Professional Development
  The BRIDGE
  Sea Grant / Space Grant Summer Internships for Teachers
  Operation Pathfinder/Coast Summer Course - National Sea Grant

The BRIDGE

By Lisa Lawrence

It can be difficult for teachers to find current marine science information to incorporate into their curricula. Often, textbook material is limited and outdated. Information can be obtained by contacting research facilities or aquariums, but that can be time-consuming and the knowledge gleaned may be too narrowly focused or technical. Plenty of information exists on the World Wide Web - a search on the words "marine science education" can produce as many as 10,000,000 hits - but it can take days to weed through the listings and to discern what are credible and useful sources. The Bridge, a unique on-line marine science clearinghouse, speeds visiting teachers to the best marine education resources available on-line. Here, teachers find educator and scientist reviewed materials on almost any marine-related topic, from academic programs to zebra mussels, with just a few "clicks".

Visitors access The Bridge through the National Marine Educators Association (NMEA) home page [http://www.marine-ed.org/]. In addition to information on marine science topics, the site offers links to marine science research data, aquariums and research institutions, lesson plans, career information, and Scuttlebutt, a discussion list for marine educators and scientists. A special section on professional development includes teacher programs, summer opportunities, professional organizations, and grants and awards.

The Bridge is regularly undated with new sites and special sections. Newly added sites include U.S. regional pages with links to resources specific to the Atlantic, Pacific, Gulf, and Great Lakes areas. Also on the site are forms for teacher comments, suggestions, and site recommendations. Educators interested in contributing to The Bridge project can join the TROLL (Teacher Reviewer of On-Line Learning) committee and review websites for inclusion on The Bridge.

The Bridge is a National Oceanographic Partnership Program project and is sponsored by NMEA and the national network of Sea Grant educators. The Virginia Institute of Marine Science coordinates the project. For more information, contact webkeeper, Lisa Ayers Lawrence at, ayer@vims.edu.

Sea Grant / Space Grant
Summer Internships for Teachers

The Maryland Sea Grant College Program and Maryland Space Grant Consortium, in collaboration with the Towson University Maryland Educator's Summer Research Program, will award another series of research internships to middle school and high school mathematics and science teachers for summer 1999.

Get on board with the Chesapeake Bay Education Initiative...

• Learn how to access, apply, and interpret authentic environmental data about the Chesapeake Bay and its watershed, and the Maryland Coastal Bays...
• Get hands-on experience in environmental technology, remote sensing, GIS, real-time monitoring, or landscape ecology...
• Immerse yourself in a summer research project under the direct supervision of a faculty member at the UMCES Appalachian Lab, Chesapeake Biological Lab, Horn Point Lab, the UMBI Center of Marine Biotechnology, or the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center ...

And earn a stipend of $500 per week for 8 weeks.

For more information contact Dr. Wayne Bell, Vice President for External Relations, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science at 410-228-9250, ext. 608.

Operation Pathfinder/Coast Summer Course
National Sea Grant

The "Consortium for Oceanographic Activities for Students and Teachers," or COAST, is a working collaborative designed to effectively deliver oceanographic and coastal processes education to pre- and in-service teachers from kindergarten through the twelfth grade (K-12). Each of the COAST members offers expertise in different areas and through focused efforts at specific educational levels provides depth of knowledge and resources in these areas. As a collaborative, the partners provide the broadest spectrum of means, methods and materials for ocean science education, as well as a nationwide telecommunications infrastructure.

Fully Supported Program Providing: Full tuition, Room and board, Travel allotment, $300 Stipend, 3-semester credits, Resource book, and other complementary materials.

Dates: June 18 - July 2, 1999.

Locations: Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences and Nags Head, North Carolina.

Application and Information: Check it out on the web at http://www.ims.usm.edu/~jlscott/coast01.htm

http://www.mdsg.umd.edu/Extension/msgsnn/msgsnn01_2/development.html