Project Ocean has two teacher enhancement components: (a) summer course training (with two parts), and (b) peer-led training sessions.

In component (a), the course phase is held each summer both online and at St. Mary's College of Maryland (SMCM) in St. Mary's City, MD for about 24 participants. This one-week in-person component consists of intensive training sessions including lectures, tutorials, seminars, hands-on laboratory exercises, research cruises, and field trips. Trainers include SMCM faculty members, Navy scientists, and professional science educators. Participants will have an active role in the course and will be placed in breakout groups at times to collaborate with other colleagues on how materials can be integrated into their classrooms. Completion of various online learning modules will be required for completion prior to arriving in St. Mary's City. Upon completion of the on-site portion, teacher-participants will have follow-up activities in the course management system.

In component (b), the teachers trained in the St. Mary's City summer course conduct single-topic sessions on an on-going basis, for their peers within their home states, using single-topic teaching materials developed by AMS specifically for this purpose. These peer-led training sessions are offered by Project Ocean Peer Trainers on a variety of topics treating the physical foundations of oceanography.