NEMO 2007 - BRINGING THE TECHNOLOGY OF OCEANOGRAPHIC RESEARCH TO THE K-12 CLASSROOM

During August of 2007 the author was a member of an oceanographic research team on a research cruise to the Juan de Fuca Ridge, an active divergent plate boundary 300 miles offshore from the coast of Washington. Participation was made possible through a career NSF grant awarded to Dr. Daniela DiIorio at the University of Georgia, Athens. The NeMO project, supported in part by NOAA, provided access to data collected during the cruise.

In his role of Teacher at Sea, the author participated in or observed the full spectrum of on-board research activities. This provided him access to the data and first-hand experience of how the research teams integrated their efforts and employed a diverse set of technologies to conduct their work.

Reflecting on these experiences, the author saw the opportunity to develop a framework for learning which focuses on identifying specific, age-appropriate learning objectives supported by a context-rich classroom setting which lets the learner understand the scientific discipline and the technology that supports it. Using this framework, teachers and students without hands-on access to higher level technology can still experience the benefits and gain insight into how their studies are enhanced by that technology and hopefully be able to develop a deeper understanding of the intended learning objective.

This presentation will illustrate the learning framework with specific examples from the NeMO 2007 cruise. It will also provide insight into methods that will help K-12 teachers develop contextually rich lessons and at the same time help them to understand that classroom technology is not limited to the PC in the corner.