Quests: Find the treasures in coastal communities
Oregon Coast Quests is a place-based education program at Oregon Sea Grant that uses clue-directed hunts to get people outside exploring their communities. All that is needed to go on a self-guided Quest is a pencil, a set of directions, and a sense of adventure! Follow the directions, collect the clues, and find the hidden Quest box. Sign the guest book, stamp your page to prove you made it, and then re-hide the box for the next person to discover. Currently, there are 26 active Quests in Lincoln, Coos and Benton counties, and the directions can be found in The Oregon Coast Quests Book, 2013-2014 Edition (available for $10 at Powell’s Books and local retailers). Nearly 6000 logs have been made in hidden boxes since 2007.
Questing is fun and educational for adults and children, residents and tourists, families and school groups, and other curious free-choice learners. Some Quests focus on natural history, and lead along estuarine, sandy beach or coastal forest trails. On other Quests, you might explore a downtown historic district, a pioneer cemetery, a working waterfront, or a fish hatchery. Many Quests were made by park rangers, naturalists or educators, but 10 Quests were made by youth in school or afterschool programs.
Visit the Oregon Coast Quests website (http://hmsc.oregonstate.edu/visitor/oregon-coast-quests) to learn more about the location and focus of each available Quest, locate a bookseller, learn about Quest-building workshops, download Sample Quests, and to obtain tips for Questing with school groups.
Model Wave-Energy Generators
Get ready to explore the theory, construction, and operation of a model
wave-energy generator! Designed by William Hanshumaker, Ph.D., Oregon Sea
Grant, and Alan Perrill, Hatfield Marine Science Center (HMSC), this
activity works to further students’ and the general public’s knowledge of
and interest in wave-energy generators. Students will build variations of
model wave-energy buoys that contain a linear generator, a magnet that
moves in a straight line in and out of a coil of wire, mimicking that of
linear electric generator.
This comprehensive activity is targeted at sixth to eighth grade students
and includes background information on the theory of wave-energy
generators as well as instructions on how to build different
configurations of the models and simple wave tanks to test them in. The
goal of this activity was to create something that would be inexpensive
enough to reproduce, but also remain functional to detect energy using
simple meters. A complete parts list is included and depending on what is
already available in your classroom or lab costs can range from $80 to
$160.
Using a simple analog electrical meter and different variations on the
model students can test multiple models get a sense of the relative output
of a wave-energy generator. Ultimately, these models can be brought to
the HMSC for evaluation using their wave tank and oscilloscope and later
be scaled to size for display in the HMSC Visitor Center.
Ocean Sciences Quiz (online game)
Developed by MIT Sea Grant, National Ocean Sciences Bowl, the Blue Lobster Bowl, Consortium for Ocean Leadership and the National Science Foundation; the Ocean Sciences Quiz game was developed to promote ocean literacy and engage students, teachers, and teams worldwide. The online game can help prepare teams for the National Ocean Sciences Bowl competition or it can just be a fun way to increase your Ocean IQ!
Click here for more information and to play! http://osq.mit.edu/about.html
Ocean Sciences Quiz is a modified extension of the traditional NOSB competition buzzer rounds and is intended to be used for practice, learning, and fun. Individuals can play against the clock (to increase their ocean knowledge or to improve in certain subject areas) or two players can compete against one another on the same computer (to expand their knowledge and to practice their quick response skills.) Players can select question difficulty, can pause or stop the game at any point to check their progress and comprehension, and are encouraged to submit new questions into the game’s database to expand the game’s breadth and depth. Keep an eye out for some new features to be added in 2013. Individuals and teams will soon be able to play each other over the Internet, there will be a leaderboard, and players will be able to identify and connect with other players.Pacific Ocean Giant Map
Students will dive into the wonders of the Pacific Ocean with one of the world’s largest maps of the world’s largest ocean. The map, measuring 26 feet by 35 feet, will give these student explorers a fun, interactive experience through rich content and exciting activities that enliven the study of geography. Designed for grades K-8, the map will be on loan to schools through National Geographic’s Giant Traveling Maps program, managed by National Geographic Live, the public programming division of the National Geographic Society.
The brightly colored, smooth vinyl surface of the map will introduce students to explore some of the unexpected geography at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean: from the deepest place on earth, the Mariana Trench, to the world’s tallest mountain, Hawaii’s Mauna Kea, which has its base on the ocean floor. Most of all, students will experience the Pacific as a living entity, with active volcanoes giving birth to new islands, deep sea vents supporting new life forms, phytoplankton blooms providing over half of the planet’s fresh air, and the Great Barrier Reef, the largest living structure in the world.
