In our latest paper, “Ocean outreach in Australia: How a national research facility is engaging with community to improve scientific literacy,” I teamed up with colleagues at Marine National Facility/CSIRO to talk about the importance of effective education in improving the value society places on the health of the world’s ocean. (Published with Frontiers In, the paper is entirely free to access and you can read it here).
The paper looks at both the at-sea and shore-based activities supported by Marine National Facility (including CAPSTAN, Indigenous Time at Sea, Educator on Board, Floating Classroom, ship-to-shore programming, and social media efforts) through the Australian lens. We know the ocean is essential to life on Earth, ocean hero Dr. Sylvia Earle eloquently described this dependency as “no blue, no green.” But, did you know Australia’s marine estate is the 3rd largest in the world? The economic benefit from that marine holding is estimated at $125 BILLION in the Australian economy by 2025 in the 2015 National Marine Science Plan. The same plan provided several recommendations for making the most of this so-called “Blue Economy” and securing its future. One of the key suggestions? “Develop marine science research training that is more quantitative, cross-disciplinary, and congruent with industry and government needs” – addressing a mismatch between postgraduate training and industry demand that few universities have attempted to fix.
But community outreach has to be effective to a wide variety of audiences. For that reason, we specifically look at the activities and how they meet the needs of one or more of three specific audiences (Purpose Seekers, Nurturers, and Lifelong Learners).
Purpose Seekers, as the name suggests, are an audience early in their career seeking a future they can be excited about. Typically between 13 and 34 years of age, these high school to early career scientists actually have comparatively simple information needs that are met by programs such as CAPSTAN, the Indigenous Time at Sea Scholarship, and ship-to-shore live crosses. The impact of these programs directed towards this cohort? Generally an increase in their confidence and enthusiasm to pursue STEM and improved understanding of career options across the marine sciences.
Nurturers are our young parents and teachers, the audience concerned for a future where their children and students can thrive. This group tends to have more complex informational needs that are addressed by the CSIRO Educator on Board and Floating Classroom programs. The educators run outreach activities and develop teaching resources that they later trial in their own classroom before sharing with educators across Australia, with the goal of providing a window into the real world applications of STEM.
The lifelong learners typically have the most complex information needs as they are the professionals and academics continually discovering new things through scientific enquiry. Ship open days, media coverage, and social media programming providing this audience (and others) to see the ship for themselves and stay up to date with accessible and engaging content.
The takeaway message? Publicly funded research facilities can and should play a key role in delivering training, education, and science communication that build skill capacity and increase the societal value placed on our global oceans.
Citation: Arthur B., Roberts D., Rae B., Marrison M., McCleary H., Abbott A., and Musso B. (2021) Ocean Outreach in Australia: How a National Research Facility is Engaging with Community to Improve Scientific Literacy. Frontiers in Environmental Science, doi 10.3389/fenvs.2021.610115
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