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UnderSea 2040:
Interdisciplinary and Collaborative Pedagogy

SGET 61801; Masters of Science in Educational Technology Program

Images from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Photo Library
(Check out http://www.photolib.noaa.gov/lb_images/nurp/nur03015.htm)

Undersea 2040 Course Information   |   Undersea Suggested SF Texts  |   Undersea 2040 Exhibition Day   |Undersea Guidelines  | Undersea Links

Especially helpful web links for science and math

"None of us knows the final outcome of any action, the endless chain of ripples that we start with every movement.  We walk in the world blindly, crashing into unidentified objects and tripping over rough edges.  We human beings are too big for our spaces and too powerful for our understanding.  What I do today will wash up somewhere far beyond my ability to know about it."

Betsy Hilbert, "Disturbing the Universe."  (Being in the World, 232)

"What we know is a drop.
What we don't know is an ocean."  Isaac Newton

Meets:  Saturdays 1-5 p.m.: Feb. 3, Feb. 17, Mar. 3, Mar. 17, Mar. 31, Apr. 21, May 5.  Set up for Undersea 2040 Exhibit Day will take place from 5p.m. to ? on Friday evening, May 18, 2001.  Undersea 2040 Exhibit Day will run from 9a.m. - 3 p.m. on May 19, 2001.  Participants are expected to be present from 8 a.m. for final preparations and from 3-4 for breakdown/clean-up of the exhibit.  Exhibit Day Announcement

Course Description/Short form:

UnderSea 2040 is a 4-credit SGET (Master's of Science in Educational Technology) elective course focused on fostering a science pedagogy for
K-12 which is creative and interdisciplinary and collaborative (both as part of the UnderSea 2040 consortium through Ramapo and as linked with several oceanography and marine sciences national initiatives). Participants will design and lead an UnderSea 2040 project with the K-12 class that they teach.  The teachers will meet on a biweekly basis from February through May with the professors and with other participants to gather information on marine sciences, science fiction texts, etc., to share resources, and report on progress. Participants will make use of web resources (including RamaMOO) and will submit regular progress reports and a final summative report on the project as part of the course requirement. The final report will accompany the formal exhibition/performance of the class project at the UnderSea Exhibit Day on May 19, 2001.

Required Undersea Science Fiction Texts:
Howard Weinstein, Deep Domain (a Star Trek: Original Series Novel, #33)  (Read for Feb. 17)
Madeline L'Engle A Ring of Endless Light  (Read for Mar. 3)
Peter Dickinson, A Bone from a Dry Sea  (Read for Mar. 17)
Gloria Skurzynski and Alane Ferguson, Deadly Waters  (Read for Mar. 17)
Karen Hesse, Music of Dolphins  (Read for Mar. 31)
Monica Hughes, The Golden Aquarians (Read for Mar. 31)
Alison Sinclair, Blueheart  (Read for May 5)  Note:  Alison Sinclair's personal website on Blueheart:  http://www.sff.net/people/asinclair/wriblue.html and her overal website at Abbotsford:  http://www.sff.net/people/asinclair/
NOTE:  Alison Sinclair will be our Keynote speaker at Exhibit Day on May 19, 2001 in the Sharp Theater at the Berrie Center at 10 a.m.

Course Description/Extended form:

UnderSea 2040 is a 4-credit SGET (Master's of Science in Educational Technology) elective course focused on fostering a science pedagogy for
K-12 which is creative and interdisciplinary (drawing on science, history, science fiction, art, political science, etc.) as well as collaborative through teamwork between teachers at the same school and with other schools (both as part of the UnderSea 2040 consortium through Ramapo and as linked with several oceanography and marine sciences national initiatives). Participants will design and lead an UnderSea 2040 project with the K-12 class that they teach and will meet on a biweekly basis from February through May with the professors and with other participants to gather information on marine sciences, science fiction texts, etc., to share resources, and report on progress. Participants will make use of web resources (including RamaMOO) and will submit regular progress reports and a final summative report on the project as part of the course requirement. The final report will accompany the formal exhibition/performance of the class project at the UnderSea Exhibit Day in May.  Part of the goal of such a pedagogy is to bring into play a variety of learning styles and resources to enable all students (including those who have felt alienated from or uneasy with scientific and technical learning) to become excited about and to learn about science, math, marine sciences, etc. using the ocean and an envisioned future undersea community as the central focus.

Note: UnderSea Consortium: You could work individually with your class; pair or group several classes in your school; work as an
interdisciplinary team with the same class; pair a group with another teacher from another school, etc. Just let me know which approach
you see yourself taking with this. The project would proceed in several steps. Teachers can sign up to be a part of the Undersea 2040
Consortium through arrangements made by the school district with Angela Cristini (684-7724) or by registering for the Undersea 2040
course at Ramapo (MET 617). Click here to link to the Web for Student Registration at Ramapo College
http://www.ramapo.edu/register/index.html.

Participants will meet  to share the project design with others in the program and gather additional suggestions and refinements, to learn more about the ocean and the underea environment, to learn/refresh skills in RamaMOO, an interactive multi user simulated environment that teachers may use with their classes to assist in the project of envisioning an UnderSea 2040 community, and to discuss the associated science fiction texts.
A brief written proposal for the class project will be created by each participant and will serve as the outline for the semester's work both with the Undersea 2040 class and with the class that the participant teaches. Participants will meet approximately every two weeks on Saturday afternoons to share progress reports, provide feedback for each other,and gather more information both from the class discussion and from the rich web resources available. A journal entry describing the steps taken to date and the progress of the project will be submitted each month (every other class). The semester will culminate in a full-day UnderSea Exhibition event at Ramapo on May 19, 2001 where the K-12 classes will exhibit, present, or perform the projects they have completed during the spring. Teachers will submit at that time a final written report on the project that their class has completed, accompanied by visual documentation (photos, copies of written products, a videotape, etc.).

Undersea guidelines  |
Exhibit Day Information  |
Undersea Links

Research Topics:
Physical Ocean:  Geology -- Volcanoes, Ocean Floor, Mapping, Smokers, Quakes
Physics:  Waves, currents, etc.
Chemistry:  Seawater composition, pollutants, oil spills, chemical dumping, nuclear waste, etc.
Zoology:  Marine animals (focus on particular habitats such as intertidal or deep ocean, etc.)
Botany:  Marine plants, Kelp Forests, Undersea Farming
Human impact:  Overfishing, species mutilation (e.g. shark fin hunting), mineral mining, harnessing ocean as energy source, desalination, etc.
Global Warming, Ocean temperatures
Storms, tsunamis, etc.
Special features:  Coral Reefs, Marianas Trench, Gulf Stream, Sargasso Sea, Whirlpools,
Shores, beaches, marshes
Other ideas.