A NEW WAVE IN EDUCATION -- BRINGING THE OCEAN TO THE CLASSROOM

Students may be able to dive into their schoolwork in a whole new way with an educators' guide NOAA is providing to teachers.

More than 55,000 teachers around the country have received a Year of the Ocean Educator's Guide that gives seventh- and eighth-grade science teachers new ideas for teaching about the ocean. The United Nations has declared 1998 the International Year of the Ocean to educate the public about the important role the ocean plays in our daily lives.

The educator's guides are designed so that teachers can fit the class activities and projects into existing curricula.

Students can learn:

• what hurricanes are and how to prepare for them

• how nautical charts work

• how many kinds of fish there are and what is being done to keep the species alive

• how oil spills and other ocean pollution, including runoff from schoolyards, affect the ocean

• how fish get from the ocean to the plate

• how the ocean serves as a watery highway for trade, from pirates of yore to present-day traders

• how to have a career involving the ocean

The goal is to get students to know and love the ocean so that they grow into adults who want to protect the ocean.

For more information, contact: Joyce Gross, 202-482-8360