Session Descriptions--nmea 2016 Sessions are listed alphabetically by primary presenter’s last name. Allen

deirdre.englehart@ucf.edu

Stories invite children to explore new worlds and to learn about the wonders of our world. Stories encourage children to consider ideas and beliefs with scientific knowledge in a natural way without being didactic. Children are eager to learn about the beach, our ocean, ocean animals, and how the ocean impacts our world. Children thrive in settings that allow them to move and engage directly in their learning. Including yoga and stories is a strategy that supports children's natural inclination for movement and stories. This hands-on workshop explores the integration of stories and books through yoga and movement activities to support the development of several ocean literacy standards. Participants will be invited to hear several ocean stories, learn associated yoga poses and interact with follow up materials.

geraldine.fauville@gu.se, @Gege1979; mmarrero3@mercy.edu, @megmarrrero

The field of marine science education has limited publication of books and journal articles. However, interest in this field has grown substantially and significantly in the past decade. This poster will provide an overview of an upcoming publication which will invite chapter authors involved in Ocean Literacy from across the globe to share their exemplary best practices in marine science education. Our purpose is to inform, inspire, and provide an intellectual forum for practitioners and researchers in this particular context. Proposed subject areas include sections on marine science education in formal, informal and community settings. The primary audience for this book is marine science education practitioners (e.g., formal and informal educators) and researchers (both education and science). Formal and informal education practitioners would be very interested in this book. Professionals interested in facilitating the incorporation of ocean, coastal and watershed content into curriculum and instruction and public awareness will also benefit from this publication. There is a need for this book as no other book currently exists focused solely on marine science education. The book would also be utilized in university level coursework. The book would be useful in Environmental Science and/or Oceanography courses taught within teacher preparation programs at the undergraduate and graduate level. Masters and doctoral programs in environmental education, science education and/or outreach in the US and Europe would find the text useful at the graduate school level.

geraldine.fauville@gu.se, @Gege1979; cstrang@berkeley.edu, @CraigStrang2

geraldine.fauville@gu.se, @Gege1979

The I2SEA project (Inquiry to Student Environmental Action at i2sea.stanford.edu) is a collaboration between the University of Gothenburg and Stanford University, promoting climate and ocean literacy in young people. We do so by producing and disseminating a learning resources toolbox including free-to-use, quality hands-on and computer-based learning resources that: inform about climate change and ocean acidification; provide platforms for students to discuss the issues and possible solutions with classmates, experts and peers worldwide; and support personal, school-wide and community actions that put their envisioned solutions into practice. The toolbox includes: *two virtual laboratories on ocean acidification, in which students learn about the problem, design and run experiments, gather realistic data, analyze it and discuss it with classmates; *an interactive presentation (with additional ones planned) from project co-PI and OA expert Sam Dupont expands on the virtual labs to consider broader biological, cultural and economic implications of OA and climate change; *our international student carbon footprint calculator, extensively documented and focused on aspects of a students' lifestyle that she has control over; *our communication platform, where students engage in conversations with their peers worldwide to envision solutions to global environmental challenges. On our poster, we will introduce our existing tools and discuss plans for upgraded versions and additional tools to be produced in the coming years. Our most exciting and innovating plan is to make use of our extensive, seemingly unparalleled global database of 10s of thousands of students' behaviors to provide data analysis tool. Teachers and students will be able to display and manipulate dynamic visualizations of anonymous student footprints and their individual components, in the form of maps, bar graphs, pie charts, and so on. These visualizations will allow learners to address any number of investigative questions, such as: “What is the average commuting distance for students around the world, and what forms of transport do they use?”, or “How does diet (omnivore versus vegetarian versus vegan) correlate with recycling rates among students worldwide?” The possibilities for classroom inquiry are essentially endless.

