Through this award, the North Carolina Aquarium on Roanoke Island (NCARI) has installed NOAA's Science on a Sphere (SOS) to enhance and expand their existing Storms exhibit. NCARI's location on the Outer Banks makes understanding ocean systems critically important. Installing SOS increases environmental literacy by exposing NCARI's 300,000 annual visitors to NOAA datasets and information. Additionally, through educational programming students, teachers, and visitors obtain current and accurate information to help them make better-informed decisions. Workshops hosted at NCARI have provided valuable professional development opportunities for both informal educators and NOAA staff.
Connecting Tennessee to the World Ocean is a three-year capacity building project of the Tennessee Aquarium and its partners, the Hamilton County Department of Education, Calvin Donaldson Environmental Science Academy, and NOAA's National Weather Service. Expanded capacity, in turn, allows the institution to reach a broader audience with a message connecting Tennessee's waterways to the world ocean. Primary project outcomes are increased ocean literacy and expanded ocean stewardship ethics in targeted Aquarium audiences. A series of specific activities focused on ocean literacy and global change make this possible, including expanding Aquarium classroom capacity by 60% to serve more students, expanded videoconferencing opportunities in partnership with NWS, free admission and programming for underrepresented students from across the region, expanded educational opportunities on the Aquarium s website, updated interpretive panels focusing on global change, installation of a NOAA WeatherBug station, a civic engagement series, and professional development for Aquarium educators.
Exploring Ocean Science from Space (EOSS) is an integrated program of marine life exhibits and science programming designed to bring broader awareness of NASA’s ocean research and Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) to our staff, volunteers, students, their families and teachers, as well as the visiting public. The Seattle Aquarium was the lead institution, and partnered with NASA and NOAA. The project’s goal to advance NASA’s commitment to share its research through informal education and helping more than 1.5 million people better understand the role of oceans in our earth system while they increase their STEM literacy has been achieved. The project created and implemented a wide range of programs and products including a teen intern program, interpretive programming, special events, Bering Sea Bingo educational game, hands-on activity kits including Wi-Fi enabled tablets to utilize online NASA content for interpretation, exhibit improvements to enhance the learners’ experience, electronic interactive stations, and a self-guided Aquarium workbook.