Ocean 2YC: Expanding a Community of Oceanography Two Year College Instructors

将支持22名社区大学海洋学教员参加美国湖泊和海洋学学会(ASLO)、海洋学会(TOS)和美国地球物理联合会(AGU)海洋学分会2014年联合会议的讲习班和会议。研讨会将侧重于在两年制学院(2YC)教授海洋科学，会议是一年两次的联合会议，汇集了国内和国际海洋科学界的大部分人。社区学院是我们教育体系的重要组成部分，为几乎一半(或约820万)美国本科生提供服务(国家科学基金会，2012)。此外，这些方案服务于很大一部分少数族裔学生，社区大学入学的学生中有32%是少数族裔，61%是女性(美国社区学院协会，2012年)。然而，社区学院的教职员工很少能够获得专业发展资金，以便参加全国会议并进行关键互动，从而获得更高质量的教学(Geo2YC研讨会，2010年)。社区大学海洋学教师在课堂上面临着一些令人震惊的挑战，包括无法接触到当前的科学研究，缺乏设备，以及学生在一个课程部分的兴趣和能力范围极大。为了鼓励2YC的海洋科学教学和发展2YC教职员工与海洋科学家之间的联系，会议前将举办海洋学教学工作坊，会议期间将举行“21世纪的本科生海洋科学教育：成功实践探索”会议。这一努力还有助于发展将利用海洋观测倡议数据的教育界。

Twenty two community college oceanography faculty will be supported to attend a workshop and participate in a session at a 2014 joint conference of the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO), The Oceanography Society (TOS) and the Oceans Section of the American Geophysical Union (AGU). The workshop will focus on teaching ocean sciences at Two Year Colleges (2YC) and the conference is a bi-annual, joint meeting that brings together a large percentage of the national and international oceanographic science community. Community colleges are a critical part of our educational system, and serve almost half (or approximately 8.2 million) of all U.S. undergraduate students (National Science Foundation, 2012). Further, these programs serve a substantial portion of minority students, with 32% of students enrolled in community colleges being an ethnic minority and 61% being female (American Association of Community Colleges, 2012). Yet, community college faculties rarely have access to professional development funds that allow for national conference attendance and the critical interactions that lead to higher quality instruction (Geo2YC Workshop, 2010). Community college oceanography faculty face some startling challenges in their classrooms, including lack of access to current scientific research, lack of equipment, and an extremely large range in student interest and abilities in one course section. In order to encourage teaching of ocean sciences at 2YC and the development of connections between 2YC faculty and ocean scientists, a workshop on teaching oceanography will be held prior to the conference and a session on "Undergraduate ocean science education in the 21st century: an exploration of successful practices" will be held during the conference. This effort also contributes to the development of educational communities that will make use of Ocean Observing Initiative data.