Session Descriptions & Downloads
Communicating Ocean Sciences to Informal Audiences (COSIA)
Session 1: Introduction to Communicating Ocean Sciences
This introductory session of the course begins with participants sharing and discussing their ideas about learning and where learning takes place. The participants then experience different inquiry-based, hands-on activities, as examples of the kinds of activities they will present on the floor of the informal science setting later in the course. A short presentation on what constitutes “learning in informal environments” provides the participants with a context for the next 10–15 weeks of the course and presents an overview of learning in informal science institutions and their important role in helping people learn science content and practices. The goals, syllabus and requirements of the course are reviewed. The rationale for teaching ocean science, including its interdisciplinary nature, is discussed with an overview of the science content that will be covered in the course, kicked-off by an introduction to ocean biomes.
cosia_sess1_intro.pdf (PDF, 386 KB)
cosia_sess1_intro_presentation.ppt (Power Point, 26.15 MB)
Session 2: Nature and Practices of Science
In this session, participants gain insight into the nature and practices of science in the best way possible—by doing and reflecting on science. After an introductory activity on “What is science?” participants investigate and experiment with an object, to try to determine how it works. This “Mystery Tube” experience provides a sense of the actual practices involved in doing science and helps communicate the nature of science. Participants also take a critical look at what is and is not an accurate view of science. These misinterpretations, conscious and unconscious, are widespread, and examining them can help hone our own understanding of what science is and is not. Through attempting to define science, we gain understanding of its strengths and limitations. If you’re going to be teaching about science, it’s extremely worthwhile to spend time thinking about the nature of science and how it can be communicated to the public.
cosia_sess2_nature_science.pdf (PDF, 511 KB)
cosia_sess2_nature_science_presentation.ppt (Power Point, 1.06 MB)
Session 3: Teaching and Learning
This session is designed to explore how people learn, and to consider how to develop activities that reflect a variety of learning styles. Students access their prior knowledge about teaching and learning by thinking back on how different teaching approaches affected them as learners. They are challenged to think about a model for how people learn and how that model impacts how they teach and communicate. Students rotate through four activity stations focused on salinity and density that illustrate different teaching approaches. They discuss the four approaches and how each affected their interest and conceptual understanding. Students also participate in an activity about sand that is an exemplar of how teaching approaches can be used to increase conceptual understanding. The “learning cycle” is introduced and related to the students’ experience with the stations and the sand activity.
cosia_sess3_teach_learn.pdf (PDF, 1.55 MB)
cosia_sess3_teach_learn_presentation.ppt (Power Point, 9.42 MB)
Session 4: Designing an Activity
In this session, participants focus on applying some of the insights and understandings they’ve gained in the course so far to the development of an activity with a partner. Participants are guided in the development of their designed activity using a COSIA Activity Design Starter, in an environment of support from their peers and instructors. This activity and design template helps them understand the complexity of designing activities to address a science concept effectively. They are guided to incorporate the pedagogy presented in previous sessions, including the learning cycle and effective teaching approaches, while designing their activity to help learners come to some level of understanding of a science concept.
cosia_sess4_design.pdf (PDF, 179 KB)
cosia_sess4_design_presentation.ppt (Power Point, 1.56 MB)
Session 5: Constructing Knowledge, Building Understanding
In this session, the focus is on how learners build an understanding of the world around them, the role of learners’ prior knowledge in building understanding, and the implications of these ideas on how we teach. This session presents the constructivist perspective on learning, which is grounded on the premise that learners “construct” their own understanding (or make sense) of the world based on their experiences, motivation and social interactions. Participants reflect on the role of prior knowledge, social interactions and the use of models in their personal experience as a learner, by doing an activity that places them in the role of the learner. They then apply research findings about constructivism and prior knowledge to their role as an educator.
cosia_sess5_construct.pdf (PDF, 388 KB)
cosia_sess5_construct_presentation.ppt (Power Point, 1.7 MB)
Session 6: Conversations and Questions
This session focuses on conversations and questions, and the key role they play in facilitating learning and meaning-making of ideas and concepts for learners. For educators, conversation can be a window into learners’ prior knowledge, skill-level, personality, previous experience, and ability to articulate ideas. Three patterns of talk are introduced through role plays that depict typical interactions between educators and learners, followed by discussions about the impact on learners when an educator sees his/her role as either ”sage on the stage” or “guide on the side.” Participants then discuss how educators may influence the types of conversations they have with their learners through the questions they ask and how they follow up on those questions.
cosia_sess6_conversations.pdf (PDF, 320 KB)
cosia_sess6_conversations_presentation.ppt (Power Point, 268 KB)
Session 7: Creating an Inclusive Learning Environment
This session delves into the realm of diversity in learning environments and how the needs of all learners can be addressed. The focus is to build knowledge about the relationship between language, culture, and science, to create more inclusive science education environments. An activity is presented entirely in Spanish, to illustrate techniques designed to increase all learners’ comprehension of high-level science concepts. Participants then discuss choices an educator might make about interacting with a learner, based on the educator’s assumptions about the learners’ cultural capital (a person’s entire set of skills, knowledge, ideas, and language). Participants consider the impact of educator assumptions, expectations, and behaviors on learners’ comfort level in a museum. Participants apply the experiences in the session as they modify an activity designed for an informal science environment to be more inclusive of diverse learners.
cosia_sess7_inclusion.pdf (PDF, 655 KB)
cosia_sess7_apple_ocean (PDF, 795 KB)
cosia_sand.pdf (PDF, 317 KB)
cosia_sess7_inclusion_presentation.ppt (Power Point, 3.08 MB)
cosia_sess7_apples_oceans_presentation.ppt (Power Point, 4.7 MB)
Note: There are two separate PowerPoint files for Session 7
Session 8: Inquiring Minds and Promoting Discussion
This session introduces and provides an overview of inquiry in informal environments. Participants conduct an investigation, then observe visitors and facilitators interacting as they engage in an inquiry on the museum floor. The second part of this session focuses on how educators can build upon learners’ diverse responses to questions to engage them in learning through discussions and offers practical discussion-leading strategies.
cosia_sess8_inquiry.pdf (PDF, 716 KB)
cosia_sess8_inquiry_presentation.ppt (Power Point, 757 KB)
Session 9: Objects in Teaching
This session explores the use of objects in learning experiences in informal environments, and encourages educators to think about the role of the objects in conversations and interactions. Participants explore how different types of objects that are commonly found in informal environments can be used to support learning. Educators participate in a challenge to create and implement an activity or program to teach one idea using four types of objects. This challenge provides them with a common experience to think about and compare the talking and doing that may occur with different types of objects.
cosia_sess9_objects.pdf (PDF, 380 KB)
cosia_sess9_objects_presentation.ppt (Power Point, 466 KB)
Session 10: Assessments, Observations and Reflections
This session introduces students to an assessment tool, which they may use to reflect on how they present and communicate scientific ideas to the visitors. Students revisit the major ideas from the course, as a means to identify the key elements of the assessment tool. Students are introduced to the assessment tool—an observation instrument, which students will then use to observe their peers present their activity to the public. Instructors of the course may also consider using this observation instrument to assess how students communicate their scientific knowledge to the public and thus apply their understanding of the key concepts in this course.
cosia_sess10_assessment.pdf (PDF, 189 KB)
cosia_sess10_assessment_presentation.ppt (Power Point, 273 KB)
References for COSIA Sessions
This document contains a comprehensive list of the references that are cited in the COSIA sessions.
cosia_references.pdf (PDF, 101 KB)
This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0540417. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
