SOCIB participates as Keynote Speaker in the 2nd Ocean Observers marine science education workshop

From November 29 to December 1, the Balearic Islands Coastal Observing and Forecasting System (SOCIB) has actively participated in the 2nd Ocean Observers workshop by giving a keynote presentation on its recognized experience in ocean observing educational activities over the last ten years, promoting marine education and public engagement by carrying out a variety of activities involving a total of 289,139 participants and designing more than 70 ocean literacy teaching resources. Furthermore, this 3-day online, interactive event, organised by the international Ocean Observers Working Group in which SOCIB is a member, has involved SOCIB participation in data visualization tools demonstrations and hands-on experiments engaging new schools, educators, scientists, NGOs, citizens, etc. Overall, SOCIB has contributed to promoting collaboration between all actors and helping them to properly disseminate scientific knowledge about the ocean.

SOCIB participates as Keynote Speaker in the 2nd Ocean Observers marine science education workshop

About 70 ocean scientists, including SOCIB researchers and technicians, teachers, and other representatives of the educational community, marine communicators, and citizens from 22 countries involved in ocean observing educational activities have joined the 2nd Ocean Observers workshop to share experience and resources. As part of the programme, on November 29, Albert Miralles, Glider technician at SOCIB, has participated in Session #2 on “How does the ocean regulate our climate?” holding a demonstration about SOCIB’s “Follow the Glider” visualization tool. “Follow the Glider” is a web-based educational tool aimed at secondary school teachers and students to find out what underwater robots are and raise awareness of their importance for ocean research and conservation.

Furthermore, on December 1, Joaquin Tintoré, director of SOCIB, has joined Session #5 on “Instruments and technology” as a keynote speaker and moderator. During his keynote presentation, Tintoré has introduced SOCIB’s new ocean observing and forecasting capabilities and how those are explained in a classroom. “Ocean observatories are key infrastructures for research and integrated ocean and coastal management in support of sustainability goals. However, they are still largely unknown by society. In this context, enhanced communication and outreach initiatives are needed for engaging society, and especially the educational community and new generations. Considering this, formal learning is possibly one of the best ways to disseminate knowledge, new technologies, and the work of institutions devoted to R&D&I,” Tintoré has highlighted as part of his speech.

In addition, Lara Díaz and Irene Lizarán, Lagrangian Platforms technicians at SOCIB, have showcased the hands-on experiment videos “Is the sea getting saltier?” (Session #1) and “Building a glider” (Session #5) for kids to learn about ocean salinity and discover how to build a simple underwater glider and the physics behind them.

The workshop has been organised in the framework of the Ocean Observers initiative born in 2017 with the 1st Ocean Observers workshop, and the Euro-Argo RISE H2020 European Union project, as part of the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development.

More information