The OOI Ocean Data Labs Project

The National Science Foundation’s Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) is advancing our ability to understand the natural world by collecting large quantities of data to address complex oceanographic processes. This expanded access to data also provides professors in the geosciences with new opportunities to engage undergraduate students in authentic data experiences using real-world data sets to teach geoscience processes.

However, students struggle to work with data based on their limited experience and exposure to different data types and sources. Also, supporting students in engaging with the data can be challenging for professors too, as there is a lack of adequate tools to easily digest and manipulate large data sets for in-class learning experiences.

Therefore, the OOI Ocean Data Labs Project (formerly called Data Explorations), with funding from NSF, is developing, testing, refining, and disseminating easy to use, interactive Data Explorations and Data Lab Notebooks that will allow undergraduates to use authentic data in accessible ways while being easy for professors to integrate into their teaching.

  • Attendees at our 2019 workshop in Bellingham, WA.
  • Participants at our workshop during the 2019 Earth Educators Rendezvous in Nashville.
  • OSM20 Data Lab Workshop table group
  • Data Lab workshop participants at Western Washington University.
  • Sage chats with several Ocean Sciences workshop participants.
  • Participants at our 2020 Ocean Sciences Data Labs workshop.
  • A table of participants at our Ocean Sciences Workshop hard at work checking out some new Data Explorations.
  • July workshop participants use a bright window to compare multiple graphs on top of each other
  • Participants from our July OOI Data Lab Development Workshop
  • Participants from our June OOI Data Lab Development Workshop
  • The March 2019 OOI Data Labs workshop featured 20 participants and staff from around the country.
  • Wilmington workshop participants gather on the dock at UNCW for a photo.
  • Workshop participants on the trolly on their way to the first night of presentations.
  • Participants discuss how best to interpret a graph as part of a nonsense data activity.
  • Dr. Beaulieu presenting on the OOI Data Explorer to workshop participants. She is standing and actively talking while the participants are sat in front of her and following along.
  • Four participants gathering around a table, looking at a laminated piece of paper and discussing its contents.
  • Six adults standing side-by-side, smiling at the camera, outside on a sunny day, shaded by a vibrant tree.
  • Workshop participants gather in front of a fall tree at the Chauncey Center
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Recent Blog Posts

Screenshot of the Ocean Atmosphere Data Investigation activity

EPE Data Investigations Archive

Back in the early days of the OOI, I was part of a small team of designers and developers who were tasked with building tools to support undergraduate education. Our vision consisted of an OOI Ocean Education Portal that included an integrated,…
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Building Student Confidence by Investigating Bomb Cyclone Data

Data Labs in the Classroom: Teaching Tips from the Community Dr. Melissa Hicks, OOI Data Lab Fellow 2020   Hello!  My name is Melissa Hicks and I am a Professor in the Chemistry and Physical Sciences Department at Onondaga Community…
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Guiding Student Exploration of Primary Productivity

Data Labs in the Classroom: Teaching Tips from the Community Dr. Jean Anastasia, OOI Data Lab Fellow 2020   I teach at Suffolk County Community College, a large, tri-campus community college on Long Island, that is part of the…

Ocean Data Labs looks back at 2020

Last year was a tumultuous one for the history books, to put it mildly. And while many of us already trying to forget the year that was 2020, the Ocean Data Labs community actually has a lot to be proud of. Of course, from an educational…
2 years of temperature and salinity data from 30m at Irminger Sea Flanking Mooring B showing the annual cycle.

My ooilab Python Toolbox

Data portals are great for navigating and finding useful datasets. But sometimes, the easiest way to access data is with a bit of code, especially when you want to make your own graphs or do a bit of custom processing (like the above example). For…
Profiles of temperature and salinity from an Argo float off Baja
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Introduction to Python – Argo Float Data

This summer, as part of our virtual REU workshop, we introduced students to the basics of using Python to analyze oceanographic data. When we frantically designed the course back in May (during the early even more frantic days of the pandemic),…

 The Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) Data Labs is pleased to be a (non-funded) sponsored program of the National Association of Geoscience Teachers (NAGT).

NAGT sponsors programs that foster improvements in the teaching and learning about Earth as a system at all levels of formal and informal instruction, emphasize the relevance and cultural significance of geoscience to all people, foster and disseminate knowledge of and research in geoscience education, and promote professional growth of our members. the Data Labs project  fully aligns with NAGT’s mission as it works to promote data literacy skills building in undergraduate education using the lens of the geoscience disciplines.