Collaborative Research and Education in the Ross Sea: A broader impact evaluation report

An interdisciplinary team of researchers will focus on describing the high productivity patchiness observed in phytoplankton blooms in the mid-to-late summer in the Ross Sea, Antarctica. They will use a novel sampling strategy that employs a remotely controlled glider (AUV) to locate and map circumpolar deep water in near real time and also to direct further ship-based sampling. This unusual coordination of a polar research vessel with AUVs provides an exciting opportunity to engage formal and informal educators in a research adventure. As part of this NSF-funded project’s Criterion 2 broader impact, joining the researchers virtually will be 30 New Jersey middle-school teachers and their students. This summer in New Jersey, in partnership with Liberty Science Center educators, COSEE-NOW (Centers for Ocean Sciences Education Excellence-Networked Ocean World) and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the project team introduced teachers to the Ross Sea, the research, the science behind it and the AUV. The summer workshop and ongoing schoolyear support is providing the teachers with the tools they need to bring the excitement of the research into their classrooms in real time during the Ross Sea cruise at the end of this year. This presentation by Chris Parsons, the project evaluator, will summarize the evaluation plan for this broader impact project, which follows teachers and their classes for a year, and provide the latest evaluation results from this project.