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The ease of access to Argo data makes it an ideal candidate for its use as an educational tool, bringing the important role of the ocean in the earth system to the attention of the general public and to school children.
Teachers at a SEREAD teacher training workshop in Samoa studying resource materials and trying out student experiments. SEREAD and Argo
SEREAD Objective:
SEREAD* is an educational program and resource that provides regionally relevant and focused ocean
science in a format that fits directly into existing curricula of Pacific Island schools. SEREAD
teaches basic scientific fundamentals in a hands-on approach using examples that build on Pacific
students' everyday observations and experiences. The program facilitates interactions and
discussions between today's ocean and climate scientists, teachers and students, and
tomorrow's leaders on the important connections between the ocean, land and climate of
the Pacific Island Region. Direction and oversight for the SEREAD Program is provided by the SEREAD Steering Committee,
including experts from inside and outside the Pacific Islands region (SOPAC, UNESCO, IOC,
Scripps, NIWA and others). The Program is presently managed by Dr J Hall (NIWA/NZ). Two teachers,
K Hartle (Dargaville High School, NZ) and C Young (Auckland University, NZ), have been
responsible for development of the teaching and resource materials and for conducting
teacher training workshops in the islands. Support for SEREAD has included contributions
from SOPAC, UNESCO, IOC, IOI, NIWA, and POGO. SEREAD will eventually consist of 5 teaching units tailored for the requirements of
existing primary and secondary school curricula in Pacific Island nations. The units developed
so far are: (1) What is Weather for lower primary school, (2) What is Climate
for upper primary school, and (3) Oceans Rising a unit on sea level for lower secondary school.
The two additional units, both for upper secondary school, will be developed, one on the
role of the oceans in the climate system, and one on ocean-related hazards to society
(storm surge, tsunami, climate change impacts such as tropical cyclone intensification, etc.).
The upper secondary school units will promote familiarity and usage of internet-available
ocean datasets in the region, including Argo. SEREAD is being introduced into the Pacific school systems through cooperative arrangements
with the local Ministries of Education. SEREAD teacher training workshops have already been
conducted in the Cook Islands and Samoa, with a follow-on workshop held in Samoa and
follow-on visits to teachers in the Cooks. Initial SEREAD workshops focus on training of
teachers. Follow-on activities are for training of island-based teacher-trainers and for
assessment and feedback on results of SEREAD units. It is planned to introduce SEREAD
into the Fiji school system in 2006. Most SEREAD funds are spent on staging the workshops
and for transportation and expenses of local teachers to attend. Global ocean observations such as Argo should benefit all nations, and with that objective in
mind, Argo scientists have agreed to assist with applications of Argo in developing countries.
At a workshop on Potential Applications of Ocean Observations in the Pacific (PAOOP, Fiji, 2002),
education was identified as one of the highest priority applications by Pacific Island nations.
Argo served as a springboard for SEREAD, and will continue to provide scientific expertise on Argo
data and the role of the oceans in climate, as well as web-based resources for SEREAD's use.
SEREAD is initially focused on the Pacific islands, where student awareness of the oceans
is high and ocean education is of obvious relevance, and the SEREAD material is specially
designed for the region. However, it is envisioned that the units can form a starting point
to be adapted for similar programs in many nations. |
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