Today@Dal

Earlier this year, SuperNOVA at Dalhousie University was awarded NSERC PromoScience funding to launch our new Sea to School program, delivering sustainable, high impact ocean curriculum to 40 classes from 10 schools over the next three years. The program will inspire students by demonstrating that ocean sciences are multidisciplinary and involve activities that incorporate engineering, chemistry, physics, social sciences, the environment, globalization and industrial perspectives.  

Still in the program’s development stages, two Sea to School program coordinators are working to build partnerships with schools - 25% of which will be First Nations schools - to deliver the Sea to School program in collaboration with teachers and educational leaders. The L’nu Sipuk Kina’muokuom (LSK) school​ in Sipekne’katik First Nation has already committed to hosting SuperNOVA’s Sea to School program in Fall 2020 and additional schools will be selected based on assessment of a school’s need for support, as indicated in their application to the program. Currently, Sea to School Program Coordinators are collaborating with Grade 4-6 teachers from selected schools to develop educational lessons and resources for students, and delivering pilot workshop programs to 3,500 students.

The Sea to School program will take particular care to not only tie lessons to science learning outcomes, such as how light travels in water, but also extend into other areas of the curriculum including language arts, mathematics and social studies. Collaborations with formal educators, community leaders and STEM advocates has been a cornerstone of SuperNOVA’s youth programming and the Sea to School program will continue to build upon these relationships. Sea to School will encourage teachers to align ocean literacy principles with their current curriculum and provide ocean programming resources and support to teachers outside of the 10 selected schools via our website and by email​ communication. Through these channels, teachers will be able to access SuperNOVA’s support for the delivery of these programs in their own classrooms.