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Educator on Board Program Outcomes

The Educator on Board program was delivered by the CSIRO Education and Outreach unit in collaboration with the Marine National Facility. The program ran from 2017 to 2019.

Educator on Board provided primary and secondary teachers with the opportunity to sail on board CSIRO’s state-of-the-art marine research vessel, the ‘RV Investigator’ for short voyages. Whilst on board, educators were able to:

  • assist scientists with marine research
  • enhance their STEM content knowledge
  • run outreach activities including live video broadcasts
  • develop curriculum linked resources to be trialed in their own classroom and be shared with other educators.

In 2019 alone, more than 800 students in Australia and overseas took part in lessons through live video broadcasts from educators on board the research vessel. The lessons were engaging and unique, ranging from a variety of topics related to the marine based research of the RV Investigator.

The experiences of the educators on board the RV investigator helped to strengthen their knowledge of the STEM content that they were teaching as well as the ability to create new and engaging ways of teaching that content to their students.

Educational resources based on the research experiences of Educator on Board alumni were also developed and provided a marine based context to support teaching and learning in schools.

To find out more about the educators’ experiences on board the RV Investigator and for more details on the lessons provided to students, read Educator on Board Updates and Educator on Board Alumni Stories. 

Christie Evans - Toxic Algae Outbreak

Emily Fewster - Alan the Argo Float

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- Real-life experiences
for teachers are important,

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as it brings context back to the class.

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Often, students find it hard
to see the real-life value

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in maybe what you're teaching at school,

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so being able to show how
it applies in the real world

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is a fantastic opportunity,

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both for myself, and for the students.

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- It's one thing to just
teach the curriculum,

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but actually to be able to
link that to an application,

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how scientists are using that currently,

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that's more meaningful for students,

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and that's what they're going to remember.

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- Educator on Board is a

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teacher professional
development opportunity

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for Australian STEM teachers,

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where we offer the
opportunity for teachers

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to sail onboard Australia's
blue-water research vessel,

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RV Investigator.

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- As soon as I'd read the
objectives of the voyage,

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it was like it was written for me,

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so I was pretty excited
to be a part of it.

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- So it's a really rough day today.

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- I thought it would be a great experience

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to be able to see how a vessel runs,

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and to be able to bring
that back to the class.

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- What kind of requirements,
or experiences,

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would you need to get on a boat like that?

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- It was really fantastic to
see the kind of things that

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the teachers wanted to know,

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and what it was that the
students wanted to know,

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about working at sea, and
marine science in general.

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So it was really great as a researcher,

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to see that that excitement,
and interest in marine science

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exists at a very early age.

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- So one of the really important things

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about the Investigator,
and the teacher on board,

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is that they get that chance to reconnect,

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be inspired, be reinvigorated,

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and catch up with what the
modern, current technology is,

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and what the current research is doing.

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- Participants get to
see, and participate in

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an amazing diversity of science,

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from witnessing and observing
seabirds, and marine mammals,

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through to hunting for shipwrecks
that have never been seen

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for the first time,

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through to collecting
sediment core samples,

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to look at toxic algal
blooms that have happened

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10 or 20 thousand years in the past.

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So, sailing on board the Investigator

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as part of this program,

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it exposes you to a really
diverse amount of science,

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and each voyage is different,
and each voyage is exciting.

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- When the CPR first went over the stern,

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so that's the Continuous
Plankton Recorder,

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was really exciting, and
then when we opened it up,

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and could see the zooplankton,
and the phytoplankton,

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on the silk, and the excitement
of the scientists face,

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that it's been successful,

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it was infectious,

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and so I too was really excited
about seeing that plankton

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sitting on the top of that silk.

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I've already organized someone to bring

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some dinoflagellate samples

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into the classroom, and show the students

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exactly what they found on this voyage.

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- It was amazing to see the
technology on board the vessel,

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from up on the bridge,

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with their dynamic positioning system.

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- It will give us past
track of the vessel.

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It's quite responsive,

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and it's quite a clever system,

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taking into account all our
winds and seas and swells.

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- And the view you get
from the bridge as well,

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of all the marine life
as we go, was fantastic.

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Provides me with a better understanding of

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how a research vessel runs,

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and being able to bring
that back to the students,

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and provide them with information,

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and all the career opportunities,

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whether they're interested in research,

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or interested in a position as crew

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aboard a vessel like the Investigator.

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- Educator on Board program,

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it's professional
development at it's best.

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It is really important
for the CSIRO to connect

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researchers and teachers.

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Investing in STEMs discipline
is really important

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because those are the disciplines

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that will underpin the jobs of the future.

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- I think I'm a better teacher,
having been on the program.

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I've made so many connections

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with the scientists on board,

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and I'll have those connections
for many years to come.

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- The Educator on Board program will be

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developing curriculum-linked resources,

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based on the science of the voyage,

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and the operations of Investigator,

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and those resources will be available

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through the CSIRO website,

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for all Australian teachers to use.

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- If there's any teacher out there

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that's thinking about
applying for this program,

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I would say, grab it with both hands,

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and jump in boots-and-all.

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It is just a unique experience,

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and certainly one that
I will never forget.


Find out about the Educator on Board experience from our past participants and see the impact the journey has had on their teaching and student outcomes.

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