On Tuesday, March 29^th, more than 100 seventh graders from Newport Middle School spent the day at Hatfield Marine Science Center learning about tsunamis. The day was the first of three visits the students will make to HMSC this spring as they work to create an interpretive clue-directed “Tsunami Quest” for the public. The Tsunami Quest project is made possible with the help of many community partners and volunteers, and we were fortunate to have terrific sunshine throughout this first field trip.

Exploring tsunami inundation maps

Through outdoor explorations and hands-on labs, the students learned about earthquake and tsunami safety, and discovered what to do if a local earthquake were to occur at HMSC. Oregon Sea Grant Coastal Hazard Specialist Pat Corcoran kicked off the day in Hennings Auditorium with a lively presentation about tsunami safety, and then the students rotated through learning stations in smaller groups. Oregon State Parks staff and volunteers led students on outdoor Quests at HMSC in the morning, and in the afternoon they guided students on a walk up to the top of Safe Haven Hill. A geologist from DOGAMI led a session on using and interpreting tsunami inundation maps, and Sea Grant educators helped students model the effects of seismic activity on wet sand in a “Liquefaction Lab”. At another station, the 12 and 13 year olds worked with their math teacher to measure their speed of travel under various conditions. At the end of the day, the students were given ideas about how to turn their learning and expertise into an educational Quest.

Calculating rates of speed

The Oregon Coast Quests education program has been providing outdoor experiences for youth and families since 2007. Quests are self-guided, clue-directed hunts that get people outside learning about place, community and local issues. Participants use maps and written directions to navigate through an outdoor space, collecting clues that lead to the discovery of a hidden Quest box. As they travel, explorers learn about the natural and cultural treasures of place as their attention is drawn to details in the environment that may have otherwise been overlooked. Topics of interpretive focus range from watershed and estuarine habitats, to the commercial fishing industry and coastal settlement history. Quest clues and boxes stay in place throughout the year, and maps and directions for active Quests are distributed to the public through The Oregon Coast Quests Book. The book is published every two years, and select individual Quests are given away by site hosts or made available for free download online. Audiences impacted by Quests include not only the more than 1,000 people who go on Quests each year, but also the youth groups and other community members who create Quests for others.

Liquefaction Lab

The learning behind Tsunami Quest-building project is interdisciplinary. Students are learning about the science of earthquakes and tsunamis, exploring engineering as they participate in OSU’s Tsunami Structure Challenge, and using mathematics to calculate speed of evacuation. They are also using writing and art to convey information.

The new Tsunami Quest will begin at the front doors of the Sea Grant-operated HMSC Visitor Center, which is located in a tsunami inundation zone and attracts 150,000 visitors annually. The 7^th graders will visit HMSC again on April 12th when they will start the writing process. Their finished Quest will be ready to test on younger students by the end of the school year, and then it will be made available to the public and to school groups visiting HMSC.

Following this pilot project, Oregon State Parks and other partners plan to work with students in other coastal areas to create additional site-specific Tsunami Quests. This engaging learning activity will not only inform the public about tsunami safety at Quest sites, but also support a cultural shift toward increased public awareness of tsunami risk and response at all coastal locations.

——————————————–
Cait Goodwin is the Coordinator of the Oregon Coast Quests program at Oregon Sea Grant.  She is also the Communications Coordinator for the Oregon Coast STEM Hub.  For more information about Quests or this project, visit http://hmsc.oregonstate.edu/quests, “like” the Quests Facebook page, or contact Cait at cait.goodwin@oregonstate.edu

The 2016 Newport Schools Science Fair was a huge success!  More than 1,000 people attended the three hour event at Hatfield Marine Science Center on Thursday, January 21st, where 150 student displays representing the work of more than 800 students in grades K-5 filled the Visitor Center and staff lounge. A variety of plants, aquatic habitats, engineering models and other materials accompanied the displays, and the students used writing, math, and art to communicate their discoveries. One class even performed a play to share what they knew about plankton behavior. Students, families, mentors, teachers, school administrators, HMSC staff and others from the community had a chance to view all the displays and talk to young scientists about their discoveries. It was wonderful to see the enthusiasm from everyone involved!

This year was the largest Science Fair yet. Every K-5 classroom in Newport participated in Science Fair this year, which adds up to 33 classrooms and 35 amazing teachers. Thanks very much to the 44 people who served as Science Mentors, making regular visits to classrooms at Yaquina View and Sam Case schools to assist students with their investigations. Science Mentors shared their enthusiasm for science, and helped the students see themselves as scientists.

This year, mentors came from:  The Bureau of Land Management – Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area, Central Lincoln Peoples Utility District, Central Oregon Coast Chapter of the National Organization for Women, City of Newport, Lincoln County School District, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Alaska Fisheries Science Center, Marine Operations Center – Pacific, Northwest Fisheries Science Center, and Ship Bell M. Shimada), Oregon Coast Aquarium, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, Oregon Parks and Recreation Department, Oregon State University (Cooperative Institute for Marine Resources Studies, Marine Mammal Institute, Oregon Sea Grant), OSU Master Gardeners, Pacific West Ambulance, Sea Gypsy Research, United States Department of Agriculture – Agricultural Research Service, and United States Environmental Protection Agency.

