Life Beyond Light: Chemosynthetic Communities of the Deep Ocean

Educators of grades 6-12 are invited to join a NOAA Ocean Exploration facilitator on March 15, 2025, at the National Aquarium Animal Care and Rescue Center for a full-day, in-person professional development workshop. Together we will explore hydrothermal vents and cold seeps, two deep-sea ecosystems with dense biological communities fueled by chemosynthesis.

This fun-filled workshop will include:

• A brief introduction to NOAA Ocean Exploration and how and why we explore the ocean.
• Several phenomena-based student investigations and hands-on activities that support science standards and classroom pedagogy to help students understand the fascinating process of chemosynthesis and the unique deep-sea ecosystems this process supports.
• Reflection and discussion with peer educators about how to implement these materials in the classroom.
• A guided tour of additional free, online ocean education resources available from NOAA Ocean Exploration and the Deep Ocean Education Project website.

Registration is required and space is limited. Registered educators will receive a collection of resources to continue exploring chemosynthesis, hydrothermal vents and cold seeps in their classrooms that includes student investigations, videos, fact sheets and more. Additionally, educators that attend the full day, in-person workshop will receive a NOAA Ocean Exploration Certificate of Participation and a $100 stipend.

Completion of this registration form will:

1. Opt you into the NOAA Ocean Exploration Education Newsletter, which offers information about education-related activities, resources and upcoming events.
2. Provide consent to NOAA Ocean Exploration to use, reproduce, edit and/or broadcast any and all photographs, video recordings and audio recordings of you taken during activities funded or supported by NOAA. Please see the NOAA Privacy Act Statement.

This NOAA Ocean Exploration professional development for educators is offered in partnership with the National Aquarium and the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation.

PRA Burden Statement

A Federal agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, nor shall a person be subject to a penalty for failure to comply with an information collection subject to the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 unless the information collection has a currently valid OMB Control Number. The approved OMB Control Number for this information collection is 0690-0038. Without this approval, we could not conduct this survey. Public reporting for this information collection is estimated to be approximately 15 minutes per response, including the time for reviewing instructions and completing and reviewing the information collection. All responses to this information collection are voluntary. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this information collection, including suggestions for reducing this burden to NOAA Ocean Exploration Education Team Lead: Liz Hoadley, [email protected].

Privacy Act Statement

OMB Control No. 0690-0038; Expiration Date: 07/31/2026

Authority: The collection of this information is authorized under 5 U.S.C. § 301, Departmental regulations which authorizes the operations of an executive agency, including the creation, custodianship, maintenance and distribution of records, and 15 U.S.C. 1512, Powers and duties of the Department.

Purpose: NOAA collects limited information, such as name, address, phone number, or email address for a variety of purposes. This information will be used to respond to user inquiries or provide services requested by the user or for registration to a NOAA program or event.

Routine Uses: Disclosure of this information is permitted under the Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. Section 552a) to be shared among Department staff for work-related purposes. Disclosure of this information is also subject to all of the published routine uses as identified in the Privacy Act System of Records Notice COMMERCE/NOAA-11, Contact Information for Members of the Public Requesting or Providing Information Related to NOAA’s Mission, and COMMERCE/DEPT-23, Information Collected Electronically in Connection with Department of Commerce Activities, Events, and Programs.

Disclosure: Furnishing this information is voluntary. Failure to provide this information may prevent you from being registered for a NOAA program or event. By providing this information, you are consenting to the use of that information only for the purpose for which it is submitted.

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