FAQ
Washington on Water (WOW) is Web-based clearinghouse of links to K-12 marine education resources. Within WOW, users can search for education resources, recommend additional listings, and comment on the site’s usability and content.
Washington Sea Grant hopes WOW will make it easier for educators to augment their existing curricula and activities by enabling them to go to one place to find links to resources that will help integrate marine topics into the classroom.
Before you get started: Tips for using this search engine
What’s listed
WOW provides links to resources that have clear connections to Washington watersheds, without duplicating information on regional resource sites or national databases such as The Bridge. The few national sites listed (such as those from NOAA and other Sea Grant programs) contain information that pertains to Washington marine topics or offers marine education-related professional development or funding opportunities for Washington educators.
The database contains four search categories: Classroom Resources, Field Activities, Professional Development, and Funding Opportunities. Check subcategory boxes within each category to define more specific search results. For example, Classroom Resources contains these subcategories: Speakers, Teacher Resources, Web-based Resources and Careers. By scrolling over subcategories within each category, a description of that section’s contents will appear.
WOW content is updated monthly to ensure that information is correct, comprehensive and up-to-date. Users are encouraged to recommend marine education sites they find helpful.
How to search:
The four search categories are not linked to each other. However, categories are listed as keywords in search results. You can look at them to see if the organization offers opportunities outside the category under which you are searching. For example, if you are searching under Field Activities and an organization has Professional Development as one of its keywords, you’ll know that resource also offers PD opportunities.
In most cases WOW lists the most direct link to a resource. However, some links may go to an organization’s Web site rather than to individual resources within an organization. This will ensure that all information is current, especially on sites that might have changing curricula or activities.
Keywords
Because keywords are linked, Google style, by “and”, not “or,” search results will reflect all of the keywords you enter. Search by using one keyword or a short phrase, such as “marine mammals” or the title of an organization. For more results, simplify or reduce the number of your keywords.
Most keywords indicate the general or more commonly used category under which a topic would be found. For example, you would find information about various invertebrates under “invertebrates,” rather than under individual species. There are some exceptions: for example, because killer whales are totemic in Washington waters, you will find “orca” and “killer whales” as keywords.