Free-Choice Learning: 2007-2008

 

Students

The Free-Choice Learning Initiative supports students carrying out research projects in learning both in and out of school environments. This year the initiative continued financial and academic support for five research projects, four of which resulted in the granting of degrees.

Christine Smith, M.S. 2007 -- an M.S. student in the Department of Science and Math Education, Christine completed her work redesigning and evaluating the Molluscan Broodstock Oysters Exhibit in the Hatfield Marine Science Visitor Center, Newport, Oregon.

Molly Phipps, Ph.D. 2008 -- a doctoral student in Science and Mathematics Education, Molly completed her research on the use of iPods as supplementary learning materials in the Hatfield Marine Science Visitor Center, Newport, Oregon.

Abby Nickels, M.S. 2008 and Eleanor Hodak, M.S. 2008 -- both M.S. students in Marine Resource Management, Abby and Eleanor carried out comparative research at the Hatfield Marine Science Center, the Oregon Coast Aquarium, and Marine Discovery Tours, all in Newport, Oregon.

Sarah Mikulak, an M.S. student in Marine Resource Management, was awarded a Holt Marine Education Fund Award in spring 2008 in order to carry out her work designing and researching effective tools for free-choice learning through work with near real-time data. In addition, the Free-Choice Learning Initiative supported Celeste Barthel, a doctoral student in Science and Math Education, in traveling to Baltimore, Maryland, to work with the Maryland Science Center on the professional development of staff and research on spherical data display systems.

Outreach

Additionally, through Shawn Rowe's work in the Department of Science and Mathematics Education, our website, conference presentations, and professional development offerings, the Free-Choice Learning Initiative disseminated information about Hatfield Marine Science Center and Oregon State University program offerings, activities, and project findings to students and professionals in formal and informal sciences around the region and nation.

Supported by the Free-Choice Learning Initiative, Celeste Barthel, Heidi Schmoock (M.S. 2007, Oregon Sea Grant), Molly Phipps (Ph.D. 2008), and Bronwen Rice (M.S. 2007, NOAA Office of Education) attended the National Association of Research in Science Teaching (NARST) Conference in Baltimore, Maryland to present their work and research. Phipps also presented at the American Educational Research Association (AERA) national meeting in New York. Shawn Rowe, Coral Gehrke (M.S. 2007), Bronwen Rice (M.S. 2007), and Alicia Christensen (M.S. 2007) presented ongoing free-choice learning research at the Northwest Aquatic and Marine Educators network meeting in summer 2007. Shawn Rowe also presented at the Outreach and Scholarship Conference held in Madison, Wisconsin, and was an invited keynote speaker at the International Conference for Science for the Next Society in Seoul, South Korea in November 2007.

Education / Evaluation

Evaluation and education opportunities were also expanded significantly over 2007-2008 thanks to several competitive grants. Most prominently, Shawn Rowe became the Co-director and Co-PI on the newly established National Science Foundation-funded Center for Ocean Science Education Excellence, Pacific Partnerships. This five-year effort partners the Hatfield Marine Science Center (HMSC), Oregon Coast Aquarium (OCA), and Oregon Coast Community College (OCCC) in Newport, Oregon, with the Oregon Institute of Marine Biology (OIMB), the South Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve (SSNERR), and Southwestern Oregon Coast Community College (SOCCC) in Coos Bay / Charleston, Oregon, to develop education programming and research opportunities for community college students, faculty, informal science educators, and marine education volunteers in Oregon, Washington, California, and Hawaii.

Rowe's continued his ongoing collaboration with Lawrence Hall of Science at the University of California, Berkeley, to create communications and learning theory training opportunities for informal educators.

Based on work carried out by Celeste Barthel in spring 2007, Heidi Schmoock and Rowe designed and taught a five-week class for educators, aquarists, and other staff from the HMSC and Oregon Coast Aquarium in Communicating Ocean Sciences to Informal Audiences. This work will become part of a national curriculum funded by the National Science Foundation.

Rowe also collaborated with Nancee Hunter on a competitive grant to National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for the installation and evaluation of a Magic Planet spherical display system for the HMSC Visitor Center. The evaluation component partners Oregon Sea Grant's Free-Choice Learning Initiative with University of Washington researchers to use state-of-the-art video capture and annotation technologies with audiences as part of real-time evaluation of the Magic Planet as a learning environment and tool. Results of this one-year effort will be distributed in summer 2009 to NOAA's Science on a Sphere Network.