AMS programs to enhance education in the ocean sciences: The Maury Project and DataStreme Ocean

The American Meteorological Society (AMS) has initiated several programs that promote atmospheric, oceanic and related sciences at the K-12 level. Two such programs (the Maury Project and DataStreme Ocean) are teacher enhancement programs for the ocean sciences. The Maury Project, a partnership with the United States Naval Academy and SUNY College at Brockport, was established in 1994 with significant support from the National Science Foundation, the Navy and NOAA. This program is a two-week summer workshop that focuses on the physical foundations of oceanography. Approximately 275 educators from kindergarten through university levels have attended one of the two-week summer workshops at the U.S. Naval Academy. This unique partnership provides a program of instruction that focuses on the physical foundations of oceanography. Teachers who attend the Maury Project summer workshops are provided with learning experiences that enable them to understand the structure and dynamics of the ocean and methods for measuring its physical properties. In addition, teachers learn about the agencies that are involved with oceanic research and operational activity and why the ocean is important to these agencies and the stakeholders. In addition, resource materials in the form of modules are provided to the workshop participants so they can conduct workshops for their peers. These peer-training sessions have been a highly effective mechanism to distribute instructional materials to teachers both nationally and internationally. Modules include such topics as wind and density driven circulations, ocean water waves, ocean tides and coastal upwelling. To date, over 1200 Maury peer-training sessions have reached over 20,000 teachers both nationally and internationally. This partnership comprised of a professional society, scientific and operational agencies working as colleagues with the precollege educational infrastructure provides an excellent model for enhancing the study of the marine and coastal environments.

DataStreme Ocean is a semester-long course in oceanography for K-12 teachers. This course explores the ocean in the Earth system via investigations keyed to near real-time environmental data derived from ocean and coastal observing systems. It is modeled after two other very successful DataStreme courses offered by the American Meteorological Society. DataStreme Ocean has been offered twice yearly since 2003, reaching approximately 500 K-12 teachers at 24 sites nationwide, The course emphasizes the flow and transformations of water and energy into and out of the ocean, physical and chemical properties of seawater, ocean circulation, marine life and its adaptations, interactions between the ocean and other components of the Earth system, and the human/societal impacts on and response to those interactions.

These two ocean science educational programs are linked in that Maury Project workshop participants become leaders of the local implementation teams that mentor the DataStreme Ocean participants. Part of the AMS model is to produce leaders who train their peers on topics pertaining to the atmosphere and ocean. Maury Project participants build upon the foundation acquired during their summer workshop experience and then pass on their knowledge through peer-training sessions and the DataStreme Ocean distance-learning course, providing an excellent model for teacher enhancement through teacher involvement.