Picking up STEAM in the heart of the Ocean!

This presentation will explore how Ocean Networks Canada (ONC) endeavours to engage and inspire educators in an effort to bring the ocean to life via classroom accessible technologies. Through programs and partnerships (with organizations including Ocean Exploration Trust, Let's Talk Science, Girl Guides of Canada and Actua), ONC collaborates with formal and informal educators from K-12 through post-secondary to deliver successful science, technology, engineering, art, and math (STEAM) outreach for a varied and diverse group of stakeholders.

Ocean Networks Canada (ONC), an initiative of the University of Victoria, develops, operates, and maintains cabled ocean observatory systems. These include technologies developed on the world-leading NEPTUNE and VENUS observatories and the ever-expanding network of community observatories in the Arctic and coastal British Columbia. These observatories, large and small, enable communities, users, scientists, teachers, and students to monitor real-time and historical data from the local marine environment from anywhere on the globe.

This presentation will include three major themes: Working with partner organizations to build STEAM capacity, creating in-house resources for formal and informal educators, and engaging the education community through telepresence-enabled expeditions. Resources, lessons, engagement and communication efforts will highlight lessons learned, best practices and describe and demonstrate ideas and technology that contribute to the growth and continued development of STEAM outreach at ONC. The demonstrations will include virtual reality technology for understanding tsunamis and a web-based portal to view live video, sound, and other data from the deep ocean.