Author Institution: School of Natural Resources and College of Education, The Ohio State UniversityThe Ohio Sea Grant Education Program conducted a baseline study of ocean and Great Lakes awareness among Ohio's fifth and ninth grade students in 1979, and repeated it with some curriculum-specific additions as a longitudinal study in 1983. This report of the 1983 data indicates that over the 4-year period the ninth graders, cohort of the 1979 fifth graders, increased over 10% in ocean and Great Lakes knowledge scores. However, information considered critical to responsible decision-making is still lacking. Attitudes toward Lake Erie and the oceans, while remaining slightly positive for the group, did not change commensurate with knowledge. A new set of test items dealing specifically with information from Ohio Sea Grant curriculum materials was added to the survey in 1983 to provide a new baseline for future testing. The main self-reported source of student information about these topics changed over the period, so that in 1983 students in both grades were relying more on the classroom than on media sources for aquatic information. The survey will be repeated at regular intervals, continuing a longitudinal study unique to marine and aquatic education in North America