geraldine.fauville@gu.se, @Gege1979; cstrang@berkeley.edu, @CraigStrang2

At the recent European Marine Science Educators Association 2015 Conference in Crete, Greece, the urgent need to be able to measure progress in the development of Ocean Literacy in our respective countries and regions was discussed in several plenary and concurrent sessions. A variety of ways to measure Ocean Literacy were identified, as well as, ways that a widely accepted measurement tool might be used by our community for a variety of purposes from program evaluation to research on learning to tracking the local, regional and global impact of the Ocean Literacy Campaign. Several program leaders, evaluators and psychometricians agreed to join in a collaborative effort led by the Lawrence Hall of Science at University of California, Berkeley, to build a tool that can be used across many languages and countries around the world. Here is the strategy we are pursuing: 1. We have gathered items from various existing tools that have been used to measure constructs associated with Ocean Literacy (e.g. knowledge, attitudes, behaviors). 2. We have compared the items and remove redundancies. 3. We have constructed scales using the remaining items. 4. We have invited collaborators from the U.S. and several European countries to translate the items on these scales to their language and administer them as scales to a specific population (for example, 15-16 year olds). 5. We will collect those data and look at the item behavior within the scales and across countries to determine which set of items form scales for these constructs 6. We will finalize a valid and reliable instrument that will be freely available at least to all those who participate in its development. 7. Contributors will then be able to collect and analyze their own local/regional/national/project-specific data AND to contribute their data to a central repository at the Lawrence Hall of Science, so that various data sets can be compared to one another and aggregated into an international or global picture of ocean literacy over time. During the session, we will share our progress to date, discuss some of the challenges we have encountered in attempting to measure Ocean Literacy, and invite input and additional collaborators into this complex, international endeavor.

kfillingham@oceanleadership.org, @gulfresearch; tracy.crews@oregonstate.edu

The Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GoMRI) is a ten year, $500 million independent research program to study the effects, and the potential associated impact, of hydrocarbon releases on the environment and public health, as well as to develop improved spill mitigation, oil detection, characterization and remediation technologies. The program has a communications and outreach component which focuses on engaging various stakeholder groups, including the education community and general public, in oil spill research and inspiring and training the next generation of oil spill scientists from K-12 to graduate students. The program is large and wide spread and education and outreach activities are integrated in three-pronged approach: from the program level outreach efforts, to the consortia and principal investigators funded through GoMRI, to partnerships with Sea Grant and Smithsonian's Ocean Portal. This pronged approach has proven to be extremely valuable in reaching a wide variety of audiences effectively. This poster will provide information on the GoMRI program and the program level outreach activities, examples of outreach activities from some of the GoMRI-funded consortia, and highlights of the outreach activities stemming from GoMRI’s external partnerships with Sea Grant and Smithsonian.

yvonnefonnett@gmail.com

The oceans, like all other ecosystems, are inextricably linked to humans and human activity. As the human population has grown seven-fold over the past two centuries, the impacts on our oceans have been significant and far-reaching. Today, over 40 percent of the world’s population lives in coastal areas. Scientists are now referring to our current geological age as “The Anthropocene” to emphasize the impact that humans have had on the land, seas, climate and wildlife over the past 200 years. In fact, as our species’ population has grown from barely a billion to over 7 billion since the Industrial Revolution, human settlements and natural resource use have changed the planet’s physical geography and ecosystems. Teaching about the Anthropocene integrates life sciences with world history and geography, making for interdisciplinary lessons rich in content, real-world data and problem-solving challenges. In this hands-on, interdisciplinary workshop, the presenter will explore a number of human impacts on the ocean, including overfishing, pollution, coral reef destruction, climate change, and coastal degradation. She will engage participants in a variety of hands-on activities that promote students' ocean literacy and understanding of human ecology. The group will also examine present trends and projections for the future of people’s relationship with marine life. Presented activities include an interactive narrative on the history of people and the ocean, concept mapping on human ecology issues and a simulation game on carrying capacity and sustainable use of renewable resources. All of the activities are interdisciplinary and are appropriate for the formal classroom and nonformal education site. These activities are also designed to dovetail with the new Next Generation Science Standards (ESS3: Human Impacts of Earth’s Systems), and can be incorporated into state Environmental Literacy Plans. Participants will receive CDs of lesson plans, background readings, infographics and other materials to create memorable learning experiences.

