Category Archives: science education

Sea Grant shares in public education grant

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Oregon Sea Grant’s Free-Choice Learning program will join with the Oregon Coast Aquarium, the National Aquarium in Baltimore, the Maryland Science Center and others in a three-year effort to expand professional development opportunities for museum, aquariums, zoo and park educators in an effort to improve informal science education.

The project, known as the Communicating Ocean Sciences Informal Education Network, is funded through a National Science Foundation initiative aimed at fostering and improving the kind of informal science education that takes place at aquariums, museums and other learning centers.

Leading the team for OSU is Shawn Rowe, Sea Grant marine education and learning specialist and an assistant professor with the OSU Department of Science and Math Education. Rowe heads Sea Grant’s Free-Choice Learning program, which studies the kind of learning people do outside the classroom.

Rowe’s program uses the Visitor Center at OSU’s Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport as a living lab for studying various approaches to informal science education, how to engage visitors and what kind of information people take away from their aquarium visits.

The Sea Grant program will receive more than $278,000 from the NSF over the next three years to develop training, workshops and curricula for informal science educators, and to continue work the program has already begun to foster a network of informal science educators and scientists who want to communicate their work to the public.

Read more about Sea Grant’s Free-Choice Learning program here.

Oregon Sea Grant fellow studies effects of jellyfish off Oregon coast

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lanayafitzgerald2The numbers of jellyfish in the Pacific Ocean have been increasing dramatically over the past few years, and scientists are concerned. Why? Because jellyfish eat certain fish larvae—which not only reduces the numbers of those fish but puts jellyfish in direct competition with other predators. Further, jellyfish can thrive in low-oxygen (hypoxic) waters, giving them an added advantage for survival.

Oregon State University (OSU) student Lanaya Fitzgerald, a fellow in Oregon Sea Grant’s Undergraduate Marine Research Fellowship Program, has been conducting research to determine the effects of one particular species of jellyfish—the sea nettle—on fish larvae off the Oregon coast. Her research indicates that sea nettles do, indeed, have a voracious appetite for several commercially important fish species, including Pacific cod, Pacific tomcod, and walleye pollock.

Fitzgerald’s work with jellyfish began in 2008, when she participated in a National Science Foundation-sponsored program called “Research Experience for Undergraduates” at OSU’s Hatfield Marine Science Center (HMSC), with mentors Ric Brodeur and Tom Hurst of NOAA. Co-mentor Bill Hanshumaker of HMSC helped supervise her Sea Grant fellowship. In early May of this year, Fitzgerald presented a poster highlighting some of the results of her research at OSU’s “Celebrating Undergraduate Excellence” symposium (see photo). On Saturday, June 27, her work will come full circle with a presentation (including some live jellyfish and fish larvae) at HMSC’s annual Seafest, in Newport, Oregon.

For more information, contact Ms. Fitzgerald at fitzgela@onid.orst.edu.

Oregon Sea Grant’s “Oregon Coast Quests” featured in magazine

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“Some call it a treasure hunt, but Quest coordinator Cait Goodwin, a marine educator with Oregon Sea Grant at ocmagcovermayjune09Newport’s Hatfield Marine Science Center (HMSC), is quick to point out that the Quest Box at the end is not a treasure chest.”

So writes Julie Howard, Oregon Sea Grant program assistant, in the May/June 2009 edition of Oregon Coast magazine. Her article, “Oregon Coast Quests,” explains what Quests are and where to find them, and describes the experience of going on an actual Quest.

For more information about Oregon Coast Quests, call 541-867-0100 or visit the program’s Web site.

HMSC featured on Travel Oregon show

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This week’s episode of “Grant’s Getaways,” a Travel Oregon video blog by Oregon broadcast journalist Grant McOmie, features OSU’s Hatfield Marine Science Visitor Center in Newport, where Sea Grant Extension educator Bill Hanshumaker talks about how the center connects fun with learning:

View the video at Travel Oregon’s Vimeo site).

