Narragansett, R.I. -- February 20, 2001
-- Two grants to the URI
Office
of Marine Programs (OMP) at the
Graduate School of Oceanography are
helping create a new website and a related
teacher institute that will help Rhode
Island educators teach their elementary,
middle, and secondary school students
about the state’s coastal ecosystems
and estuarine environments.
A $53,162 grant from the Narragansett
Bay Commission to OMP provides for
development and implementation of an
educational website entitled Discovery of
Estuarine Environments (DOEE). The website
will build on one launched in 1998,
Discovery of Coastal Environments, that
continues to average more than 6,000
"hits" per week during the academic year.
The new website will allow students to
take virtual field trips from the
classroom to locations in the urban
coastal waters of Narragansett Bay and
Mount Hope Bay and lower Narragansett Bay.
DOEE will also include a range of
background materials with GIS maps, links
to real time environmental monitoring
data, and a gallery of plant and animal
life found in the Bay. Funding for the
grant was provided to the Narragansett Bay
Commission under the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency EMPACT Program.
A second grant for $60,000 from
Eisenhower Professional Development
Program administered by the Office of
Higher Education will establish a teacher
institute to enhance the DOEE website. The
institute will allow teachers to provide
input into the content of the website and
to develop complementary classroom
activities. Participating teachers will
receive extensive training in estuarine
science; they will then participate in
professional development workshops to
train other teachers how to effectively
use the website in the classroom.
"The Discovery of Estuarine
Environments website and teacher institute
will bring K-12 teachers together with
marine educators and scientists from URI
to ensure that the new program is as
successful as the original Discovery of
Coastal Environments website," said
Project Director Gail Scowcroft. "We are
pleased to provide a program that
incorporates current, topical science
education materials that address community
issues related to Rhode Island’s
urban coastal and Narragansett Bay
estuarine environments.
The Discovery of Estuarine Environments
website is scheduled to go on-line in
November 2001.
Teachers are invited to send in
applications to participate in the
Discovery of Estuarine Environments
Teacher Institute, scheduled for four
Saturdays in May and June and six weekdays
in July. Teachers will receive science,
technology, and field instruction and then
work collaboratively to develop the
educational components of the website.
Each selected teacher will be awarded a
$600 stipend for full participation in the
Institute and may apply to receive three
graduate oceanography credits to fulfill
state requirements for certificates in
general science and biology. To request an
application, call
Gail
Scowcroft, 401-874-6724. Completed
applications are due on March 9.
Established in 1986 as the marine and
environmental outreach arm of URI's Office
of the Vice Provost for Marine Programs,
OMP's targeted audiences include educators
and students at all levels, the general
public, volunteers, scientists and
engineers, journalists and the media,
alumni, donors, and friends of the
Graduate School of Oceanography. Housed in
the Coastal Institute at URI's
Narragansett Bay Campus, OMP outreach
efforts are focused in the areas of marine
and environmental education and science
communications. For more information call
the URI Office of Marine Programs at
874-6211 or visit the website at
http://omp.gso.uri.edu.
Contact:
Lisa
Cugini, (401) 874-6642,
lcugini@gso.uri.edu
Visit the Discovery of Coastal
Environments website at
http://omp.gso.uri.edu/doce2.htm
Back to
GSO
News
