Ocean Literacy Principles and low-cost hands-on science experiments for kids from kindergarten to highschool

In 2021, the United Nations launched their Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030), The ‘Ocean Decade’, provides a convening framework for a wide range of stakeholders across the world to engage and collaborate outside their traditional communities to trigger nothing less than a revolution in ocean science. A key tool in achieving the goals set out by the Ocean Decade is Ocean Literacy, a concept that has been developed by UNESCO as 7 key principles for understanding the ocean. The National Marine Electronics Association (NMEA) has worked to develop a teaching guideline for taking these 7 principles to students at 4 different grade levels: K-2, 3-5, 6-8 and 9-12. However, educational material specifically connected to each Ocean Principle and grade level is still hard to find. As a small island state, Ocean Literacy is of key importance for Aruba. However, after sitting down with different teachers we found that it was not yet an element within the local curriculum. To work towards this issue, Metabolic Foundation has turned NMEA's guidelines and a set of open access educational Canva templates from World Ocean Day to develop a series of 28 educational booklets, one for each grade level and ocean principle, adjusted to the Aruban context. We are currently in the process of testing the activities with kids, and the next step is to translate the booklets from English to Dutch and Papiamento.

Citation

Mettes, C. (May 2025). Ocean Literacy Principles and low-cost hands-on science experiments for kids from kindergarten to highschool. [Conference presentation]. ICMS 2025 From island to the global oceans. University of Aruba.

Journal / Book / Conference

ICMS 2025 From island to the global oceans

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14473/1757