Coast & Marine Education Framework

• The Project
• About the Framework
• Essential Learnings
• Sustainability Outcomes
• How to Navigate the Framework
• Key Resources
• Non-Internet Resources

To view some documents below, you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader, freely available from Adobe. (Click on the graphic on the right).

The Project

(Photo: A Eaton, Coasts and Marine Branch)

The purpose of this project is to assist educators to identify what resources, activities and contacts that are available to them within a structure that satisfies their curriculum requirements. It provides educators with a framework to facilitate coast and marine education.

The project aims to engage educators who may not have delved into the coast and marine theme before by providing easily accessible resources, activities and contacts, while demonstrating curriculum and environmental relevance.

About the Framework

The modern curriculum environment requires a different kind of engagement from the one that many of us may be familiar with. For environmental education there is no one path that all educators can follow, no one text book that can be utilised that provides all of the answers. Every time a student is challenged by new topics in any Learning Area, they bring a range of experience and skills that partly determine what they will take away from the learning experience. In a world awash with information, the educator manages the learning process, providing meaningful experiences, catering for diverse needs and facilitating access to information appropriate for each learner. They need to make professional decisions about how learners best engage in an education process and make choices about what to teach in a rapidly changing world.

To assist educators in coast and marine education DEH provides a framework, or map, that allows for multiple paths of learning within the modern curriculum environment. The structure of this framework revolves around core learning outcomes that are called Sustainability Outcomes.

The framework comprises five main Sustainability Outcomes that are linked to the Essential Learnings in the SACSA Framework. Essential Learnings are central to the SACSA Framework as they guide the development of skills, knowledge and dispositions throughout students' school years and during their lives. The Sustainability Outcomes represent the main areas of priority identified by a range of people from a diversity of backgrounds who are involved in coast and marine education.

The Sustainability Outcomes are:

1. (Photo: A Eaton, Coasts and Marine Branch)

   Students develop understandings of coast and marine catchment connections.
2. Students develop understandings of how coast and marine ecological and physical systems function.
3. Students develop understandings of how human interactions impact on coast and marine environments.
4. Students develop understandings of how society is tackling problems associated with coast and marine problems.
5. Students develop understandings of how values and actions taken by individuals can bring about positive change to coast and marine environments.

Within each of the Sustainability Outcomes a number of topics direct educators to important international, national and local resources available to them on the internet and through local organisations. Each resource referred to comes with a brief comment about the content, and a star rating to indicate the level of complexity of the information. Classroom and outdoor activities that support the themes are also provided and are grouped into relevant age group categories (Early, Primary, Middle and Senior Years). Additional information is provided so that the educator can contact relevant people and organisations for assistance.

The resource will be available in electronic form with links to two similar resources based on Inland Waters ('Water, Learning and Living') and Biodiversity (Catchment Care), funded primarily by the Catchment Water Management Boards.

Essential Learnings

(Photo: A Eaton, Coasts and Marine Branch)

Essential Learnings form an integral part of children's and students' learning from birth to year 12 and beyond. They are resources which are drawn upon throughout life and enable people to productively engage with changing times as thoughtful, active, responsive and committed local, national and global citizens.

SACSA 2001

The attached table (50Kb PDF) gives brief descriptions of the five Essential Learnings, and shows how coast and marine education can be a tool for educators to develop the Essential Learnings with their students.

Sustainability Outcomes

The Sustainability Outcomes were developed by a group of people central to coast and marine education in South Australia. This group included teachers from schools that have a focus on coast and marine studies, government representatives, community group representatives and project managers.

How to Navigate the Framework

The framework is divided into five Sustainability Outcomes that provide a guide to what learnings can be developed in the school age years. A range of topics are listed to support each Sustainability Outcome.

Each topic has associated main ideas which help identify important directions that can be taken by learners. Topics are attached to tables that contain links to web based resources and activities. This is to assist the educator in understanding the topic and developing Sustainability Outcomes.

The Topic Hub provides a central navigation point from which all of the tables can be accessed.

How the tables work:

The Sustainability Outcomes are in no particular order and do not need to be approached in a linear fashion.

(Photo: A Eaton, Coasts and Marine Branch)

Key Resources

Although the framework has many resources and activity links, there are some that come highly recommended, especially as a starting point. To get the resources that are not available over the net, contact the person/organisation referred to in the key resources listing (50Kb PDF) and they can assist you in getting a copy.

Non-Internet Resources

Comprehensive list of non-internet resources (50Kb PDF).