Current Projects:
- Tools of Science
- Data to the Rescue: Penguins Need Our Help!
- Ocean Data Labs
- “Explorers of the Deep” 4-H STEM Challenge
- Ocean Gazing Podcast
- Antarctic Melting
- Food Web Game
- COSEE K-12 Lesson Plans
- MARE K-8 Teacher Guides to Marine Habitats
- Advancing Climate Literacy through Investment in Pre-Service Educators (ACLIPSE) Course Guide
- Communicating Ocean Sciences to Informal Audiences (COSIA) Course Guide
- Polar Data Stories
- Project SWARM
- I.D. Antarctica
Past Projects:
- ENIGMA
- FIRST® LEGO® League Webinar (2024 – 2025 Challenge: SUBMERGED)
- Polar ICE
- Sci-I (a Polar ICE project)
- Polar Camps & Afterschool Programs (Polar CAP)
- Project PARKA (Planting Antarctica in Kansas)
- Ross Sea Connection
- COOL Classroom
- East Coast MARE
Current Projects
Tools of Science
This series of educational videos are designed to help students explore the non-linear, cyclical nature of the scientific process by following several researchers as they collect and analyze ocean samples from a research cruise. Topics include: “Testable Questions”, “Modeling”, “Sampling”, “Proxies”, “Collaboration”, “Creativity”, and “Data as a Tool”.
This material was designed to follow the Science Framework for K-12 Science Education and the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).
For more information (including the accompanying material), please visit the Tools of Science website. All videos can be found on YouTube.
Data to the Rescue: Penguins Need Our Help!
Researchers from our seabird research team stationed in frigid Antarctica invite you to take part in a data-driven lesson each week, surveying the Gentoo, Adélie, and Chinstrap penguin populations. This science activity kit, perfect for afterschool clubs, hybrid learnings, and the classroom, consists of 8 45-minute lessons focused on data literacy and the scientific process.
Interested educators can purchase a science kit that includes 12 student research journals, 1 facilitator guide, and more, all packaged in a sturdy backpack, perfect for fieldwork. To get your own Science Kit, you can request a quote at Stemfinity.
Ocean Data Labs
This freely accessible suite of online data literacy activities and lesson plans, created by and for undergraduate professors to use, encourages students to use real oceanographic data collected by the Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) as they develop their own data literacy and/or coding skills.
Access the full resource on the Ocean Data Labs website.
“Explorers of the Deep” 4-H STEM Challenge
Created for the 2022 4-H STEM Challenge, this science kit features three activities designed to follow our gliders around the world as they collect data. Players can compete in trivia with the “Ocean Exploration” board game, experiment with the same buoyancy tests we undertake to best balance the glider in water with the “Ocean Robot Test Tank” and challenge each other to brainstorm creative solutions to some of our biggest ocean challenges with the “Ocean Communicator” activity.
Learn about the challenge and download activity guides in English and Spanish on the 4-H 2022 STEM Challenge webpage.
Ocean Gazing Podcast
Follow Ari Daniel Shapiro as he explores the ocean research happening up and down the east and west coast, from shoreline to international waters. Live underwater off the coast of Key Largo for up to two weeks with a marine chemist, attend an underwater concert with the bottom of the ocean food web, or play along with scores of students as they gear up to compete at the National Ocean Sciences Bowl.
With 52 episodes, you never know where this podcast will take you.
Many episodes are accompanied by a complete lesson plan, suitable for high school and college courses. You can find the full archive on the Ocean Gazing website.
Antarctic Melting
This four-part series explores how the Antarctic is changing through the lens of Antarctic researchers studying there, analyzing how the ice melts and all the species affected adapt. Each part consists of a video and hands-on classroom activity (with discussion questions), perfect for students learning about a changing environment.
Read the full story on the Antarctica Melting webpage.
Food Web Game
Correctly match marine organisms to their places on the food web in this short, interactive online game. Perfect to use within a greater lesson on ecological food webs.
Play the Food Web Game online. This game can also be printed and played.
COSEE K-12 Lesson Plans
This resource contains dozens of lesson plans suitable for grades K-12. Subjects include: biology/biological oceanography, chemistry/chemical oceanography, climate change/ocean acidification, Earth sciences/geological oceanography, math/technology, ocean science methods, and physics/physical oceanography.
The full resource archive can be found on the COSEE NOW Lesson Plans & Activities webpage.
MARE K-8 Teacher Guides to Marine Habitats
This resource contains lesson plans associated with specific topics, including: Ponds (Kindergarten), Life at the Seashore (Grade 1), Sandy Beach (Grade 2), Wetlands (Grade 3), Kelp Forest (Grade 4), Open Ocean (Grade 5), and The Ocean-Atmosphere Connection and Climate Change (Grades 6-8).
