Aquatic Science International Debut at the North Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico Marine Sustainability Workshop held at the Scottish Association for Marine Science in Oban, Scotland.
OBAN, SCOTLAND, September 20, 2016 — An international Marine Sustainability Workshop held in Scotland featured the Texas Aquatic Science international debut on September 20, 2016. The workshop had the lofty purpose of developing “interdisciplinary academic, research and private partnerships to advance science and support industry workforce development needs by strengthening the understanding between the North Atlantic, Arctic and Gulf of Mexico marine environments.”
The Aquatic Science Education Pathway pioneered in Texas was described as a model for implementation of aquatic science education. Dr. Rudolph Rosen presented a quick overview of the aquatic science international pathway in advance of the workshop working sessions on education. His presentation was titled: Marine/Aquatic Science Education and Integrating Formal and Informal Education and Outreach Opportunities: The Texas Aquatic Science Pathway.
The presentation can be seen here:
Goals of the marine sustainability workshop included….
1. Build an international educational pathway for faculty and students to strengthen the intellectual capital supporting targeted workforce sectors;
2. Generate educational and professional development training content in the area of marine science to share among participating institutions and partners for academic and workforce development;
3. Develop global research collaborations and expenditures among prominent marine institutes and industry that recognizes the interconnectivity between the North Atlantic, to include arctic waters, and Gulf of Mexico to advance science and technology commercialization, support sustainable policy decisions and promote economic development;
4. Foster international, multi-institutional, interdisciplinary research collaborations for innovative autonomous technologies that manage and model changes in diverse aquatic, terrestrial and aerial ecosystems; and
5. Develop improved aquaculture practices for sustainable fisheries, food security and invasive species detection and impact.
Participating Institutions U.S. and UK
Geochemical and Environmental Research Group
Highlands and Islands Enterprise
Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies
LoneStar UAS Center of Excellence and Innovation
North Atlantic Glider Base
National Environmental Research Council
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
National Oceanographic Centre
National University of Ireland
National Science Foundation
Ocean Explorer Centre
Research, Commercialization and outreach
Scottish Alliance for Geoscience, Environment and Society
Scottish Association of Marine Science
The Scottish Centre of Excellence in Satellite Applications
Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi
Texas A&M University-College Station
Texas A&M University-Kingsville
Texas A&M University-San Antonio
Texas A&M University System
University of East Anglia
Texas Aquatic Science is a comprehensive curriculum for water and aquatic science education studies for middle and high school use, plus application at the university level for non science majors.
The curriculum consists of a textbook in hard copy and fully on line, a massive teachers resource and activity guide that includes assessments, specially produced aquatic science video, and 220 online video lessons all fully aligned with Texas teaching standards. It’s become the top-ranked curriculum and source for information on aquatic science on the internet today.
Aquatic science students and adult learners may navigate the online student portal. For teachers, the Teachers Guide is loaded with science investigations, games, models, cooperative learning activities, Internet projects, readings from the student guides, short aquatic science education videos, science journals, and field based assessments of water quality and environmental conditions in a variety of outdoor education field trips. Most time is spent doing hands on activities from the Teacher Guide, over 700 pages of TEKS aligned, hands-on activities designed to engage all learners and all learner types. Lessons in each chapter begin with an activity to allow the teacher to assess what students know about the concepts to be studied. Lessons embed higher order thinking skills, provide depth and complexity of learning, and provide a wide variety of hands-on activities that engage students in many contexts and methods. Each lesson includes an opportunity for students to apply what they have learned by synthesizing the information and demonstrating their learning by developing creative products or performances.
Texas Aquatic Science education includes the Texas Aquatic Science curriculum textbook, teacher guide and activities, aquatic science videos, on-line lessons, and curriculum website.