Explore awards
Use the filter menu and interactive map to explore the past competitions offered and grants awarded through the Environmental Literacy Program.
To learn more about project findings and outcomes, view the summaries of our grantees’ summative evaluation reports.
Installation of Science On a Sphere at Discovery Science Center of Orange County (Priority 1)
Discovery Science Center of Orange County (DSC) proposes a cooperative agreement with the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to install Science On a Sphere (SOS) spherical display system showing Earth system science in DSC's informal educational science center under Priority 1 of this funding opportunity. With the closest SOS display system located in Northern California, installation of this technology at DSC will provide access to NOAA's data by over 400,000 students, their families and educators from Southern California annually. As partners, DSC will ensure that NOAA data sets are incorporated into educational resources that align with California State Science Standards and will meet NOAA educational plan goals.
Ocean Sciences Curriculum Sequence for Grades 6-8
The Lawrence Hall of Science (LHS) at the University of California, Berkeley, in partnership with the Rutgers University Institute of Marine & Coastal Sciences, and the Curriculum Division of Carolina Biological Supply Company (Carolina Biological) propose to create an Ocean Sciences Curriculum Sequence, Grades 6-8 that will provide a major step toward achieving a coherent, comprehensive, nationally disseminated K-12 ocean sciences curriculum with NOAA as the lead sponsor of the entire series. The Ocean Sciences Curriculum Sequence, Grades 6-8 will be a powerful companion to the Ocean Sciences Curriculum Sequence, Grades 3-5 already available, and the recently published, NASA-funded GEMS Space Science Curriculum Sequence, Grades 3-8 (see http://www.lhsgems.org/CurriculumSequences.htm). The Sequence will be built in part on repurposing and updating existing instructional materials from the LHS Marine Activities, Resources & Education (MARE) and Great Explorations in Math and Science (GEMS) programs. The materials will provide teachers with standards-based tools for teaching basic science using the ocean as an integrating context. This project will create instructional materials that have potential to become the most widely used middle school ocean sciences curriculum nationwide. The materials will be: (1) grounded in current research on teaching and learning, (2) aligned to the Ocean Literacy (OL) Essential Principles and Fundamental Concepts, and national and state science standards, and (3) extensively field tested and evaluated to ensure their effectiveness and applicability nationwide. The Sequence will include print materials for teachers with inquiry-based learning activities, student readings and data sheets, pre-, post-, and embedded assessments, and readily available instructional materials "kits" that allow it to be adopted by whole school systems and/or states as part of their regular, mainstream science programs. The materials will provide classroom teachers with essential tools to advance ocean literacy and the discoveries of NOAA scientists. No comparable middle school ocean sciences curriculum is currently available.
Summer Science in New England: Ocean Education through Informal Science Centers
The Summer Science in New England project has established a regional network of summer camp programs grounded in ocean science. In year one, six institutions - New England Aquarium, Northeastern University's Marine Science Center, University of Rhode Island's Alton Jones Camp, the University of Connecticut's Project Oceanology, the Seacoast Science Center in NH, and the Marine Environmental Research Institute in Maine - work alongside research scientists to engage campers, ages 14 and up, in near-shore biodiversity monitoring. In years two and three, the number of partners increases to 10, then 12. The project provides a citizen science experience across a wide geographical area, supports and trains informal science center staff to incorporate citizen science while using environmental literacy principles with teens, and offers opportunities for all participants to share findings with peers at annual forums.
Aquarium-wide Climate Change and the Ocean Initiative: Public Engagement from Awareness to Action
As part of its on-going commitment to engage, inform, and inspire visitors around issues of critical importance to ocean conservation, the Monterey Bay Aquarium opened the nation's first live aquatic animal exhibition on climate change and the ocean. This award supports a comprehensive and integrated suite of associated informal educational activities, designed to extend the exhibit experience and allow visitors to explore this critically important topic in more depth during their visit and after leaving the Aquarium. These activities include: community engagement events, virtual reality auditorium programs using Google Earth, musical theater presentations, and exhibit interactives that allow audiences to discuss solutions to ocean issues. Over the course of three years, this initiative will reach more than 4.5 million people and: 1) raise public awareness about the connection between climate change and ocean health; 2) demonstrate that public actions do have an impact on climate change (and therefore ocean health); and 3) encourage meaningful action to address climate change.
Shedd-NOAA Partnership for Student, Teacher and Public Engagement
Shedd Aquarium has launched a large-scale effort to address the long-standing need to better connect citizens in the Great Lakes region to their local Great Lakes watershed, to engage them in making positive changes to help the ecosystem, and to engage decision-makers and leaders to enact large scale change to improve the ecosystem over the long term. Through this award, Shedd is positioning itself strategically as the regional hub for Great Lakes education and behavior change by promoting Great Lakes civic engagement. Shedd Aquarium's Center for the Great Lakes is designed to bring scientists, business and government leaders, visionaries, and Great Lakes citizens together to formalize a strategic framework for increasing Great Lakes literacy and fostering Great Lakes stewardship. With the help of leading organizations: NOAA, COSEE Great Lakes, and members of the Healing Our Waters Great Lakes Coalition, a new vision for the Great Lakes region is being created. This civic engagement project is producing needed outcomes: increasing Great Lakes literacy while promoting policies of sustainability that ultimately will support the adoption of a stewardship ethic among our target audiences in the Midwest. Shedd's efforts empower citizens and civic entities to be critical thinkers who fully participate in the advancement of a sustainable society.
