Literacies.net
Draft for review · items marked to confirm need a date or detail from Peter
literacies.net

The College of Exploration · 2000 to today

Literacies
from the ocean to the body

In 2000 the College of Exploration began running online workshops for teachers with the National Geographic Society. Within five years that work had helped define Ocean Literacy. The same way of working has since shaped literacies for the Earth, climate, atmosphere, systems, cybernetics, networks, screens and the body.

A record of where the College of Exploration took part, and a guide to the wider field.

Three movements

One method, widening circles

The literacies grew in three movements. Each one asks a different question of the learner.

2000–2010

Literacies of the world

What should every citizen understand about the planet we live on? Ocean Literacy came first. Its consensus process became the model for the Earth sciences.

  • Ocean
  • Polar
  • Climate
  • Atmospheric
  • Earth Science
2008–present

Literacies of how things connect

How do we think about wholes, feedback and relationships? The focus moves from what to know to how to think across every domain.

  • Systems
  • Systems Sciences
  • Cybernetics
  • Network
2024–present

Literacies of how we live inside systems

How do we keep our footing in the infosphere and in our own bodies? The journey comes back to the person who does the learning.

  • Screen
  • Somatic

The journey

Timeline

Filled markers show where the College of Exploration had a direct role. Open markers show developments in the field that the College followed or built on.

  1. Foundations
  2. 1991

    The College of Exploration is founded

    Peter Tuddenham and Dr. Kristina Bishop found the College in Virginia as a 501(c)(3) learning network. Its emphasis from the start is online workshops and courses for educators.

  3. Oct 2000

    Sustainable Seas Expedition online workshop

    Project Ocean STEWARD, an online workshop for educators with the National Geographic Society. 328 participants.

    Organized & hostedNational Geographic
  4. 2001–02

    Conservation and the Coral Reef World

    A series of Sustainable Seas virtual conferences for teachers, run in July and October 2001 and February 2002. 1,096 participants.

    Organized & hostedNational Geographic
  5. 2003

    Classroom Exploration of Oceans

    A nine-part online series from April to November with NOAA and the National Geographic Society. 1,900 participants. The question of what every student should know about the ocean takes shape here.

    Organized & hostedNOAANational Geographic
  6. Apr 2004

    Ocean Exploration: H.M.S. Challenger and Beyond

    An online educator workshop for the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration, built as a virtual ship. 500 participants. It drew on the original Challenger reports, digitized in full by Dr. David Bossard. Challenger site

    Organized & hostedNOAA
  7. Ocean Literacy
  8. Nov 2004

    The Ocean Literacy online workshop

    The College organized, hosted and facilitated the online workshop that began the consensus process, funded by NOAA and the National Geographic Society. 96 scientists and educators took part as equals, followed by rounds of online review.

    Leadership team · facilitatorNGSNOAANMEA
  9. 2005

    Ocean Literacy: Essential Principles and Fundamental Concepts

    The definition, seven Essential Principles and supporting Fundamental Concepts are published. Ocean literacy is understanding the ocean's influence on you and your influence on the ocean. The framework goes on to influence national science standards.

    Member of leadership team
  10. 2005

    Rapid response: Understanding Tsunamis

    An online workshop in April for the National Science Foundation, following the December 2004 tsunami. 800 participants.

    Organized & hostedNSF
  11. Mar 2006

    Polar literacy and the International Polar Year

    Integrated Collaborative Education, an online conference for the International Polar Year with NSF support. 228 participants. Polar literacy site

    Organized & hostedNSF
  12. The method spreads
  13. 2007

    Climate Literacy

    The College supports the formulation of the Climate Literacy Essential Principles and Fundamental Concepts, and continues in the Climate Literacy Network.

    Supporting partner
  14. 2007–08

    Atmospheric Science Literacy

    The College takes part in the face-to-face workshop in Boulder in 2007 and gives ongoing support through 2008. UCAR framework

    Participant · ongoing supportUCAR
  15. 2008–09

    Earth Science Literacy

    The College serves on the organizing committee for the Earth Science Literacy Big Ideas and Supporting Concepts, with NSF support. Earth Science Literacy Initiative

    Organizing committeeNSF
    to confirm: exact years of committee service
  16. Nov

    Ocean Literacy Scope and Sequence public review

    The College runs the online workshop for public review of the K–12 Scope and Sequence, which shows how learners build understanding of the seven principles across the grades.

    Organized & hosted
    to confirm: year of the November review
  17. 2008

    Geoscience literacy frameworks at AGU

    A presentation at the American Geophysical Union drawing the ocean, climate, atmospheric and Earth science frameworks together as one family. Frameworks presentation

    PresenterAGU
  18. How things connect
  19. 2008

    Systems Literacy launched

    The College launches Systems Literacy. The question shifts from what to know about one domain to how to think about any whole. coexploration.org/systems · systemsliteracy.org

    Originator
  20. 2012

    Earth Science Literacy Principles published

    Wysession and colleagues describe the development and use of the principles in the Journal of Geoscience Education 60(2).

