ORSEA connects math and science educators with scientists to create and pilot lessons centered around marine-focused anchoring phenomena.

ORSEA supports data science education and ocean literacy, while also exposing students to a variety of marine-related careers. This project is funded by Oregon Sea Grant and the National Science Foundation through OSU's Regional Class Research Vessel Project.


Anchoring Phenomena

Teachers, have you reviewed or implemented an ORSEA Lesson? Please give us your feedback!

Copepods - NOAA Fisheries

COPEPOD CONUNDRUM

Basket star

 GEOMETRY OF MARINE INVERTEBRATES

Orca feeding on salmon.

KILLER WHALE POPULATION IN DECLINE

Two whales feeding. Seagulls flock around the whales as they breach the ocean surface.

MANAGING WHALES AT RISK

Sea star on a rock in a tidepool.

MARINE RESERVE IMPACTS

Close up of Common Murre eggs.

MURRE POPULATIONS IN FLUX

Graduate student conducts oyster research on the Oregon coast.

OYSTER LARVAE CATASTROPHE

Research Fiona Nash on eelgrass bed off the Oregon coast.

SEAGRASS ABUNDANCE DECLINING

Vision for the Future

ORSEA connects educators and marine researchers around important ocean issues, career-connected learning, and effective science communication practices. 

  1. Marine scientists receive training in communicating science and share their research and career stories with teachers and students.
  2. Teachers work with researchers to develop engaging, contextualized, relevant lessons that meet educational goals.
  3. Networks are developed and sustained that address important ocean issues, increase science literacy, and help prepare students for the future.

Anchoring Phenomena

ORSEA teams create lesson plans centered around Anchoring Phenomena, "a unit level event that the classroom is trying to make sense of as they engage in a series of lessons...[T]he questions the students ask about the anchor drive the learning within the unit, the anchor should be complex and require an understanding of several big science ideas to explain."  - Phenomena for NGSS

Example: Oregon Sea Pickle Invasion

ORSEA 2019-20 Cohort

In August 2019, eight marine scientists and 16 math and science educators from Oregon formed the first Oregon Marine Scientist and Educator Alliance (ORSEA) cohort. At a multi-day summer workshop, participants formed scientist/educator curriculum teams, shared information, and engaged in hands-on marine science research activities together. Throughout the year, teams continued to work together to create marine science lessons centered around anchoring phenomena. The entire ORSEA cohort met online five times throughout the year, and teams presented their capstone projects to peers and community at a virtual conference in May 2020.

    ORSEA Capstone Event - May 15, 2020

    Watch: "Six Common Myths About Communication" by Kelly Biedenweg, Oregon State University


    These 2019-20 ORSEA materials are based upon work supported by Oregon Sea Grant and the Oregon Coast STEM Hub, as well as the National Science Foundation Regional Class Research Vessels under Cooperative Agreement No. 1333564 Award: OCE-1748726. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.