Aquarium of the Pacific's Ocean Science Center (SOS): Ocean-Earth Stories Connecting People, the Ocean and Climate Change
The Aquarium of the Pacific is creating an immersive exhibit for exploring the role of the ocean in climate change and its responses under different scenarios. The center of the experience is NOAA's Science On a Sphere (SOS), a proven platform for displaying a rich variety of earth system datasets that reveal global and large scale region processes and phenomena that are easily grasped by the general public. Combining SOS with a system of linked plasma screens allows additional local and regional stories that bring global messages down to a more personal level. Two programs are being developed initially focusing on: (1) implications of sea level rise, and (2) marine ecosystems. Both explore how the vulnerability of systems can be reduced and their resiliency enhanced through mitigation and adaptation.
A National Coalition of Aquariums Educating About Climate Change
This collaboration led by three major national aquariums - Monterey Bay Aquarium (MBAq), National Aquarium in Baltimore (NAIB), and New England Aquarium (NEAq) - is developing a leadership initiative to build capacity within aquariums and related informal science education institutions nation-wide, enabling education staff to engage and inspire millions of visitors to take action about climate change and the ocean. The project increases climate literacy among informal science educators by: 1) creating a national network for training, resource sharing and support; 2) developing climate change activity carts to support exhibit interpretation; 3) providing training for youth interpreters; and 4) hosting regional and national summits to strengthen collaboration and showcase and disseminate model programs. Outcomes for educators include increased knowledge of climate change science; knowledge of strategies, tools and materials for educating about climate change; and confidence in their ability to communicate about climate change.
A National Coalition of Aquariums Educating About Climate Change
This collaboration led by three major national aquariums - Monterey Bay Aquarium (MBAq), National Aquarium in Baltimore (NAIB), and New England Aquarium (NEAq) - is developing a leadership initiative to build capacity within aquariums and related informal science education institutions nation-wide, enabling education staff to engage and inspire millions of visitors to take action about climate change and the ocean. The project increases climate literacy among informal science educators by: 1) creating a national network for training, resource sharing and support; 2) developing climate change activity carts to support exhibit interpretation; 3) providing training for youth interpreters; and 4) hosting regional and national summits to strengthen collaboration and showcase and disseminate model programs. Outcomes for educators include increased knowledge of climate change science; knowledge of strategies, tools and materials for educating about climate change; and confidence in their ability to communicate about climate change.
Carbon Networks
Carbon Networks is a three-year collaborative project that aims to improve public understanding of the impacts of ocean acidification and atmospheric carbon dioxide on the environment. It involves three informal education partners - the Exploratorium in San Francisco, the Waikiki Aquarium in Hawaii, and the Pacific Science Center in Seattle - working together to provide professional development for staff and local educators, as well as create educational programs and activities for museum visitors using authentic ocean and atmospheric data. The project aims to address the disconnect between scientific evidence and the public's understanding of these impacts by developing and implementing professional development workshops and training programs that connect local ocean and atmospheric data with regional, Pacific, and global systems. The goal is to create meaningful place-based education narratives and activities that help people better understand the evolving narrative and impact of ocean acidification and climate change.
