Sampling the Sea: Using Social Media for an Online Ocean Sustainability Curriculum

Abstract

The Sampling the Sea Project is a pilot online resource for teachers and students in grades 9-12, designed to improve learning beyond traditionally targeted cognitive dimensions such as knowledge, to include affective dimensions of learning such as attitudes, skills, intention, and efficacy, outcomes of sea food sustainability science, by means of specially designed curricula and active social media participation, with a multisource evaluation component. The chapter provides overviews of the need for ocean sustainability curricula, the Sampling the Sea Project, pedagogic foundations, the ocean science sustainability curriculum, the infrastructure/platform, the justification for and nature of social media activities within the curriculum, the evaluation approach, and summary results.