GLOBE Training in Costarica
In May 2011, the E & O staff traveled to the beutiful country of Costa Rica and spent three very intensive days giving a GLOBE training to students, teachers, and scientists from different regions of the country. The training was part of a program sponsored by IOI-USA, in which students from Costa Rica and OCG alumni in the USA will interact to share and discuss scientific data collected following the GLOBE protocols. The program will be overseen in Costa Rica by the IOI-CR director, Alejandro Gutierrez, physical oceanographer and research faculty at the Universidad Nacional Abierta (UNA), and in USA by the IOI-USA and the USF-CMS E&O staff (Teresa Greely).
2011 OCEANOGRAPHY CAMP FOR GIRLS
The OCG 2001 took place between the dates of June 20th and July 8th. During these three weeks, thirty girls from Pinellas County had the opportunity to experience the world of oceanography. During the first week, the girls learned the major concepts in oceanography using ocean zonation as a teaching theme. In the same week, girls participated in three coastal fieldtrips focused on the multiple disciplines of oceanography. They collected biological. physical, chemical, and geological data at Fort de Soto Park, Shell Key, and during research cruises aboard the R/V Weatherbird II. In week two, the girls processed, plotted, interpreted, and presented the data they collected from week one. They also had the opportunity to conduct different lab experiments organized and presented by CMS graduate students and research faculty at the CMS and SRI-St. Petersburg engineers. Young ladies had the opportunity to understand the career of scientists by interviewing professionals from FWRI, USGS, COT, SRI and CMS. Additional activities included a field trip to Caladesi Island to collect data for beach profiles, long-shore current measurements and coastal plant adaptions for stabilizing barrier islands, as well as a science conference the last day of camp when campers presented their lab research via oral presentations and poster sessions. This year's staff included graduate students from CMS (both guys as gals!), undergraduates from USFSP and UT-Tampa, as well as our OCG alumni completing high school.
Girl Scouts Give a Day for the Ocean
July 2011 CMS E&O hosted the Girl Scouts of West Central Florida to 'Give a Day for the Ocean' at the Clam Bayou Marine Education Center. Young ladies representing four troops conducted a coastal clean-up of the Clam Bayou waterway using kayaks in order to remove marine debris from mangrove prop roots. Girl Scouts collected data about marine debris following the Ocean Conservancy's protocols. In total about a 100 pounds of marine debris was removed from Clam Bayou.
Girls Incorporated of Pinellas are 'Marine Biologist for a Day'
August 2011 over 40 young ladies from Girls Inc. of Pinellas (http://girlsinc-pinellas.org/) visited Clam Bayou Marine Education Center to be marine biologist for a day. Each girl participated in three field and lab-based experience to explore the field of marine biology. Activities included beach seining to survey the fish populations in the Bayou, analyzing plankton samples in the scope room, and visiting the mangroves for water quality and atmospheric data collection following GLOBE protocols. All activities included data collection as part of the larger CBMEC environmental data set.
Science Festival
USF College of Marine Science's Angela Lodge and Oceanography Camp for Girls Alumni provided activities to teach science concepts related to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Participants built density columns to demonstrate the movement/mixing of different density substances at depth and conducted an oil spill clean-up simulation using a series of 'tools' used to remove surface oil from mini models of the Gulf of Mexico"