Oregon Sea Grant’s Julie Howard publishes article about hypoxia

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“In 2006, Oregon and Washington experienced the worst hypoxic event on record as near-shore oxygen levels dropped in some places to zero…”

So writes Julie Howard, Oregon Sea Grant program assistant, in the March/April 2009 edition of Oregon Coast magazine. Her article, “An Ocean without Oxygen,” goes on to describe some of the possible causes of hypoxia, the devastating effects, and how researchers and fishermen are collaborating to address the issue.

For more information about the hypoxia phenomenon, visit the Web site of the Partnership for Interdisciplinary Studies of Coastal Oceans (PISCO).

Marine educator Bill Hanshumaker featured on BeachConnection.net

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A day at the beach in Oregon can be a bit mind-bending. The Sci-Fi Channel could find lots to be inspired by here. The ocean and the shoreline environment are some of the most dynamic places on Earth, where things constantly change, sometimes in truly freaky ways.

Bill Hanshumaker, Public Marine Education Specialist with the Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport, is among the coastal experts featured in a BeachConnections.net article on strange things that can be found on Oregon’s beaches …

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Communications for Ocean Scientists Workshop at OSU Feb. 27

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Are you interested in communicating more effectively with the public about your work in ocean sciences?

Are you looking for ideas and partners for producing successful broader impact and outreach activities?

Join COSEE-Pacific Partnerships for a half day workshop for ocean scientists designed to introduce participants to effective strategies and best practices for communicating with public audiences. The workshop will also provide opportunities to develop partnerships for a variety of education and outreach activities.

  • When: February 27, 2009, 9 am to 1 pm
  • Where: Oregon State University, Weniger Hall, Room 247
  • Please RSVP no later than February 25, 2009 to Coral Gehrke, COSEE-Pacific Partnerships Coordinator, at cgehrke@uoregon.edu or (541) 888-2581 ext 236.

For additional information visit: www.coseepacificpartnerships.org

Download a .pdf flyer of this announcement.

Learning and fun for homeschoolers at the HMSC

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Registration is open for the annual Home School Days program at OSU’s Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport.  Conducted by Oregon Sea Grant’s marine education program, the March 20 event offers age-appropriate classes and activities for home-schooled children from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade, with activities ranging from ocean-themed crafts to hands-on animal labs and  guided tours of the HMSC.

The fee $20 per child, and pre-registration is required; classes typically fill quickly, so home school parents are encouraged to register early. For a full schedule of classes and registration information, visit the HMSC Education Web site.

Sea Grant seeks Newport-based education coordinator

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Oregon Sea Grant is advertising a new professional faculty position to coordinate K-12 marine education programs at the Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport, on the central Oregon Coast. The person hired will manage a team of marine educators, coordinate k-12 classroom instruction at the HMSC visitor center, and work with faculty to design, promote, implement, and evaluate the center’s marine education programs. The application deadline is July 11, 2008.

Read the position announcement and apply on line through Oregon State University’s Job Search site

Read more about HMSC education programs

Whale watching volunteers sought

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Surf scoters and breeching gray whalePeople come to Oregon from all over the United States each year to learn about – and try to spot – the gray whales that migrate past our coast. Now’s your chance to join the host of volunteers who take up stations at prime whale-watching spots each winter and spring to teach people about these majestic marine mammals.

Oregon Sea Grant, the OSU Hatfield Marine Science Center and Oregon State Parks and Recreation team up Nov. 17-18 to offer training for volunteers in the Winter Whale Watch Week “Whale Spoken Here” program. Dr. Bruce Mate, OSU marine mammal specialist, and John Calambokidis, research biologist and co-founder of Cascadia Research, will lead the Newport training.

Pre-registration is required; sign up through Whale Spoken Here, the Oregon State Parks & Recreation whale-watching site.

This year’s Winter Whale Watch Week is Dec. 26-Jan. 1.

(Additional training will be offered in January and February for those interested in volunteering for the Spring Whale Watch Week, March 22-29, 2008).

(photo of surf scoters and breeching gray whale courtesy of the Oregon State Parks Whale Watching Center, Depoe Bay)