From day camps to college courses and internships, students take advantage of learning opportunities
Summer is a quiet time for many schools and colleges, including the OSU main campus in Corvallis. But the HMSC was abuzz with learning activity during this summer, with students of all ages participating in a variety of classes and internships.
Eleven undergraduate students from across the U.S. were welcomed to Newport in June by HMSC faculty and lab mates who would serve as mentors to the students in the Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program.
This is the third year in a row that HMSC has operated the National Science Foundation-funded internship program, with the goal of helping motivate and prepare students for graduate-level study and to pursue careers in marine science.
The students were selected from a highly competitive pool of applicants, and represented a broad range of interests and backgrounds. From El Paso to Berkeley, from New England to the Midwest and South, the students' colleges and hometowns were as diverse as their research interests. (See student profile on Patrick Luke.)
Local students were also able to take advantage of internships and work experiences offered by various research labs and the Visitor Center this summer. Michael Banks' marine fisheries genetics lab provided three Lincoln County high school students with hands-on learning experience and a close-up look at how DNA sampling techniques are helping scientists and fishery resource managers distinguish between endangered and healthy runs of salmon.
Students also came to HMSC for summer study, taking courses on marine mammal biology and conservation, marine and estuarine invertebrates, aquatic biological invasions, and other topics. They represented a wide range of majors and departments, including Marine Resource Management program (College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences), Engineering, and Science and Mathematics Education (College of Science).
Class formats included traditional lectures, labs, field trips, collaborative learning and activities in the Visitor Center. Special topic workshops were also among the HMSC course offerings this summer, including the popular two-day workshops, "Making a Living on the Estuary" (Native American traditional uses of natural resources), and "Writing about Sea and Shore" (creative non-fiction and poetry on marine themes).
Shawn Rowe taught a graduate class entitled "Understanding Free-Choice Learning for Education and Outreach", designed to introduce students from a variety of science, education, and outreach backgrounds to the theoretical foundations and the last decade of research on self-motivated, out-of-school learning. The students were exposed to a variety of research and perspectives on psychological, physical, sociological, web- and place-based aspects of Free-Choice Learning research and theory.