Advancing Climate Literacy through Investment in In-service and Pre-service Science Educators (ACLIPSE)
The ACLIPSE project leveraged NOAA assets including the NOAA-funded Ocean Sciences Sequence for Grades 6–8: The Ocean–Atmosphere Connection and Climate Change, data from NOAA-supported ocean, estuarine and atmospheric observing networks, and NOAA-affiliated scientists. ACLIPSE developed strategies for incorporating real-time ocean observing data into climate and ocean science education; designed and implemented an undergraduate curriculum in climate science for pre-service (student) teachers at multiple universities (http://mare.lawrencehallofscience.org/college-courses/ACLIPSE); offered a variety of workshops for teachers and educators across the country and at National Estuarine Research Reserves (NERRs); and developed materials specifically designed to provide professional learning and instructional materials for middle and high school teachers to use with their students and other learners (http://mare.lawrencehallofscience.org/curriculum/climate-data-aclipse-a…). The professional learning workshops for local teachers and NERR Education Coordinators and research staff (i.e., System Wide Monitoring Program (SWMP) Technicians) were located at five NERR sites representing different regions of the US, including the Pacific Northwest (Kachemak Bay NERR, Alaska and Padilla Bay NERR, WA), central West Coast (San Francisco NERR, CA), Southeast (GTM NERR, FL), and Northeast/Mid-Atlantic (Jacques Cousteau NERR, NJ). Resources and instructional materials focused on climate and ocean acidification were provided to all participants for learning about and teaching these important and relevant content areas, and as the context for teaching about and applying current teaching and learning research. Emphasis was placed on helping the teacher audiences to becoming more expert on how to use NOAA monitoring data in the classroom in authentic and engaging ways to build teacher and student data skills. NERR educators and their local in-service teachers were provided with professional learning opportunities and a collection of activities providing online data, place-based, locally relevant observing data, NGSS teaching and learning pedagogy, and climate change topics. The project built capacity of formal and informal science educators by providing (1) opportunities to become knowledgeable about global environmental change and real-time data; (2) exposure to place-based connections with the ocean through technological observing systems; and (3) materials and expertise to apply their learning to teaching practice in a long-term, sustainable manner. ACLIPSE instructional materials are based on the principle that real-time environmental data is a valuable tool for providing students with opportunities for self-directed exploration of the natural world. Students engaging in these activities gain a deeper understanding of carbon cycling, ocean acidification, and other phenomena related to climate change. These activities were designed with the three-dimensional approach to teaching in mind (e.g. NGSS-designed), and also use a data literacy framework to build educators and their learners’ skills in using data visualizations. The materials for informal educators and grades 6-8 teachers can also be accessed from the NOAA Education site, Classroom- Ready Data Resources, Climate & Data ACLIPSE Activities at https://www.noaa.gov/education/resource-collections/data/classroom-ready. Partners in the project included Rutgers University, Padilla Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, Florida State University, California State University East Bay, Louisiana State University, and multiple NERR sites and Education Coordinators across the country and their local secondary teachers.
Teen Advocates for Community and Environmental Sustainability (Teen ACES)
The Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago (MSI) developed museum-based education resources to engage high school-age youth in the exploration of climate literacy and Earth systems science through its Teen ACES (Teen Advocates for Community and Environmental Sustainability) project. As the future leaders who will make decisions about the issues they face in their communities, youth participants were positioned to act as advocates for establishing resilient communities in the Midwest. The project utilized a variety of resources, including NOAA Science On a Sphere® (SOS) technology and datasets, Great Lakes and local climate assets from the Midwest Regional Climate Center and Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant, and existing local planning guides to develop museum-based youth programming. Teens explored environmental hazards including severe weather events and temperature extremes and considered the impact of the Great Lakes on regional climate. The Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, Resilient Chicago, the Institute of Environmental Sustainability at Loyola University Chicago, and the South Metropolitan Higher Education Consortium advised on the project to support the integration of municipal resiliency plans and their related adaptation and mitigation measures into the program. After completing a 30-hour course with MSI, teen participants had the opportunity to facilitate SOS® experiences for museum guests. Teens also shared their learning with the Chicago community through programs at Chicago Public Library branches and Chicago Park District sites. The project revised content for use in 102 after-school science clubs for students from diverse communities across the Chicago area. Educational resources and experiences created through this grant reached nearly 150,000 students, educators and guests over four years.
Resilient Schools Consortium (RiSC) Program
Brooklyn College and the National Wildlife Federation Eco-Schools USA program in New York City created The Resilient Schools Consortium (RiSC) Program to increase the environmental literacy of middle school and high school students while providing opportunities for their voices to be heard. The City's long-term planning document, OneNYC, set forth a vision for a resilient city without specifying a role for students or including specific plans for their schools. This project addressed this gap by allowing students to interact with city, state and federal officials and resilience practitioners and present their ideas for resilience guidelines for NYC Public Schools. An active-learning RiSC Curriculum was developed by two middle school teachers in collaboration with their peers and the project team. The curriculum is available at https://riscnyc.org. RiSC teams at six middle schools and high schools used the curriculum to follow the UC Climate Resilience Toolkit’s Steps to Resilience. They learned about climate change and extreme weather, the vulnerability of their schools and their communities, options for addressing the risks, planned, and prioritized action, and executed small scale resilience projects on their school grounds when possible. Students were able to share what they had learned and have dialogue with professionals from government agencies and non-governmental about actions and solutions at two RiSC summits in June 2018 and June 2019. The RiSC program directly reached over 200 NYC public schools students through direct participation on the RiSC teams or RiSC-sponsored events, and indirectly reached hundreds more through the interaction of RiSC students with their peers. RiSC students were highly motivated by the program’s focus on action and the opportunity to speak directly to officials at the summits. The RiSC program also resulted in the creation of the New York City Climate and Resilience Education Taskforce (https://cretf.org), a group of NYC agencies, educators, and non-governmental organizations that are working towards providing climate and resilience education for all New York City students and their teachers. Key contributors to the success of the Resilient Schools Consortium program included New York Sea Grant and the Science and Resilience Institute at Jamaica Bay.