{"id":1828,"date":"2019-04-16T17:37:37","date_gmt":"2019-04-16T20:37:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bofep.org\/wpbofep\/?page_id=1828"},"modified":"2019-04-16T17:37:39","modified_gmt":"2019-04-16T20:37:39","slug":"ocean-literacy-and-awareness-working-group","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/vbofep.geewizdev.tech\/?page_id=1828","title":{"rendered":"Ocean Literacy and Awareness Working Group"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Because\nof&nbsp;the fundamental&nbsp;importance of&nbsp;the Ocean with respect to the\nearth&#8217;s climate, the&nbsp;urgency of promoting ocean literacy and awareness\nworld wide is a &#8220;no&nbsp;brainer&#8221;&nbsp;!&nbsp; The recent publication\nof &#8220;<strong>Canada&#8217;s Changing Climate Report&#8221;<\/strong>\nis more than a wake up call. The report is a&nbsp;contribution to the National\nAssessment Canada in a Changing Climate: Advancing our Knowledge for Action.\nThe recent publication by DFO entitled &#8220;<strong>Canada&#8217;s\nOcean Now: Atlantic Ecosystems 2018<\/strong>&#8221; reinforces the above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yes,\nthere are some significant local and national initiatives underway, for\nexample:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>The <strong>Canadian\n     Network of Ocean Education <\/strong>(CANOE) which is a network for the advancement of ocean\n     literacy and provides a platform for learning, dialogue and communication\n     about ocean literacy&nbsp;Some of BoFEP&#8217;s&nbsp;Ocean Literacy\n     Committee&nbsp;are members;<\/li><li>the <strong>Canadian Ocean\n     Literacy Coalition<\/strong>\n     (COLC) with its three identified priorities, namely,to build a national\n     strategy: establish; to support an active ocean literacy research; and to\n     amplify ocean literacy initiatives. COLC is currently looking for a\n     postdoc candidate with community-based consultation and collaborative\n     research experience to serve as the Atlantic Regional Coordinator.<\/li><li><strong>Ocean School <\/strong>is a joint joint initiative of\n     Dalhousie University, under the auspices of the Ocean Frontier Institute\n     and the National Film Board of Canada. It uses film, virtual reality, 360\n     videos, interactive games and augmented reality to engage youth and help\n     establish a connection with the ocean. This ambitious program has been\n     nominated for a Webby Award in online education.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>However,\nin spite of these significant developments (and many others), I suggest that a\nmajor shortcoming has not been addressed, namely <strong>Teacher\nEducation. <\/strong>Without a minimum understanding of the&nbsp;ocean sciences,\nboth natural and social, the&nbsp;benefits to be derived from&nbsp;the above\n&#8220;tools&#8221; will not be<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>optimized.\nHence, I suggest that the BoFEP Working group on Ocean Literacy should continue\nto focus on promoting the incorporation of ocean themes in all subjects of the\nschool system. This can be achieved&nbsp;by providing a <strong>basic<\/strong> understanding of the ocean sciences within the B.Ed and M.Ed\nprograms of the provinces relevant universities.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To this end, Kerri McPherson (an Oceans 11 teacher at C.P. Allen High School,with\u00a0a Masters\u00a0degree on ocean education from Dal.) and I visited Acadia University last August and discussed the need for some exposure to ocean sciences within the teacher training curricula. This was agreed, but the very full current program was considered to be a draw back. In\u00a0spite of follow-up efforts this year, there has been no\u00a0 response from Acadia&#8217;s Education faculty. We have been advised to make similar overtures to Mount St. Vincent University. This will be done. Meanwhile, a comprehensive review of the wealth of ocean literacy documents and tools&#8230;&#8230; and its compilation into a teaching aid would be an excellent contribution to our Working Group&#8217;s mandate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"text-align:right\">April 15, 2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Because of&nbsp;the fundamental&nbsp;importance of&nbsp;the Ocean with respect to the earth&#8217;s climate, the&nbsp;urgency of promoting ocean literacy and awareness world wide [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1828","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vbofep.geewizdev.tech\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1828","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vbofep.geewizdev.tech\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vbofep.geewizdev.tech\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vbofep.geewizdev.tech\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vbofep.geewizdev.tech\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1828"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/vbofep.geewizdev.tech\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1828\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1829,"href":"https:\/\/vbofep.geewizdev.tech\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1828\/revisions\/1829"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vbofep.geewizdev.tech\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1828"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}