Operation Pathfinder Home Site: http://www.aquarium.usm.edu/
Operation Pathfinder is a nationally recognized
inservice program for elementary and middle school
teachers of predominantly minority students. Part of the program involves the development of
curricular materials. It provides hands-on experiences in marine research and
empowers teachers to make these experiences relevant and exciting for their
students.
In 1993 Operation Pathfinder was sponsored by the
Office of the
Oceanographer of the Navy, in cooperation with the
University of
Southern Mississippi's Institute of Marine Sciences Gulf Coast Research
Laboratory/
J.L. Scott Marine Education Center and Aquarium and the
Mississippi Alabama Sea-Grant Consortium. From 1994 through the
summer of 1997, the partnership expanded to include the
National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA)
Office of Ocean and
Atmospheric Research, specifically the
National Sea Grant Program, and
National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service
(NESDIS), and the
National Ocean Sciences' (NOS) Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource
Management; the
U.S. Navy, represented by the
Office of the
Oceanographer of the Navy, the
Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command (NMOC), and the
Naval Research Laboratory (NRL); the
U.S.
Department of the Interiors
Office of Territorial and International Affairs; host, Institutions
of Higher Learning (universities and colleges) within the Sea Grant network;
and the
National Marine Educators Association (NMEA).
For over two decades, Sea Grant and its member institutions of higher
learning have been involved in teacher pre- and inservice programs,
curriculum development, and informal education for precollege students
and the general public. This partnership has provided equipment, ship time,
resources, materials, new technologies for teleconferencing and
satellite communications and speakers for the six geographic regions.
For five years, Operation Pathfinder has been instrumental in
"bridging the gap" between researchers and precollege teachers, students,
and, to some degree, the general public. Operation Pathfinder workshops
have shown that what researchers "do" in
their respective laboratories has relevance in the classroom.
To date, approximately 400 minority teachers or teachers of
minority students have been involved in Operation Pathfinder
institutes. Over a five-year period, these teachers have impacted or have the potential to
impact 300,000 students and approximately
10,000 fellow teachers through staff development programs.
To find out more about Operation Pathfinder, visit their home site at:
http://www.aquarium.usm.edu/
