DALLAS -- Each year, thousands of science teachers from all over the world gather to attend workshops, discuss current research data, and meet with colleagues to talk about new and exciting classroom activities.

The National Science Teachers Association conference is the largest gathering of its kind in the world. This year’s theme was “Deep in the Heart of Science.”

MMS has been participating in the annual conference for ten years, telling teachers about ocean science, distributing energy education material, and showcasing the kid’s page portion of mms.gov.

The title of this years MMS exhibit was “Deep in the Heart of ‘Ocean’ science”.

The NSTA conference continues to be an excellent venue for MMS to educate the American people about the MMS energy mission, trust responsibilities, and the collection and distribution of revenues.

Science teachers are often impressed when they learn MMS oversees the safe and clean production of over one-third of the Nation’s energy and has collected some $150 billion over the past 22 years. Additionally, the U.S. Department of the Interior is the 2nd largest revenue generator for the U.S. government behind taxes.

“We are always looking for resources and we know that the information distributed by the Federal government is informative and free”, said a teacher from Massachusetts.

MMS presented the DOI: Our Ocean Role poster at this year’s NSTA conference. Designed by the MMS Environmental Division, the poster not only talks about the 300 million acres of onshore land that DOI oversees, but also the 1.76 billion acres located underwater that make up the OCS.

MMS also showcased The Gulf of Mexico Regional Office’s new Shipwrecks of the Gulf of Mexico, Tidepool Math, the game Drilling for Oil, Ocean Energy, and a new 12-page catalog of all the MMS educational materials, and the newly redesigned MMS Kids page.

To learn more about ocean science, energy, and financial management visit the new and improved MMS Kids page at: www.mms.gov/mmskids.