National Policy for Stewardship of the Ocean, Our Coasts and the Great Lakes - 02.27.2012

To Whom It May Concern,
The National Ocean Council recently released a draft implementation plan for President Obama's National Policy for Stewardship of the Ocean, Our Coasts and the Great Lakes. You can view the draft policy and submit comments at the NOP website.

The public comment period is open until midnight EST, February 27, 2012 and ocean education topics are mainly on Pages 23-25. Action 6 on page 24 directly addresses Increasing Ocean Literacy. The first Milestone is: "Include ocean concepts in the Next Generation Science Standards."

This is huge to have the President and the National Ocean Council calling for Ocean Literacy to be incorporated into the mainstream K-12 science curriculum.

The first draft of the Next Generation Science Standards will be released for public review in March. Please help by reviewing and commenting on the draft, and by encouraging other parents, teachers, science educators and concerned citizens to also review and comment. Please let these people know that the President and the National Ocean Council have added their voices to the call for Ocean Literacy in the Next Generation Science Standards.

On behalf of Lawrence Hall of Science, the National Marine Educators Association, the NSF-funded Centers for Ocean Sciences Education Excellence and the rest of the Ocean Literacy Campaign organizers, I encourage you all to make your voice heard. Please make sure that you review the draft standards with the Ocean Literacy Framework in mind. You can prepare by taking a visit to www.oceanliteracy.net where you can find, as always, Ocean Literacy: The Essential Principles of Ocean Sciences K-12 and the Ocean Literacy Scope & Sequence for Grades K-12.

Regards,

Craig

Craig Strang, Lawrence Hall of Science, COSEE CA, NMEA President-Elect

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