[G05-P11] School Visit Program on Marine Science under The Oceanographic Society of Japan
Keywords:School visit, Marine Science, The Oceanographic Society of Japan
The oceans play key roles in establishing rich earth environment by providing mild habitable climate and high diversity of marine ecosystems. However, the scientific roles of the oceans are not fully understood among the general public including young students. In order to enhance the understanding of oceanic roles in the earth environment and human society, The Oceanographic Society of Japan (JOS) has initiated a voluntary school visit program on marine science for primary, junior high and high school students since 2016. Until now, 42 researchers have registered as lecturers of the school visit program and 13 school visits have been successfully completed. Based on the interests of lecture topics, the applicants can select one lecturer from the member list in the JOS website and contact him/her through the program committee to organize the school visit at their own school. Under this program, the applicants basically owe all the travel expenses of the school visit. Statistics show that one half of the applicants directly indicates the lecturers, while the other half is informed by the lecturers of existence of the program to organize the school visits. Several reports by the lecturers who made school visits suggest the importance of mutual communication between the applicants and the lecturers before the school visits and the significance of establishing a strong network with existing school visit programs organized by the other universities and institutes. Although the number of applications for the school visit program is very limited, further efforts on promoting this program in the relevant research communities and schools are indispensable. This presentation aims to provide an opportunity for sharing the past school visit activities among the participants to consider future school visits on marine science.