Thank you also to all the science mentors, HMSC Visitor Center Staff and Volunteers who helped set up and run the Science Fair event. We couldn’t have done it without you! Finally, we are grateful for the continued support from Oregon Sea Grant, the Yaquina View and Sam Case Boosters, Lincoln County School District, Oregon Coast STEM Hub, and the HMSC Director’s office, all of which ensure that Science Fair continues to be a valued annual event in our community.

The Newport Schools Science Fair is just one of many STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) activities benefiting students living on the Oregon Coast.  To find out about more STEM events, competitions and opportunities for you to get involved, visit the Oregon Coast STEM Hub website at http://oregoncoaststem.oregonstate.edu/ or email OregonCoastSTEM@oregonstate.edu.  The Oregon Coast STEM Hub office is located in Newport at the Hatfield Marine Science Center.

Read the News-Times coverage of the event:  Science Fair Draws Crowd

The student-built unmanned sailboat S.S. Morning Star has entered new territory! Educational Passages reports that the vessel launched from the University of Washington’s R/V Thompson last August is alive and well just north of Hawaii. This is the furthest west that any of the GPS-equipped 5 foot sailboats in the program has traveled in the Pacific Ocean, and its position on the globe required data managers to actually rewrite code so they could keep up with its progress!

Follow its track here:  http://www.nefsc.noaa.gov/drifter/drift_ep_2015_1.html

The S.S. Morning Star was built by students at Tillamook High School during the spring of 2015, using materials provided to them by the Oregon Coast STEM Hub.  The crew of the R/V Thompson released the boat at sea on August 15th during its research expedition to the Axial Seamount. See photos and read a description of the deployment day on the Axial Seamount Expedition 2015 blog.

The S.S. Morning Star is the third student-built sailboat supported by the Oregon Coast STEM Hub that has been deployed in the Pacific. The other boats were built by students in Waldport (Phyxius) and in Coos Bay (S.S. Dolphin).

By Jim Grano

Siuslaw students present their Stewards of the Sand project to Dr. Jane Goodall and others at the Oregon Youth Summit

On Thursday October 15th, ten students from Siuslaw Elementary and Middle School in Florence attended the Oregon Youth Summit in Portland. The students are veterans of the Oregon Dunes Stewardship Project that has been carried on by all Siuslaw 4^th grade classes since 2011, and they were looking forward to sharing details of their recent invasive species removal efforts with others.

The Oregon Youth Summit featured a mix of 30 elementary, middle, and high schools from around the state.  Dr. Jane Goodall gave the keynote address to 400+ students, teachers and parents in which she talked about her life, career, and shared a hopeful message for a peaceful future.

The goal of the Summit was to have an opportunity for all students to share what they’ve done, and to inspire each other to even greater work in the future.  Each school displayed its environmental research and/or stewardship project on a 3’ X 6’ table.

The school teams briefly presented their projects to  Dr. Jane Goodall. Siuslaw’s spokesperson was Brady Bauer. The team had previewed the project for their local school board on the evening before the Summit.  Read the presentation.  Brady concluded the presentation with the following poem.  Dr. Goodall commented that she knew the poem, and that it is a favorite:

Stewards of the Sand exhibit

The event also featured mini-workshops and a scavenger hunt involving all of the displays.  “I particularly enjoyed creating balls of dirt, clay, compost and assorted wildflower seeds,” said Owen Harklerode, after attending one of the mini-sessions.  “It involved getting my hands dirty.”

In preparation for the Summit, Siuslaw’s team met over 5 evenings and did much of the work at home. The students created a display on a board constructed from Scotch Broom sticks, and which featured a hand made broom, awards the project had received from Oregon Invasive Species Council and US Forest Service, and take-away informational brochures about invasive Scotch Broom.

Dr. Goodall at the exhibit

Teacher Dennis King and volunteer Jim Grano guided the students.  “After a full day of work, Dennis and I should be exhausted after this extra planning and time … instead we are energized and inspired by the enthusiasm and creativity of these students and their parents!” Grano said.

Student Ava Glowacki summed up the experience as follows: “When I consider and reflect upon my experiences while participating in the Oregon Youth Summit, there are 3 things that stand out. First, meeting a highly inspirational person such as Dr. Goodall.  Second, listening to Dr. Goodall’s speech about how she started out and how it became her passion. And finally, being able to see all of the other schools’ projects that showed what they did to make a difference in our environment.”

This opportunity was sponsored by the Diack Foundation, which also provided a $250 assist to each school for transportation and substitute teachers, and from the Jane Goodall Environmental Middle School (JGEMS).

Jim Grano was a teacher in Mapleton and Siuslaw School Districts for 33 years before he retired in 2007.  Today, he is a busy volunteer in the Siuslaw, Reedport and Mapleton school districts, coordinating more than 40 grant-funded project-based field experiences for students.  He is also an active liaison for the Oregon Coast STEM Hub.