Developing Extensions to Maury Project Modules to Enhance Teacher Utilization of the SE Atlantic Coastal Ocean Observing System (SEACOOS) Web Site

The SouthEast Atlantic Coastal Ocean Observing System (SEACOOS) has developed a particularly powerful web site, demonstrating the interaction of the many parameters influencing the coastal environs of the southeast United States. (The SEACOOS site is located at http://www.seacoos.org/.) To assist SEACOOS with their efforts at reaching out to educators, two previously developed instructional modules were adapted and enhanced, utilizing the SEACOOS website for online real-time data illustrating the concepts of the modules.

The process started in the spring of 2005 with a gathering at the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill of several teachers from the central and eastern area of the state, the authors and Terri Hathaway, Marine Education Specialist, North Carolina Sea Grant. The review of two selected modules proceeded, with background provided by a number of experts from the field and SEACOOS.

The two modules, The Maury Project – Ocean Tides Teacher's Guide (American Meteorological Society, 1995) and The Maury Project – Wind-Driven Ocean Circulation Teacher's Guide American Meteorological Society, 1994), were selected for their relevance and application to the material available on the SEACOOS site.

The instructional modules were developed by the American Meteorological Society as a key component to their teacher enhancement program in physical oceanography, The Maury Project. Kin to the Society's original effort, Project Atmosphere, The Maury Project tackles concepts related to the seas and the air-sea interaction that is so critical to our planet. Other modules consider other concepts in oceanography and the interaction of the seas with the atmosphere.

The SEACOOS web site demonstrated a great deal of flexibility and power, with overlapping graphics and interactive programming allowing the user to customize areas of interest. To encourage and help instruct teachers in the use and potential application of the materials, the use of The Maury Project modules was forwarded as a solution.

With extensive use since their development, the modules have shown their validity and worth, and as key components to the extension process, it was planned that they would be able to provide teachers with the insights needed to work with the SEACOOS materials.

Each extension was planned to follow instruction with one of the modules. Then activities were developed to illustrate the concept using data available on the site. Several problems are posed for solving following the first stage, with additional areas for study proposed in summary.

Follow up investigation revealed that participating teachers found the extensions to be valuable in understanding the operation of the SEACOOS site. The extensions also found themselves being used in secondary classrooms as part of the instruction in the concepts considered in each module.

Additional modules are being considered for development in this fashion, to further enhance the application of the module itself and the understanding and value of the impressive SEACOOS source.