As part of its outreach and science dissemination activities, the Millennium Institute of Oceanography (IMO) is continuing to run a series of workshops intended to broaden and update the knowledge of science teachers (especially in connection with marine sciences), and to give them teaching resources they can easily implement in their classrooms, thus strengthening knowledge about the oceans through small practical experiments.

The Workshop on Oceanic Culture and Marine Sciences for teachers has already been conducted twice with great success and a positive evaluation by the participants: on December 12 in Coihueco and on December 28 in Penco. Maria Cristina Valdebenito Frederiksen, coordinator of the communal science network at the Penco Academic Affairs Unit of the Municipality, praised the activity. “The workshops were very well planned, including talks along with field- and lab work, which kept teachers motivated and interested in the activity, mostly because they wanted to incorporate easy practical examples into the content of the school curriculum. On the whole, it provided up-to-date and relevant information as well as a good teaching methodology”, she said.

Considering the positive outcome and the rising demand for the workshops among educational institutions in the region, Barbara Léniz, IMO’s Outreach deputy director, is willing to continue participating in such activities in the future. “One of our main goals is to increase the number and diversity of workshops in order to make them more specific and discuss the topics in greater depth. It’s also important to conduct them regularly, so that teachers can choose the workshops they consider to be most useful for their needs”, she said.

As can be seen, by organizing these workshops IMO provides the teaching community with valuable educational tools to benefit the greatest number of teachers and students in the Biobío Region in both the short and long term.