Enhancing the National Geographic Standards with Ocean Content

The National Geography Standards have been used to illustrate how ocean content can be linked to national education standards. This paper discusses the process used to identify important ocean content that, if taught in the classroom, would lead to an "ocean literate" society. It also summarizes the results of a 3-week long virtual conference of educators and ocean scientists seeking to define ocean literacy, critical k-12 ocean concepts and a "scope and sequence" in ocean education.