopting new curricula. We will then highlight actions individuals and organizations are taking to bring ocean science into the classroom. These will range from a project to provide bus tickets to the beach, to an online collection of ocean acidification curriculum materials. And finally, we will suggest several actions leaders, scientists, and citizens can take to seize this opportunity to prepare our greatest resource - the next generations - to address the changing oceanic and climatic conditions they will inherit.