Teachers are also provided with a set of fun, content-rich activities to help students interact with the map: “Cities in the Sea” invites students to explore the extraordinary biodiversity of four reef ecosystems; “The Deep & the Dark” simulates for students the depth of the Mariana Trench and fifteen other ocean floor trenches; and “Ocean Commotion” allows students to travel the ocean surface along the paths of eight major currents, finishing in the middle of the Pacific garbage patch, where they learn about human impacts on ocean health. Also accompanying the maps are lavish photo cards of animals and plants, hand-held models of volcanoes, and colorful coral reef replicas.
To learn more about the Giant Traveling Map project, for borrowing information or to download map activities, visit www.nationalgeographic.com/giantmaps. [Photo: Third graders measure the depth of a trench on the Pacific Ring of Fire. Photograph by Scott Schilling]
Oregon Coast Education Program
The Oregon Coast Education Program works with teachers and classes to advance the quality and frequency of coastal and watershed education activities in public schools. Education modules have been developed by linking together existing curriculum and resources that represent some of the best marine and aquatic education activities and practices to support field-based investigations. The modules have been designed to foster the holistic understanding of the relationships between the realms of ocean, estuary, and watershed that have shaped Oregon’s diverse landscape and provide the rich natural heritage of the state.
Design of these modules, developed with the substantial involvement of skilled K-12 classroom educators and supported by a web resource, incorporates facets of field-based, inquiry-directed experiential education, distance learning technology, and professional teacher development trainings. These modules will serve as the basis for a web-based resource and professional development, which will support educators in their efforts to:
- Conduct meaningful coastal watershed education experiences with their students;
- Use NOAA online geo-spatial and data visualization technology; as well as research methods, data compilation and analysis with students learning technology;
- Access and incorporate curriculum developed by NOAA and others to support earth systems science and inquiry-based learning approaches;
- Employ best practices in environmental, marine, and aquatic education;
- Explore current issues related to Oregon’s watersheds, coast, and ultimately the ocean.
Washington on Water
Washington on Water (WOW) is an online database for K-12 educators seeking marine education resources throughout Washington – from interior watersheds to the outer coast. Regularly updated and evolving, WOW brings together educators, scientists, industry, government and nonprofit organizations to improve marine science literacy.
- Classroom Resources: Locate teacher resources (including lesson plans and classroom materials), guest speakers, Web-based resources and careers in marine education and science.
- Field Activities: Explore land- and water-based field trips for teachers and students.
- Professional Development Opportunities: Find online, regional, national and international workshops and conferences, as well as field activities.
- Funding Sources: Locate funding sources for classroom resources, field activities and professional development opportunities.
Science Behind Sustainable Seafood
Greetings! Do you know the science behind sustainable seafood?
Join NOAA Fisheries Service and The Seattle Times Newspapers In Education for the series
Sustainable U.S. Seafood: What's Science Got to Do with It? starting 11/25-11/29.
This 5 part series begins the Sunday after Thanksgiving. It is an introduction into the variety of science conducted to ensure that seafood harvested in U.S. waters is sustainable. Written to the middle school level, these activities can easily be adapted up or down to your students knowledge level.
Part 1: What's science got to do with it?
Is an introduction into why science is important to ensuring sustainable seafood.
Part 2: How many fish are there?
Is an introduction to population estimation and the complexities of counting fish in the ocean.
Part 3: Age Matters!
Introduces aspects of fish biology that are important to sustainable harvesting, like the age of a fish or how old they are when they first reproduce.
Part 4: Survival in a dangerous environment
Learn why understanding what happens throughout a fish's life history is important to understanding the size of a population.
Part 5: Solving the ecosystem puzzle
How are ecosystem interactions linked to the health of a fish population?
Register to receive this series (for you and your students) for free by emailing nie@seattletimes.com and asking for the NOAA series.
If you are in Alaska: the series is also being run through the Anchorage Daily News NIE—sign up through their website http://nie.adn.com/
Email afsc.outreach@noaa.gov with any questions you have about the series or if you would like to pilot a high school version of this series.
For an introduction into the process of how seafood gets to market in the U.S., please check out the series that was produced last year at our website:
http://www.afsc.noaa.gov/education/Activities/seafood_intro.html
Volcanoes of the Deep Sea—Teacher’s Guide
Have you ever wondered if there is anything on Earth scientists haven’t explored? The answer sits just
two miles beneath the ocean surface: a sunless world that has evolved in ways we never dreamed possible.
The deep sea and its magnificent volcanic ridge system is a testament to the fact that discovery is far
from dead. In fact, it is just beginning! Join us on our voyage to this virtually unexplored wet n’ wild
world, a place as black as a moonless midnight, where life teems and Earth is born.
Download the 34-page PDF here, or
visit www.volcanoesofthedeepsea.com to find out more.