fortner.2@att.net

Sea Grant, like Land Grant, is a federal-state cooperative program designed to foster practical research targeting the needs of real resource users. For Sea Grant, those resources are the oceans, coasts and Great Lakes. The Sea Grant “wave” was generated in 1966 and is still moving forward, growing with new ideas and partnerships, touching new shores and creating local, state, national and international ripples! This session will be a fast-paced look at where education fits in the National Sea Grant College Program and how it is implemented in the 33 state programs. We’ll introduce the roots of Sea Grant, play a game to introduce current leaders and programs, and provide lists and examples of what the 33 programs are doing in classroom curriculum, informal education media, teacher professional development, field experiences, service learning, educational research, and community engagement. There will be time for attendees to gather in groups to discuss the Sea Grant resources and meet the leaders in their areas of activity.

FoxJ2@si.edu, @smithsoniansms

The Centers for Ocean Science Education Excellence (COSEE) Florida strives to bring scientists, educators and the community together to educate about marine ecosystems, stimulate community discussion, and increase awareness of the value of scientific knowledge in environmental decision making. Although COSEE Florida supports more traditional outreach formats, including public lectures and educator workshops, post-event surveys have shown that the audiences are particularly interested in being part of a two-way dialogue with practicing ocean scientists. Scientists overwhelmingly indicated that COSEE Florida made it easy for them to participate in the events, with 100% agreeing their participation was a good use of their time. Additionally, scientists said that by participating in COSEE Florida events, they were able to reach new audiences, expand their outreach repertoire, and practice their communication skills. Several types of events will be highlighted during this poster session, including science cafes, science festivals, trivia nights, unexpected collaborations and facilitated discussions. Through dialogue-driven outreach events such as these, COSEE Florida has expanded opportunities for both scientists and the audiences they reach.

laura.francis@noaa.gov

Ocean acidification is a rapidly emerging field of study, and a potentially large threat to ocean ecosystems and the human communities that depend on them. Educators, communicators, and scientists are working together to effectively communicate ocean acidification (OA) by raising awareness of our ocean’s changing chemistry and increasing the public’s understanding of the impacts of this change. Given the difficulties inherent in presenting this complex topic and the importance of accurate and compelling messaging on this emerging science, a number of workshops and research studies have focused on identifying how to communicate effectively about ocean acidification. To gain a more comprehensive understanding of the ocean acidification education and outreach landscape, NOAA worked with Public Square Communications to conduct a national needs assessment designed to determine effective resources and messages and to understand lessons learned, challenges, gaps, and target audiences within ocean acidification education and outreach programs. Participants in the needs assessment included individuals and organizations interested or involved in ocean acidification programming and included informal and formal educators, scientists, non-governmental organizations and collaboratives. The results from this assessment include a current inventory of ocean acidification education and outreach resources, commonly used messages, challenges and lessons learned in delivering ocean acidification education and outreach programming. We also incorporate highlights and implications of recent public opinion poll and communications research. In addition, we present perceived gaps in educational resources as well as suggested materials for an effective OA education toolkit. A key goal of the project is to strengthen implementation of effective ocean acidification education and outreach programming by fulfilling the first goal of the NOAA Ocean Acidification Education Implementation Plan. By doing this, educators, scientists and communicators will be better equipped to engage target audiences and increase ocean acidification literacy among stakeholders and the public.

rffloyd@ufl.edu

The long-spined sea urchin (Diadema antillarium) is a keystone species in coral reef ecosystems. Once considered a nuisance because of their painful spines, they are now appreciated for their importance to the health of coral reefs throughout the Caribbean. Diadema provide several ecological services which are essential for a healthy coral reef. First, they are aggressive herbivores and prevent the accumulation of algal overgrowth. Second, they are bioeroders, which means that they recycle coral skeletons, preventing the accumulation of rubble and preparing substrate for recruitment of new organisms. Finally, with their sharp spines, they provide a degree of protection to the reef itself, discouraging swimmers from stepping down onto the living tissues of the corals and other organisms.

