NMEA NEWSLETTER WINTER 2019
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Your NMEA membership opens the door for you to network with like-minded professionals all over the world, working to advance marine science education.
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December 3, 2020: Giving Tuesday
April 2, 2020: NMEA @ NSTA
July 13-17, 2020: NMEA Annual Conference
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Message from the President
 Dear NMEA members,
We are excited to announce that we have hired Claire Atkinson as our new editor for Current: The Journal of Marine Education. Claire, a Senior Manager of Communications at the Aquarium of the Pacific, has been involved in publications and communications for the past fifteen years. She is enthusiastic to be joining NMEA at an exciting time in the
history of Current. Our next issue of Current will be published via a new online platform and open access to everyone! We are hoping this change will significantly increase our reach and broaden our readership so more people have access to all the wonderful work that is currently going on in the field of marine education. Welcome aboard Claire!
NMEA members have been active in global ocean literacy initiatives over the past few months, including participating in the 2019 Global Ocean Science Education (GOSE) Workshop that was recently held in Washington, DC in November. We are also working with our partners across the globe to begin exploring ideas on how we can collectively contribute towards the upcoming United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030). The Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO is coordinating the preparatory process, “inviting the global ocean community to plan for the next ten years in ocean science and technology to deliver, together, the ocean we need for the future we want!” I will be traveling to Venice, Italy next week to represent NMEA at an Ocean Literacy for the UN Decade of Ocean Science Workshop that is being hosted by UNESCO.
As we move into the holiday season, I’m reminded of how thankful I am to be working with such a wonderful group of people! Thank you all for everything you have done over the past year, and I look forward to another wonderful year ahead in 2020.
Wishing you all Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year!
Best,
Kate Achilles—NMEA President
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Dear NMEA Supporters,
As another year comes to a close on our ocean planet, we like to take a moment to look back and reflect on all that has occurred within our organization and in the greater world of marine and aquatic education. Here are are just a few of the highlights:
This summer, NMEA’s 44th annual conference was held in Durham, New Hampshire. The conference brought over 300 attendees from around the world together to renew friendships, share stories and curricula, promote Ocean Literacy, and remind ourselves of our mission “to make known the world of water.”
Throughout the year, NMEA has kept up a strong social media presence, especially with our #WeAreNMEA campaign. This journey has given us an in-depth look at our members: who we are, where we work, and what we do. Each week, one of our members shares their connection to NMEA and Ocean Literacy. For some members, we learn of their journey into water education; for others we learn about where they work and the students they work with. Some have even been brave enough to take over the NMEA Instagram account for the week, to give us an up close and personal look into their life and work! It has been fascinating to see and read about our members each week, and we look forward to continuing this into the new year.
NMEA has taken steps to be more responsive to our members' needs and to the greater education community. Our peer-reviewed journal, Current, has become open access and will soon be hosted on a digital platform. This will provide greater access for anyone seeking high quality information on best practices in marine and aquatic education research, ocean literacy, classroom and free-choice learning activities, marine science art, maritime history, and literature.
NMEA continues to reach out to new stakeholders. As a lead partner in the ocean literacy movement, we look forward to opportunities to contribute meaningfully with our colleagues in international marine education networks, as the United Nations prepares for the Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development. We have continued our commitment to student engagement through webinars and support of the Student Conference at our annual conference. An ad-hoc committee has been established to focus attention on issues related to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Although all of these accomplishments should be celebrated, there is still work to be done. With your support, donations to this year’s Annual Appeal will extend our influence in places and spaces where we have not been before. Our vision for change includes new initiatives in several areas. We hope to offer more travel support to members within the United States, as well as leaders coming from developing nations. A webinar series will connect our student members with professionals in a variety of marine science careers, showcase the importance of Traditional Knowledge for ocean conservation, and demonstrate the diversity of our members. Through conferences, summits, publications, and digital tools, we will share the principles and practices of ocean literacy with new audiences. Our organization is dependent upon memberships and donations. We need your help to make these ideas come to fruition.
So, in this season of giving, we ask you to support our efforts through a donation of any amount in order to meet these goals. Visit https://www.marine-ed.org/donate to make your tax-deductible donation to our Annual Appeal. Together we can make a difference, one drop at a time.
Lauren Rader
NMEA President-elect
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OCEANIA invites you to Honolulu, Hawai'i for NMEA July 13-17, 2020! Come and learn about the people, the culture, and the marine organisms of Hawai'i! NMEA Conference Sessions will take place July 14-16 in addition to dinner at the Waikiki Aquarium and dinner cruise.
We invite you to come to Hawai'i early to see the sights and attend the International Marine Educators Conference, which will be held July 9-12, 2020. After NMEA, journey to Maui for a Communicating Ocean Sciences course, held July 18-22, 2020.
The NMEA conference will be held at the Ala Moana Hotel in Honolulu, Hawai'i. You can now book with special conference rates here!
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 Traditional Knowledge Gains Recognition by Ocean Observing Community
Ocean Obs ‘19 resulted in Aha Honua, an indigenous declaration that calls on the ocean observing community to formally recognize the traditional knowledge of Indigenous peoples worldwide.
READ MORE >
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 How can we incorporate Ocean Literacy into our NGSS-aligned instruction?
Learn about the ‘Ocean Literacy, NGSS, and Your Classroom’ educators workshop held on November 9, 2019 in Monterey, CA.
