ABOUT SEARCH

Old Dominion University (ODU) Science Education, ODU Center for Coastal Physical Oceanography, and Portsmouth Public Schools were awarded a two-year grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Bay Watershed Education and Training Program entitled Project SEARCH (Science Education Advancing Research of the Chesapeake Bay and its Habitats). The focus of the grant is to provide urban students with Meaningful Watershed Experiences (MEWEs) and support the teachers of those students in implementing the MEWEs by providing materials, in class support, and professional development opportunities. The MEWEs and teacher experiences will involve building instrument buoys in order to explore their own research questions, field sampling aboard a research vessel, interacting with scientists from underrepresented populations, and learning about current local scientific issues from nationally recognized experts and from the data they collect and analyze.

Project Objectives

Objective A: Enhance urban teachers’ and students’ STEM literacy with an emphasis
on their relationship with the Chesapeake Bay system

Objective B: Increase interest of underrepresented populations in earth/environmental
science fields

Objective C: Need to enhance American competitiveness by increasing students’ abilities
to conduct authentic scientific inquiry using appropriate technologies

Objective D: Increase teachers’ knowledge and use of technology-enhanced, inquirybased
instructional strategies