Education

Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium's (MASGC’s) Education Team is a distributed network with educational activities taking place at the Mobile County Public Schools Environmental Studies Center (ESC), The University of Southern Mississippi Gulf Coast Research Lab's Marine Education Center (MEC) and the Dauphin Island Sea Lab's Discovery Hall Programs (DHP). MASGC's university-based research projects also support undergraduate and graduate students in fields related to coastal resources. Reaching outside of universities, MASGC offers tailored professional development workshops that bring up-to-date information to people who express a need for it.  

K-12 educators receive the best available research on environmental education through MASGC programs. This information sharpens teaching skills and ensures that educators are bringing the latest scientific information into their classrooms. Through field-based, vessel-based and other environmental education programs, MASGC engages students, teachers and the public to improve their performance, promote action and instill stewardship. 

Sea Grant supports three education centers

The ESC is located in Mobile, Alabama, and is supported by the Mobile County Public School System, one of the largest school districts in the state. It offers a variety of upland environments for hands-on learning and primarily serves K-12 students and teachers of Mobile County.

The MEC is in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, located in a forested upland adjacent to bayhead, saltmarsh and bayou habitats. It is supported by The University of Southern Mississippi and serves K-12 students, formal and informal educators and coastal communities in Mississippi.

DHP is a part of the Dauphin Island Sea Lab and serves K-12 students, formal and informal educators and the public in Alabama. The Sea Lab is located on Dauphin Island, a barrier island on Alabama’s southern coast, and offers easy access to a variety of coastal habitats including coastal wetlands, sandy beaches, maritime forests and the estuarine environments of Mobile Bay and Mississippi Sound as well as coastal Gulf of America. The Sea Lab is also home to the Alabama Aquarium, which features deltaic, estuarine and coastal ecosystems of the Gulf of America providing the public with opportunities for self-directed learning. 

Centers offer informal, formal programs

All three informal learning centers believe strongly in the value of placed-based environmental education and in education as a step on the path to environmental literacy, the ability to make informed and sound decisions regarding the environment. Each center offers a variety of formal and informal programs that immerse participants in the field and allow them to experience, explore and investigate phenomena, living organisms and ecosystems.

Formal education programs at each center are tied to each state’s learning standards, as well as Ocean Literacy and Climate Literacy Principles, but also bring emerging research and new tools to audiences bridging the gap between discovery and the classroom.

Informal programs, such as summer camps and excursions offer active and fun opportunities for engaging learners of all ages. Student-focused competitions, such as science fairs, Ocean Science Bowl events or underwater robot competitions allow students opportunities for a deeper exploration of STEM fields and possible careers.

Specific curriculum-based activities and internships at MEC and DHP offer additional workforce development and career training activities for high school and college students. In addition to on-site programs, the centers offer off-site programs, such as DHP’s BayMobile program or MEC’s Scientists in the Classroom program, providing learning experiences for audiences who are unable to visit centers in person.

Centers also offer professional development opportunities for all educators through on-site single or multi-day field experiences, virtual workshops and curriculum trainings. The centers also offer a variety of virtual learning programs for students and teachers.    

MASGC also offers fellowships and internships

MASGC offers fellowships through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

The John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship matches highly qualified graduate students with legislative and executive government offices in the Washington, D.C. area, for a one-year, paid fellowship.

The NOAA Fisheries/Sea Grant Fellowship Program offers Ph.D. candidates interested in the population dynamics of living marine resources and in marine resource economics the opportunity for real-world work experience.

MASGC supports or assists its partners in publicizing a number of internship opportunities for undergraduate or graduate students in research and environmental education. Individual partners may also offer opportunities for research, education or communications internship experiences. If you are interested in these, please contact the partners directly.

MASGC has been and continues to be a strong supporter of the Hurricane Bowl, the Gulf of America regional competition for the National Ocean Sciences Bowl. In this annual event, Mississippi and Alabama high school students test their knowledge of ocean sciences in a rapid-paced question and answer format.

Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant also offers technical support to high-school aquascience programs that focus on biology, math and business.