Featured Resources | Connecticut Sea Grant

Ocean Literacy

A collection of ocean literacy resources can be found here. It includes links to the National Marine Educators Association’s ocean literacy web page including the Ocean Literacy Guide, the UNESCO Ocean Literacy With All portal, Ocean Literacy Dialogues webinars, the Ocean Decade, IOC-UNESCO and Ocean Literacy Group of Experts, ocean literacy research information and more.

Ocean Literacy Handbook

A Handbook for Increasing Ocean Literacy: Tools for Educators and Ocean Literacy Advocates, developed by the National Marine Educators Association, with the support of NOAA, is now available to help educators and other ocean advocates teach, learn, and communicate about the ocean.
CT Sea Grant Education Coordinator Diana Payne is one of the editors of the book, along with Catherine Halversen, Lawrence Hall of Science, University of California, Berkeley (emerita); and Sarah Schoedinger, NOAA Office of Education.
The handbook provides a much needed resource comprising two highly regarded tools to use alongside Ocean Literacy: The Essential Principles and Fundamental Concepts for All Audiences (NOAA, 2020) to advance ocean literacy. It contains both Scope & Sequence and NGSS alignment; available online with screen reader capabilities or order hard copy via email to NOAA Outreach education@noaa.gov.

The handbook can be found here.

The Bridge

The Bridge is a growing collection of the best marine education resources available on-line. It provides educators with a convenient source of accurate and useful information on global, national, and regional marine science topics, and gives researchers a contact point for educational outreach. Resources are organized as indicated on the sidebar on the left side of the screen.

Summer internship opportunities for undergraduates and high school students

Find out about summer summer internship opportunities in marine and fisheries science for undergraduates and high school students on NOAA’s Student Opportunities page. Many application deadlines come up in February. A comprehensive list can be found at: https://www.noaa.gov/education/opportunities/student-opportunities.

Teaching about the World Ocean

World Ocean Day logo June 8 is World Ocean Day. The World Ocean Day website has information about getting involved as well as resources available for download.

A healthy world ocean is critical to our survival. Every year, World Ocean Day provides a unique opportunity to honor, help protect, and conserve the world’s ocean. The World Ocean is very important:

It generates most of the oxygen we breathe
It helps feed us
It regulates our climate
It cleans the water we drink
It offers a pharmacopoeia of medicines
It provides limitless inspiration

Long Island Sound Curricular Resource Guide

LIS Curricular Resource Guide - cover Funded by the EPA Long Island Sound Study and edited by Diana Payne, the 148-page guide is a resource for educators teaching about Long Island Sound. The Guide is divided into five sections: 1) background information about Long Island Sound (LIS), 2) LIS activities, 3) LIS lesson plans, 4) science lessons at a LIS field site, and 5) resources. The lesson plans and field site section were written by CT Sea Grant LIS Mentor Teachers, K-12 teachers who currently utilize LIS as a teaching tool in their curriculum. All lessons are aligned to the CT Science Frameworks, the NY Science Standards, the National Science Education Standards, and the Ocean Literacy Essential Principles and Fundamental Concepts.

Download free PDF copy here in 5 parts:

Seaweeds of Long Island Sound – 2nd edition

WINNER of APEX AWARD of EXCELLENCE
Peg Van Patten
104 page, 4-color, lavishly illustrated guide to the seaweeds of Long Island Sound. Topics include species identification and when, where, and how to collect and preserve specimens. Many habitat views and microscopic images are included with pages for individual species. 162 photographs. Funded by an education grant from U.S. EPA.

Publication Number CTSG-09-16
Single copies free to K-12 teachers (please request on school letterhead), others $5.00 plus $2.00 postage for single copies. For information on postage for bulk purchases, contact Caitlyn Briggs at: trz24001@uconn.edu.

Salt Marsh Plants of Long Island Sound

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WINNER of 2010 APEX AWARD of EXCELLENCE
R. Scott Warren, Juliana Barrett, and Margaret Van Patten

This 38-page guide provides an overview of salt marsh habitats in the Long Island Sound region, and includes 23 individual plant descriptions with color photos and line drawings. It has a centerfold depicting marsh habitats and the location of salt marsh plants within the marsh. Single copies are FREE to K-12 educators (write on letterhead); please include $2.00 postage per copy. for others, $5.00 per copy plus postage. Please make checks payable to Connecticut Sea Grant. Call 860-405-9128 for bulk orders, and we will estimate shipping charge.

Publication Number CTSG-09-14 and Arboretum Bulletin 40. Contact Caitlyn Briggs or download order form.

Sound Facts: Fun Facts about Long Island Sound Second Edition

By M. Van Patten, M. Moore and E. O’Muin

This fun and colorful 80-page soft-cover book offers infographic cartoons about our favorite estuary’s biology, geology, chemical and physical parameters, and environmental concerns. It’s a compilation of features developed as a collaboration between Connecticut Sea Grant and The Day newspaper. Reissued in 2009, this edition contains some new info-graphics such as moon jellies, starfish, and nitrogen in the Sound. It includes a math exercise to compute how much gold in found in the waters of the Sound. Price is $5.00 per copy plus postage/shipping. Contact Caitlyn Briggs to order. Publication Number CTSG-09-17.

The authors have given permission for a pdf of the booklet to be made available for download. It is available here.

Living Treasures and Tesoros Vivientes: the plants and animals of Long Island Sound

Las plantas y animales del Long Island Sound

By Lisa Wahle and Nancy Balcom
An updated version of Connecticut Sea Grant’s old favorite, Living Treasures: The Plants and Animals of Long Island Sound has beautiful line drawings and updated expanded text. Reading level: middle school. Also in Spanish translation: Tesoros Vivientes: Las plantas y animales del Long Island Sound. Single copies are FREE! Shipping charges apply for bulk orders. To receive a copy, contact: Caitlyn Briggs at: trz24001@uconn.edu

A downloadable pdf of Living Treasures can be accessed here.

A downloadable pdf of Tesoros Vivientes can be accessed here.

Slide presentations of Living Treasures and Tesoros Vivientes can be found here.

Teaching about Hurricane Sandy

The Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College has put together a very timely list of resources and links for teaching about coastal hazards such as SuperStorm Sandy: Click here.