In 1983-1984 there was a Caribbean-wide die-off of Diadema throughout the region. The cause of the mortality event was never determined, but Diadema populations were decreased by more than 90%. In most areas they have not recovered. The loss of Diadema coincided with the replacement of healthy coral reefs with rubble and the overgrowth of algae. The state of Florida has an interest in the use of cultured sea urchins to increase populations in certain areas. Given the disease history of this group of organisms, an interdisciplinary team was formed in the fall of 2014 to develop diagnostic techniques for the species and determine the current health status of the existing population. This presentation will provide background information about Diadema and will discuss the results and implications of this research.

Frank, Tamara Wednesday, 2:15 pm, Ballroom (5-8)

Vision and Bioluminescence in Deep-sea Crustaceans

Adaptations of the visual systems of deep-sea crustaceans to dim light environments are driven not only by environmental light, but also biologically produced light, or bioluminescence. In the pelagic (the water column), many animals possess two forms of bioluminescent – a bioluminescent spew, used for defense, and photophores, used for counterillumination. The first part of this talk will discuss these two modes of bioluminescence, as well as how the unexpected dual visual pigment system of some deep-sea species is related to their own bioluminescence. In the benthic zone, three species of crab and one species of caridean shrimp, collected from depths from 600-1900 m, also appear to have this unusual two visual pigment system. Although none of these species are bioluminescent, we hypothesize that this unexpected photosensitivity is related to bioluminescence. These species, in addition to their unusual photosensitivity, share two other characteristics as well: they are found in association with bioluminescent cnidarians, and they possess one or two very long claws, which the crab species are known to use to pick items (possibly plankton stuck in the mucus) off their cnidarian hosts. These data suggest that these crustaceans may be utilizing their dual visual pigment systems to distinguish between prey and host, based on spectral differences between pelagic and benthic bioluminescence.

mfriedman@scaquarium.org

The Aquarium offers free programming to classes through the donation-funded Structured School Program (SSP). Students visiting the Aquarium as part of the Structured School Program participate in classroom activities that reinforce South Carolina state science standards. The program is offered daily mid-October through mid-May. Teachers of all subjects are invited to apply. At the close of the application process, forms are chosen at random through a lottery system. Our programs are free, but we do require all participating K-12th grade teachers to attend a three-hour training workshop (the first year they are selected) prior to bringing their class to the Aquarium. The South Carolina Aquarium provides a free K-12 online curriculum. The curriculum includes standard-based pre-activities for teachers to familiarize themselves and their students with the topic taught during the Structured School Program field trip. The curriculum includes background information, activities, assessments, extensions and resources. We will have print offs of some of the activities for the high school program available. Those in attendance of this presentation will then be part of a hands-on mock stranding activity. We will have three different stations set up for the teachers to explore. We will have data sheet handouts to fill out as we perform the activity. The first station will be for external examination. There, we will identify the species, take measurements, temperature, and look for scars/wounds and identify the epibiont load. The second station will be to analyze the bloodwork of the sea turtle. We will demonstrate how to calculate packed cell volume and the white blood cell count using tools such as a micropipette and microscope. The third station will be to examine x-rays and fecal analysis. We will get back together as a group and discuss our findings. We will talk about our teacher survey process for our Structured School Programs and chat about our results. This will be a good time to have a quick discussion about surveys. We have a new sea turtle hospital expansion. This expansion will allow for more patients and will be open for all the public to see instead of a separate cost/tour. We will end our presentation mentioning how we, Charleston is hosting NMEA 2017!