What a magnificent opportunity for ocean sciences education! Or so it seemed. It came with the findings reported by the National Center for Education Statistics in 1999 by William J. Hussar (NCES 1999026) that approximately 2 million additional K–12 teachers would be needed in the U.S. by 2008–09. Some of these additional teachers would replace retiring teachers and some would be needed for increasing student enrollments. The magnificent opportunity arose when this need was viewed against the background of the National Science Education Standards of 1996, which had assigned earth science the same educational value as the life sciences and physical sciences. The need for teachers to teach earth science, including oceanography, therefore, would be greater than ever. And the number of science teachers had already been increasing. In fact, between 1990 and 1998 the number of teachers increased more in the earth sciences than in physics, chemistry, or biology. But who are these teachers?

McManus, D.A. 2002. In the oceanography classroom: Who will teach our children about the ocean? Oceanography 15(2):98–99, https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2002.28.

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