Quest-building workshop

Looking for a way to connect people with community? Quests are fun clue-directed hunts that get people outdoors exploring the natural, historical and cultural treasures of special places. All it takes is a pencil, a set of directions and a sense of adventure – follow the directions, discover clues and find a hidden Quest box where you can log your success.

The Oregon Coast Quests program, developed by Oregon Sea Grant’s marine education team at the Hatfield Marine Science Center, already has 25 Quests in coastal Lincoln County. Now they’re offering a workshop to teach others how to build their own.

QUEST-BUILDING WORKSHOP
Saturday, February 6, 2010, 1 pm – 4 pm.
OSU Hatfield Marine Science Center, Newport
Registration:$25 /person.

Space is limited to 20 participants, and you need to register by Jan. 29, 2010

The workshops are tailored for teachers, park and museum staffers, local history buffs, naturalists and others interested in using this enjoyable, all-ages adventure format to teach about local human and natural history. Participants will learn about the Quest format and educational philosophy, try out an existing Quest, and build a short practice Quest.

For more information, and a downloadable registration form, visit the Oregon Coast Quests page.

For more information about Oregon Coast Quests or the Quest-building workshop, contact Cait Goodwin at cait.goodwin@oregonstate.edu or 541-961-0968. Tailored workshops and curriculum support are also available.

Ocean Observatories Initiative signed

Giving scientists never-before-seen views of the world’s oceans, the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Consortium for Ocean Leadership (COL) have signed a Cooperative Agreement that supports the construction and initial operation of the Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI).

OOI will provide a network of undersea sensors for observing complex ocean processes such as climate variability, ocean circulation, and ocean acidification at several coastal, open-ocean and seafloor locations.

Continuous data flow from hundreds of OOI sensors will be integrated by a sophisticated computing network, and will be openly available to scientists, policy makers, students and the public.

Oregon State University, along with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, will be responsible for the system’s coastal and global moorings and their associated autonomous vehicles.

Read more from the National Science Foundation