The Regional Class Research Vessel: Transforming Research into Innovative K-12 Marine Education
When OSU received funding from the National Science Foundation to design and build the new Regional Class Research Vessels (RCRV), they established an Outreach and Education (O&E) team composed of multiple OSU partners in order to support increased data literacy and improved science communication skills of researchers. Graduate student research was conducted to inform promising practices and the ongoing O&E team’s work with teachers, students, researchers, and the public. Examples of how the O&E team’s work was informed can be found in a museum exhibit, researcher-teacher co-designed curriculum, and out-of-school time STEM challenges and lessons. We will highlight the RCRV O&E model, and share research findings and examples of our work. We will share challenges and the promising solutions we learned to support data literacy and collaboration among many stakeholders.