READ MORE >
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 NMEA @ EMSEA 2019
READ MORE >
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NMEA is pleased to announce Current: The Journal of Marine Education is now relaunched in to its new online, open access format with Ubiquity Press! Our first online and open access issue (Winter 2020) will be released in the new year.
As a refresher, Current is the peer-reviewed journal of NMEA. It features lively, in-depth articles and activities relating to all aspects of the world of water. Articles explore the latest in marine and aquatic education research, ocean literacy, classroom and free-choice learning activities, marine science, art, maritime history and literature.
The journal has been updated from a closed, pdf-designed system to an open access publishing system. Here, the journal content will be more available to a wider audience by improving the digital tagging of content and releasing the full text for anyone to read through an Open Access publishing model. The new online platform will also help the Editorial Team increase the efficiency of the peer-review process by improving correspondence tracking and digital editing. By moving to an open access system, we hope to serve the global marine education community with a regular publishing schedule and seamless online system.
Moving forward, NMEA will accept papers submitted through the online platform at https://www.current-journal.com/. Active NMEA members can publish articles for free. Nonmembers will be subject to a publication fee. Special issue sponsorship of Current is still available for interested groups.
If would like to contribute an article to the next issue, check out our updated author guidelines: The submission for our new Winter 2020 issue is 12/15/19. We are also looking for new peer reviewers for the journal: The peer review process is details in our editorial policies. Reviewers must be active NMEA members. Please contact current@natlmarineed.org if you are interested in becoming a peer reviewer, stating why you are interested, and why you believe you are qualified for the role.
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NMEA Scholarships and Awards:
Applications are now open for our 2020 NMEA scholarships and awards! Please visit our website for more information on the available scholarships and award categories. The deadline for applications or nominations for all scholarships and awards is February 15, 2020.
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International Ocean Literacy Survey:
We have now completed the first round of analysis from IOLS Version 4, and we are delighted to report that the overall reliability was excellent, meaning that the items on the IOLS have high internal consistency. In addition, the IOLS scale was unidimensional, meaning that the IOLS measures only one latent trait: Ocean Literacy knowledge. These positive results from testing Version 4 mean that the IOLS instrument is complete, finalized, and ready to be used for research or evaluation purposes!
We also wrote a paper about the IOLS Version 4 that was accepted for the 2020 AERA Annual Meeting in San Francisco. A short summary of the results, the final survey itself, and the paper that will be published in the AERA proceedings are available here.
We would be delighted to collaborate further with any of you as you use the IOLS, and we hope that you will let us know about your projects whether you are looking for collaborators or not.
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Marine Education and Virtual Reality Study:
The Stanford Virtual Human Interaction Lab is investigating the affordances of Virtual Reality (VR) in education using the Stanford Ocean Experience (SOE), a VR educational experience that makes the impossible possible: seeing the ocean absorb carbon dioxide (CO2) molecules, a coral reef degrade, and marine life disappear as the ocean acidifies. If you want to contribute to this large-scale, international study, learn more here and contact Geraldine Fauville (gfauvill@stanford.edu) for further information.
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Teacher Workshop Opportunity:
Join the Sharks4kids and Sharklab team for a hands-on STEM focused professional development experience. Spend 5 days engaging in field investigations on-site at the world renowned Bimini Biological Field Station, June 25 - July 1, 2020! This program is designed to provide marine science content enrichment, model science inquiry methods and technology integration strategies with current scientific research, provide opportunities for interdisciplinary connections, facilitate utilization of Sharks4kids resources for teachers, and foster a collaboration with our team and other teachers for ongoing networking. Swim with sharks and participate in ongoing research being done by the Sharklab. Evening presentations provide framework for bringing these incredible experiences back to the classroom. Curriculum, lesson planning and activities all provided by Sharks4Kids education team. https://www.sharks4kids.com/teacher-workshops
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We'd love to share your news and events too! Does your chapter have a great regional workshop coming up, or was a member just recognized for something really cool? Or do you have a striking photograph that would look good on our homepage? *NEW* Submit your item through our share request form on our website, drop us an email, or let us know on Facebook or Twitter, so we can help spread the news!
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We would like to welcome all of the new members who have joined since October! We look forward to meeting you at one of our upcoming events.
Individual Members:
Alison Baker, Sherwood Middle Academic Magnet School, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Camille Fowler, Garfield High School SDUSD, San Diego, California
Cassidy McDonald, East Bernard ISD, East Bernard, Texas
Cheryl Munday, Sarasota, Florida
Christopher Speck, Albuquerque Public Schools, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Colin Katagiri, foundry10, Seattle, Washington
Jone Porter, SAAMBR, Durban, South Africa
Kaley Towns, Transition, Newbury, Massachusetts
Kelly Burroughs, Monterey Peninsula Unified School District, Marina, California
Maile Sullivan, Washington Sea Grant, Seattle, Washington
Marci Sponsler, San Diego Unified, San Diego, California
Mary Maddox, Clay Virtual Academy, Orange Park, Florida
Maxine Cutracci, The Harbour School, Ap Lei Chau, Hong Kong
Michaela Peterson, Lincoln High School, Seattle, Washington
Miranda Kerr, Shedd Aquarium, Chicago, Illinois
Nicole Poulson, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi, Texas
Olive Quilter
Ryan Kain, LaSalle Prep, Milwaukie, Oregon
Ryan Moralevitz, The Fishes Wishes, Dinedin, Florida
William Fee, State Library of PA, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Non-Profit/Institutional Member:
International School Suva, Suva, Fiji, South Pacific
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