Educators are the Key

World Ocean Explorer at the National Marine Educators Conference: Sharing A Free Web-Based Immersion for the Classroom

Our team was thrilled to exhibit and present at the NMEA annual conference last week. What a delight to meet with hundreds of marine educators and to workshop World Ocean Explorer: our free educational resource and web-based immersion. From our many one-on-one and group interactions, we are convinced Explorer is a platform like nothing else available free to educators today.

Throughout the week we engaged in conversations with educators about the use of technology in the classroom; access to quality educational resources from trusted sources; Internet speeds and Chromebooks; the inter-connectivity of art, culture, and science; the importance of ocean literacy and data literacy beginning in grade school; and the myriad ways science teachers are engaging with students in their classrooms. We received helpful feedback and loads of encouragement from educators who are already using the Deep Sea module in the classroom, as well as those with whom we hope to connect with this coming school year.

This fall we are launching an Educator Cohort to bring Explorer into ten more classrooms this fall, from Maine to Bahamas, Jamaica to Nigeria. We are offering a stipend to the select group of educators in exchange for their participation and an expectation of shared curricular resources and activities that will be developed by each classroom; adaptive learning tools and ideas for how Deep Sea and future modules can be usefully integrated into classrooms around the world.We must acknowledge that our ability to support educators' efforts through paid stipend, as well as providing the World Ocean Explorer platform absolutely free, would not be possible without the support of prescient individuals and foundations, as well as the collaborations that provide the content, data, resources, assets, writings, and visualizations. We owe a special debt of gratitude to Schmidt Ocean Institute, the Seth Sprague Educational and Charitable Foundation, the Daniel K. Thorne Foundation, and others for their support of this innovative platform for 21st century learning.

WORLD OCEAN RADIO

A full catalog of five-minute audio episodes, all searchable by theme: climate, weather, advocacy, arctic, ocean science, ecosystems, fisheries, technology, cultural and maritime history, human health, natural resources, energy, pollution, ocean optimism, and much more. This month we are highlighting the theme of OCEAN LITERACY wit these episodes from the archive.

Ocean Literacy theme-based episodes offer fundamental concepts to help us better understand the ocean's influence on us and our influence on the ocean. provides an anthology of reflections, examples and illustrations that represent responses to the ocean and the environmental challenges we face.WORLD OCEAN RADIO offers weekly 5-minute insights into global ocean and climate issues: available wherever you listen to podcasts and at worldoceanobservatory.org. SEARCH WORLD OCEAN RADIO BY THEME

The 8th Annual INTERNATIONAL MARITIME FILM FESTIVAL is scheduled for October 1 through 31st on Vimeo and Sept 26 - 28 in person at the Alamo Theater in Bucksport, Maine. Winning films will be announced in the coming weeks. MaritimeFilmFestival.com