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Free Online Oceanography Course for K-12

The free American Meteorological Society’s Datastreme Oceans course, a college online oceanography course, will be offered to K-12 teachers this coming January 2011. Tuition, 3-units of graduate credits, and all course materials are free to participants.  Go to the Datastreme Oceans website, http://www.ametsoc.org/amsedu/DS-Ocean/Join.html to contact your nearest DS-Ocean LIT (Local Implementation Team) Leader.  Click on the heading ‘Locate DS-Ocean Team by State’, listed at the top of the Homepage and request information and application materials for the next offering of the DS-Ocean course.

The course is directed towards middle-school teachers, but open to all K-12 teachers, who live in an area served by a LIT. Teachers of any subject who have an interest in promoting the teaching of Earth Science across the curriculum may apply. Applications are sought from persons who can demonstrate potential for leadership as resource teachers. They must be willing to act as resource persons for other teachers and as advocates for promoting the use of electronically-delivered environmental data in schools. Teachers who are members of groups traditionally underrepresented in the sciences, or teachers who are teaching in schools with large numbers of students from groups traditionally underrepresented in the sciences, are especially urged to apply.

Understanding Global Climate Change, Online Grad Course

The Byrd Polar Research Center at Ohio State and the OSU School of Earth Sciences are pleased to announce that “Understanding Global Climate Change”, an online-only, 3-credit grad-level course for professional development for all professions and trades, will be offered in Winter quarter (Jan 10 – Feb 18, 2011). The course is listed as Earth Sciences 580 (ES 580), whose official course title is “Standards-based Earth Science Education”. This offering of ES 580 is offered as a special online-only contract course at a reduced rate for grad credit, in contract with the Office of Continuing Education and the School of Earth Sciences at OSU. Registration is required by December 15, 2010.  Text support for ES 580 is provided via free download from the Byrd Polar Research Center website. The DVD that serves as the primary content for the course was produced by three Central Ohio teachers following their participation in a summer workshop at OSU. The DVD was developed with partial support from the National Science Foundation’s Science & Technology Center for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets (CReSIS). The DVD was updated in 2010. Tuition and fees equal $560, with an additional application fee of $40 for anyone who has never previously enrolled at OSU.  If you are interested in enrolling,  contact Carol Landis for registration and payment instructions or if you have other questions:  landis.83@osu.edu.

Deep Sea Ecosystems Online Course

In light of all of the interest in background information related to the Gulf of Mexico and the recent oil spill, NOAA’s Office of Ocean Exploration and Research and the College of Exploration will offer a Deep Sea Ecosystems- Gulf of Mexico course October 11-29, 2010.  Registration is now open.

This offering is free for all participants and will be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Educators will have the option to receive one Professional Development Credit from California State University at Fullerton ($100) or to obtain a certificate of completion to reflect 10 hours of professional development.  Note: Participants are responsible for ensuring their educational institution will accept professional development credit from California State University.

To get more info and register, go to http://www.coexploration.org/oe/

Fall Online Courses at American Museum of Natural History

Seminars on Science connects classroom teachers with scientists engaged in current, real-world research. Each course is authored by leading scientists in their fields and is then co-taught by an experienced researcher affiliated with AMNH. Courses include Earth: Inside and Out; Space, Time & Motion; The Ocean System; Genetics, Genomics, Genethics; Evolution; and more.  All courses run for six weeks and are fully online. Each participant receives a CD of course resources suitable for classroom use. Affordable graduate credit is available for all courses (see website for details).  Registration closes August 27. For more information and to register, go to learn.amnh.org or call 800-649-6715.

Online Courses from AMNH

The American Museum of Natural History is offering all eleven of its available Seminars on Science courses over two summer sessions.  The courses are fully online and all of them are available for graduate credit.  Courses run June – July OR July – August (whichever works best for you), and you can sign up now at learn.amnh.org Courses include: The Solar System; Water: Environmental Science; Evolution; Earth: Inside and Out; The Ocean System; Genetics, Genomics, Genethics; In the Field with Spiders, The Link Between Dinosaurs and Birds, Sharks and Rays, The Diversity of Fishes and Space, Time and Motion. Since the courses are fully web-based, there is no need to come to the museum at any time, and all courses are led by both an experienced classroom teacher and a research scientist.

Online Course: Teaching About the Marine Environment, Grades 5-12

The Department of Environmental Studies at the University of North Carolina Wilmington will be offering an online course this fall: EVS 592 Teaching about the Marine Environment.  This course, developed and taught by Dr. Rosanne Fortner, former President of the National Marine Educators Association and Director of COSEE Great Lakes, offers classroom-based methods for ocean education. Explore online sources and exemplary print materials for grades 5-12, many adaptable for informal learning. Match the lessons to your [prospective] curriculum and adapt to your setting with expert assistance. The course is completely online and asynchronous.  Since this course carries 3 hours of graduate credit, you must first apply to UNCW as a non-degree graduate before registering for the course (click here). Information on course tuition and fees can be found here.  Applications must be received by July 1, but the earlier, the better because seating is very limited.

Exploring the Deep Ocean Online

A consortium of academic and cultural institutions, Fathom creates and share high-quality online learning experiences, from in-depth free seminars to shorter features, interviews, and articles.  Their Exploring the Deep Ocean section includes materials from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the UK Natural History Museum, and Seminars in Marine Science and Oceanology include free multi-session courses on shark natural history and underwater bioacoustics.

Online Course – Nonprofit/Government Performance Management

UMass Boston’s Collins Center for Public Management and McCormack Graduate School of Policy Studies offer a six-session, online course beginning March 1, 2010.  Students will develop skills to refine the way goals and strategies are articulated so that they can be effectively measured, and to select practical performance measures.  Visit online for more information about the course and registration process.

Free Online Weather Course for K-12 Teachers

The American Meteorological Society is again offering a free online weather course, “DataStreme Atmosphere,” beginning in January 2010.  The course offers teachers free educational materials and access to the semester course.
Visit here for complete information about how to apply, what materials are supplied, what the program expects from participants, how to contact your state’s LIT Leader.
Participants must be teaching professionals at the precollege level who live in an area served by a Local Implementation Team (LIT).
locate an LIT Leader

Online Grad Course – Teaching the Marine Environment

The Department of Environmental Studies and Watson School of Education at UNC Wilmington are offering a new course for spring semester 2010: Teaching about the Marine Environment, 3 graduate credits, completely asynchronous. Join former NMEA President Rosanne Fortner to explore the range of instructional resources for in-class, no-ocean-required teaching and learning based on the Ocean Literacy principles and concepts. Course begins January 6 and ends May 1. Regular tuition and out-of-state fees apply. For more information and link to the syllabus, visit online