OceanLab. Protecting the Oceans: come to the lab with us!
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1
CIIMAR - Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research, Portugal
The Ocean, which covers over 70% of our planet, supports a huge diversity of life and ecosystems, regulates the climate, provides most of the oxygen we breathe and feeds a very significant portion of the human population. Its protection is therefore essential and a global priority, even more in a country like Portugal with an extensive coastline and a remarkable Exclusive Economic Zone. In this regard, in recent years Portugal has made a notable effort to increase Ocean literacy. The program "Conhecer o Oceano" 1 is a good example. In this program the principles of Ocean literacy have been adapted to the reality of Portuguese schools by Ciência Viva - National Agency for Scientific and Technological Culture in collaboration with CIIMAR, among other institutions. Nevertheless, and although crucial for its protection, integrated understanding of the influence of the Ocean on mankind and the influence of mankind on the Ocean is still rarely addressed in school curricula or in complementary activities offered to young people. Often the activities proposed only address specific subjects related to Ocean literacy, rather than an integrated approach to promote their thorough understanding and the making of rational decisions. It is therefore necessary to promote a comprehensive discussion of the essence and integrated knowledge of the Ocean in connection with the Marine Strategy Framework Directive and its Good Environmental Status descriptors.
In this regard a particular laboratory, the OceanLab 2 was created in CIIMAR, designed to receive young people, their teachers and families, leading them in a holistic approach to Ocean literacy through a program dedicated to carrying out a series of scientific hands-on activities. In this OceanLab, young people can put into practice, in a laboratory setting, experiences related to Ocean literacy principles, its integrated management and maintenance of Good Environmental Status. The youth access to OceanLab is done through visits of their schools, holiday activities for young people and/or Open Days organized for the general public.
The objectives of this project are to raise awareness and knowledge of young people and the general public on marine and environmental topics and integrated marine management, as well as to improve their ability to communicate on these topics by conducting experiments in advanced marine research context. These objectives will allow forming more able citizens to value the national and world heritage linked to the sea and make rational decisions on related matters.
OceanLab is based on the "CIIMAR at School" 3 project and the CIIMAR’s Science Blog 4 recently associated with this project. OceanLab benefits from “CIIMAR at School” implementation in the school community, and promotes the contribution of students with articles for CIIMAR’s Science Blog based on the experimental activities they conducted in OceanLab.
The experimental activities to be undertaken during the visits are directly related to current investigations held by the various CIIMAR groups and are associated with the: i) exploration and exploitation of bioactive compounds originating from marine organisms with antifouling action to prevent adsorption of organisms to hulls of ships; ii) identification and evaluation of diagnostic biomarkers and early evaluation of ecosystem quality for use in biomonitoring, to assess the Good Environmental Status, and integrated management of coastal and marine ecosystems; iii) chemical and biological changes related to the acidification of the ocean, iv) sustainable exploitation strategies of marine resources using the concept of integrated multi-trophic aquaculture, where the production of marine species from different trophic levels allows the use of waste from one species to be used as food for another species, limiting the discharge of effluents loaded with nutrients; and v) the identification of microorganisms with potential for degrading oil and compounds transported by sea with high risk of accidental spillage.
This presentation will introduce OceanLab as well as the results of specific questionnaires made after school visits. The questionnaires included questions made to assess the contribution of the experimental activities developed in OceanLab in raising the awareness of the interconnection with the Ocean, the need to its protection and the promotion of youth’s interest for careers related to Marine and Environmental Sciences areas.
1 – http://www.cienciaviva.pt/oceano/home/
2 - http://www.ciimar.up.pt/oCIIMARnaEscola/OCEANLAB.php
3 - http://www.ciimar.up.pt/oCIIMARnaEscola/
4 - https://ciimarnaescola.wordpress.com/
Acknowledgements
This research project (PT02_2ºRPS_0033) was partially supported by the EEA Grants through the Programme PT02 – "Gestão integrada das águas marinhas e costeiras" and the Strategic Funding UID/Multi/04423/2013 through national funds provided by FCT – Foundation for Science and Technology and European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), in the framework of the programme PT2020.
Keywords:
Ocean literacy,
Hands on activities,
Experimental Science activities,
Students and general public,
Marine and Environmental Sciences
Conference:
XIX Iberian Symposium on Marine Biology Studies, Porto, Portugal, 5 Sep - 9 Sep, 2016.
Presentation Type:
Oral Presentation
Topic:
5. ECOTOURISM, ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION AND SCIENCE OUTREACH
Citation:
Correia
MV,
Almeida
MR and
Guimarães
L
(2016). OceanLab. Protecting the Oceans: come to the lab with us!.
Front. Mar. Sci.
Conference Abstract:
XIX Iberian Symposium on Marine Biology Studies.
doi: 10.3389/conf.FMARS.2016.05.00002
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Received:
30 Apr 2016;
Published Online:
02 Sep 2016.
*
Correspondence:
Dr. Marta V Correia, CIIMAR - Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research, Porto, Portugal, mcorreia@ciimar.up.pt