SHARING SCIENTIFIC OCEAN DRILLING TO A WORLDWIDE AUDIENCE OF STUDENTS, TEACHERS, AND THE PUBLIC

After decades in which the process and results of scientific ocean drilling were mostly shared with a relatively small set of colleagues through journals and conference presentations, opportunities now exist to place teachers and other ‘outreach officers’ aboard to enhance greatly awareness of the importance of the discoveries. During Drilling Expeditions and even between ‘Legs,’ selected classroom educators, artists, videographers, and others have interacted with research scientists and crew members to produce lessons, videos, ship-to-classroom teleconferences, graphic novels, children’s books, and many other products that explain what happens aboard the research ships and why they are important. ‘Onboard Outreach Officers’ have come from many countries and, consequently, created educational resources in many languages. They have participated in educational and scientific conferences on every continent, often with colleagues from other parts of the world. We are planning for future outreach projects that continue the theme of international geoscience education.