While the solar eclipse had many focused skyward this month, it bears reminding that Earth has an inner space too - the ocean.
The world’s ocean provides more than 95 percent of all living space on Earth, and yet, is among the least well known of all habitats.
In 2008, the Okeanos Explorer, the only federally funded United States research ship with exploration as its mandate, was commissioned by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Since that time, it has been exploring and sharing unknown regions of the deep ocean with the public, teachers and students.
One of the unique features of this ship is its ability to provide a live stream of this exploration to anyone with an internet connection.
"As one who has spent hours transfixed by this live video, I can tell you what a thrill it is to see ocean regions no one has seen before and to hear the scientists participating in the missions share this excitement. The Dauphin Island Sea Lab would like to share this excitement with teachers and students across Alabama," Discovery Hall Programs chair Dr. Tina Miller-Way said.
On Friday, November 17, DHP will offer a day-long professional development workshop for classroom teachers, home school/online school instructors, and informal educators through a collaboration with the NOAA Okeanos Explorer program.
During the day, educators will explore the hows and why of ocean exploration, conduct several hands-on activities related to these concepts, learn how to participate in live stream events, discuss connections to national and state standards, and share implementation ideas with fellow teachers.
Check out what teachers have said during previous offerings of this workshop:
- “I would use this lesson as an engaging way to introduce qualitative and quantitative data”
- “Interactive, encourages questioning”
- “Great hands on activity! Could be adapted for many concepts!”
- “Good EDP lab- would give a variety of materials for students to choose from.
- “This is a superior strategy to show chemical reactions in a meaningful way.”
- “Would be excellent to help students with graphing “real” data.”
As a special offer for this November 17 workshop, DHP will be giving all participants a complete classroom kit with all of the supplies needed to carry out the activities.
This NOAA workshop also earns the participant 7.5 contact hrs for CEUs and a stipend.
To register, go to disl.org/dhp/exploring-the-deep-ocean-with-noaa or call the Discovery Hall Programs office, 251-861-2141, x7515.