    Publication
  21. 2015–18

    Sea Change: ocean literacy in Europe

    Dr. Kristina Bishop works on the EU Horizon 2020 project promoting ocean literacy across Europe.

    Project partnerHorizon 2020
    to confirm: project dates and the College's formal role
  22. Aug 2015

    The Literacy Collection

    Peter Tuddenham begins mapping the whole field of literacies, created 26 August 2015 and first published in October. Updated in June 2016 and March 2017, it grows to 59 literacies. View the collection

    Author
  23. 2016

    Systems literacy across the systems community

    Systems literacy workshops at the INCOSE International Workshop (January) and in Scotland (July), the IFSR systems literacy proceedings, and a plenary on Systems Literacy at the ISSS meeting in Boulder. Systems Research: A Foundation for Systems Literacy

    Plenary · co-authorISSSIFSRINCOSE

  24. Systems Sciences Literacy

    A companion framework for the systems sciences themselves. systemssciencesliteracy.org

    Originator
    to confirm: start date

  25. Cybernetics Literacy

    Literacy in feedback, regulation, variety and conversation, drawing on the work of Ashby, Pask, Beer and others. cyberneticsliteracy.org

    Originator
    to confirm: start date

  26. Network Literacy

    In 2015 the Literacy Collection pointed to Binghamton's network science essential concepts. The College now carries the strand forward with the Network Literacy Challenge. networkliteracy.org

    Originator
    to confirm: start date
  27. Living inside systems
  28. 2024

    Screen Literacy

    Started after a 2024 conference as a resource on how screens and social media shape children's lives. It applies the literacy approach to the digital infosphere. screenliteracy.org

    Originator

  29. Somatic Literacy

    Literacy in the body we think and learn with, connected to the College's work on ground regulation. somaticliteracy.us

    Originator
    to confirm: start date
  30. 2026

    literacies.net

    This site brings the family together and records the journey from the first National Geographic workshops to today.

18,000+participants on the College's online campus
1,900educators in Classroom Exploration of Oceans, 2003
7Ocean Literacy Essential Principles
59literacies mapped in the 2015 Literacy Collection

Our literacies

Where the College of Exploration took part

Each literacy below had direct involvement from the College, from facilitating the consensus process to originating the framework.

2004–2005

Ocean Literacy

The first of the family. Seven Essential Principles reached through an online consensus process.

Leadership team; organized and facilitated the online workshop and reviews
2007

Climate Literacy

Essential Principles and Fundamental Concepts for climate science.

Supported the formulation; Climate Literacy Network
2007–2008

Atmospheric Science Literacy

Framework developed through a workshop in Boulder.

Workshop participant and ongoing support
Date to add

Network Literacy

How networks shape the world, and how to read them.

Originator; Network Literacy Challengenetworkliteracy.org
2024

Screen Literacy

Living well with screens and the digital infosphere.

Originatorscreenliteracy.org

The method

How a literacy is made

The thread through the whole journey is a way of working. It was first worked out for Ocean Literacy and then repeated in each new domain.

  1. Gather widely online

    Virtual workshops let hundreds of people across institutions contribute, without the cost of bringing them together.

  2. Scientists and educators as equals

    The people who know the science and the people who teach it shape the framework together.

  3. Iterate through review

    Drafts go out for rounds of open online review until the community recognizes the result as its own.

  4. Frameworks, not curricula

    Principles and concepts leave teachers free to build their own lessons, materials and sequences.

  5. Acknowledge every contributor

    Shared credit builds the shared ownership that keeps a framework in use.

  6. Repeat across domains

    Each new literacy reuses the pattern, so the method itself becomes the College's contribution.

The wider field

59 literacies, mapped in 2015

Literacy has become a common way to name what citizens need to understand. For literacies the College did not help create, see the Literacy Collection, which maps the field as it stood between 2015 and 2017.

CulturalEmotionalRacialReading & writingEnglishPolarGreat LakesAtlanticOceanEarth ScienceEarthAtmosphericClimateGeoscienceGeographyEnergyEcoEnvironmentalSocio-ecologicalSustainabilityForestAgricultureFoodWaterBiologicalFinancialMathematicalDigitalMusicArtisticScientificKinestheticHealthSocialTechnologyMediaGeneticNewsEngineeringEconomicInformationSpiritualVisualGlobalTeleChemistryPhysicsSTEMDesignTransdisciplinaryFuturesNetworkSystemsSystems SciencesSystems EngineeringJazzBiospheric
College of Exploration took partMapped in the collection

How to cite

Literacy Collection, College of Exploration. Mapped by Peter D. Tuddenham; created 26 August 2015, first published October 2015, last updated March 2017. coexploration.org/literacy/history/upto_nov_2018/

Open the Literacy Collection

About

The College of Exploration

The College of Exploration is a global learning network, organized as a collegium and incorporated in Virginia as a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit in 1991. It designs, delivers and evaluates learning programs, with a particular emphasis on online courses and workshops for educators.

Its partners have included the National Geographic Society, NOAA, NASA, the National Science Foundation and the UK National Oceanography Centre.

Sources and further reading