All the guides are free to download and are informed by Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and Common Core Standards. Find the
complete resource on the MARE K-12 Curriculum webpage.
Advancing Climate Literacy through Investment in Pre-Service Educators (ACLIPSE) Course Guide
With these 11 freely accessible Introduction to Oceanography undergraduate course guides (lesson plans, slideshows, handouts and activities included), this resource aims to spotlight student-led inquiry and foster students’ skills in using real-time data as they learn about climate science.
Find the complete resource on the MARE ACLIPSE webpage.
Communicating Ocean Sciences to Informal Audiences (COSIA) Course Guide
This undergraduate course prepares future scientists to communicate their knowledge and research more effectively to different audiences outside of academia. Students learn about the science of learning and develop skills to thoughtfully design in-person, informal activities.
Find more information on the MARE COSIA webpage.
Polar Data Stories
Follow along as researchers in the Antarctic try to answer pressing questions like “What drives patterns in ocean change?”, “Where are those microplastics coming from and going?”, and “Can icefish stand the heat?” Each of the eight stories features a real dataset students can interact with to answer these questions as well as educator guides with suggested related lessons.
Find the full resource on the Polar Data Stories webpage.
Project SWARM
This resource consists of lesson plans and data activities designed to incorporate research from the Palmer Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) station in Antarctica. Lessons cover topics such as modeling data, creating testable questions, and acting out the foraging behavior of penguins.
Find the full resource on the Project SWARM webpage.
I.D. Antarctica
Students help a researcher from the Virginia Institute of Marine Science identify several “mystery” species he stumbled across as he conducted research in Antarctica. In these seven activities, students are introduced to a picture taken while he was in the field and led through a series of questions to best identify the species.
Find the full resource on the I.D. Antarctica webpage.
Past Projects (Archived)
Please feel free to explore our past community engagement projects. These past projects are no longer active, but contain various resources you might find useful or inspiring. Past projects include connecting Kansas classrooms to the frigid Antarctic, delving into the origins of life with Rutgers scientists, and cultivating educator resources for all to use.
ENIGMA
Follow the ENIGMA team as they try to answer questions about the origins of life in this educational video. Watch how they go ‘back in time’ to understand how the chemistry of early Earth evolved into the biochemicals that build our foundations for life.
Find the full resource on the ENIGMA Project website.
FIRST® LEGO® League Webinar (2024 – 2025 Challenge: SUBMERGED)
Over 265 students in New Jersey and across the country joined us to learn about real-life ocean exploration. This webinar was crafted to best support these students as they participated in the 2024-2025 FIRST® LEGO® League season: SUBMERGED.
Access the full webinar on the FIRST LEGO League DMCS webpage.
Polar ICE
Polar scientists used data and science communication to connect with educators and students and further the impact of their research. Students were able to connect how Polar Regions influence our lives with the researchers working right now to understand our changing climate.
Learn more on The Polar-ICE Project webpage.
Sci-I (a Polar ICE project)
Rutgers connected with the teachers before the school year and students during the school year to practice the necessary science skills needed to conduct open-ended science investigations throughout the school year. With this program, students were able to work with real world, online polar data.
This project was in alignment with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).
Learn more on the Sci-I Project webpage.
Polar Camps & Afterschool Programs (Polar CAP)
These online programs were designed to be adaptable for various facilitators and youth groups as we all navigated the early days of the COVID Pandemic. Youth explored scientific data from their own homes while learning about the Polar Regions.
Learn more on the Polar CAP webpage.
Project PARKA (Planting Antarctica in Kansas)
Rutgers brought the distant icecaps to the landlocked American heartland with this educational program 19 high school classrooms participated in. While teachers participated in a summer workshop, their students learned research mission science through classroom lessons, mission blogs, talking with scientists through Live Video Broadcasts from Antarctica, meeting the research scientists, and presenting their own research at a spring Student Research Symposium.
Access the lesson plans and supporting material yourself on the Project PARKA website.
Ross Sea Connection
This blog connected teachers and classrooms with research happening in the Ross Sea, located off Antarctica. Researchers stationed in this wind-scoured, ice-covered desert environment answered questions from the students on the blog and during live calls and gave glimpses into the amount of data they collected during the expeditions.
Explore the blog at the Ross Sea Connection website.
COOL Classroom
Launched in 2002, this website has stood the test of time, becoming a valuable resource for educators who want innovative material that will help their students develop the scientific literacy needed to grow and pursue their own careers.
Explore the online COOL classroom website.
East Coast MARE
This whole-school interdisciplinary science program (developed by the Lawrence Hall of Science, supported by Rutgers) brought marine science to classrooms everywhere, not just those on the coasts. These teacher development programs and workshops connected ocean educators across the state and nationally as they encouraged their students in ocean science learning.
Learn more about the teacher development programs and workshops on the East Coast MARE website.