The Gulf Literacy Project needs your input! We are asking Gulf of America educators, Gulf scientists, Gulf residents and people who care about the Gulf to complete a survey to help develop a set of fundamental concepts about the Gulf to share with students, Gulf residents and Gulf visitors.
Please donate 15 minutes to take this survey and share the images and stories that come to mind when you think of the Gulf.
What do you like about the Gulf? What aspects of the Gulf are you curious about? When visitors come, what aspects of the Gulf do you share with them? What should everyone know about the Gulf? How do we, its residents, convey the importance of the Gulf, share its beauty and instill a sense of curiosity about the Gulf in others?
Help us share the story of the Gulf with the nation and beyond.
My journey to U.S. waters
I have been fortunate to live for a time on all four (perhaps five) U.S. coasts.
I spent my elementary years on the barrier islands of North Carolina playing with coquina clams and exploring the marshes on the sound side of the islands. My Dad did a sabbatical at the University of Hawai’i for a year or so, and I learned to snorkel in Hanauma Bay. In middle school, my family moved to Chicago, and I spent many, many hours at the Shedd Aquarium. There, I took my first hands-on field trip to the shores of Lake Michigan, and one summer I took a class at the Shedd that involved living on a boat and snorkeling the Florida Keys.
Once out of college (in land-locked Ohio), I moved west and completed a master’s degree in oceanography at Oregon State University. I lived along Yaquina Bay and learned the intricacies of the rocky intertidal ecosystem from my mentors.
From there, I moved back east to study at Louisiana State University doing research in the Atchafalaya Bay system and on the continental shelf. Finding a post-doctoral appointment at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab, I finally stayed put making my home along the barrier islands and marshes of the Gulf Coast for the almost four decades now.
I enjoy the weather (well perhaps excepting August and hurricane season), I love the water temperature (swimmable for most of the year), I appreciate the pace of life (it sure isn’t Chicago) and I find many aspects of Southern culture delightful. Did I forget to mention Gulf seafood?
The Ocean Literacy campaign
The Ocean Literacy campaign was developed in the United States in the early 2000s to address the lack of ocean-related content in state and national science education standards.
What resulted was the Essential Principles, a framework of seven broad statements and 45 supporting Fundamental Concepts. This framework has influenced education activities including formal education curricula, as well as themes and messaging for non-formal education and outreach. Over its evolution, the Ocean Literacy campaign has broadened to encompass the lack of understanding of the importance of the ocean in people's lives. An ocean literate person, be it a student or adult, understands their influence on the ocean and the ocean’s influence on them.
The success of the Ocean Literacy model has led to the development of topical area literacies, including Cli-mate Literacy, Energy Literacy, Earth Science Literacy and others. This literacy approach has also led to the development of regional literacies, those focused on a specific body of water such as Great Lakes Literacy, Mediterranean Sea Literacy or Bay of Bengal Literacy.
Note that a Gulf of America literacy was not mentioned.
Gulf Literacy Project
Many in our nation do not understand or recognize the uniqueness of the Gulf and the multitude of benefits it provides to both its residents and the nation as a whole.
The goal of the Gulf Literacy Project is to bring awareness and understanding of the vital role that the Gulf plays in all our lives. With initial funding from Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant and continued funding from the Gulf of America Alliance, the Gulf Literacy Project aims to develop a framework of fundamental concepts analogous to the Ocean Literacy framework, but regionally specific for the Gulf. It is critical that these concepts reflect what people value and consider important to know about the Gulf.
Please share your opinion of the value of different areas of knowledge to education and messaging about the Gulf. And thank you!
Meet the author
Tina Miller-Way, Ph.D.
Assistant Director for Education
Tina Miller-Way serves as the assistant director for education for the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium (MASGC) and is a former chair of the national Sea Grant Education Network. She has... Read more
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