Virginia Scientists and Educators Alliance (VA SEA) & Partners

Lesson plan materials with a cartoon turtle diagram

By supporting a network of interested graduate students, teachers, and informal educators, this transfer project has deepened the capacity of multiple NERRS and other coastal programs to bring real-world coastal science to K-12 classrooms.

The Project

Science education can be greatly improved by integrating authentic, current, and relevant scientific research into lesson plans. Research scientists are often the best sources of this research, but often lack the training to effectively communicate their science to a wide audience. To help bridge this knowledge gap, the Chesapeake Bay NERR (CBNERR) and the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) created the Virginia Scientists and Educators Alliance (VA SEA) in 2015, with funding from the Science Collaborative.

VA SEA is a network of interested graduate students, teachers, and informal educators aimed at translating scientific research into engaging, inquiry-based science lesson plans for K-12 classrooms. The VA SEA program supports graduate students in building a lesson plan based on their research. The success of VA SEA at CBNERR has garnered significant interest from other NERRS and Sea Grant institutions who stand to benefit from expanding their capacity to communicate and translate scientific research.

This project transferred the model for science translation used by VA SEA to two partners: Jacques Cousteau NERR and Florida Sea Grant (FLSG). Project partners had the opportunity to shadow VA SEA’s program to learn best practices for communicating research. Twenty three students attended multiple-component professional development workshops and one-on-one consultations with VIMS educators before developing their own research-based lesson plans. Students also received feedback from local classroom teachers on individual lesson plans and educational pedagogy. Through the successful transfer and implementation of the VA SEA’s approach to other programs, this project generated more than 20 locally relevant, classroom-tested science lesson plans. Partners’ reported increased knowledge, skills, and confidence in the VA SEA program template and process for training graduate students in K-12 lesson plan development.

The Impact

Facilitated the successful transfer of the program to partners, including the Jacques Cousteau National Estuarine Research Reserve and Florida Sea Grant.
Developed more than 20 new K-12 classroom-tested science lesson plans, with more than 1,600 downloads, that will help educators meet science education standards and increase K-12 student exposure to authentic scientific research.
Deepened graduate student understanding of educational pedagogy and strengthened science communication skills through professional development workshops and one-on-one consultations with VIMS educators, and feedback from classroom teachers.