Our Education Team traveled to Whittier in September 2024 to participate in the Chugach School District Science Week. This week was a collaboration between the Chugach School District and the Community Organized Restoration and Learning (CORaL) Network. As part of the CORaL Network, PWSSC was happy to participate in this strong collaboration among partners, students, and teachers. 

While in Whittier, we led lessons for elementary school, middle school, and high school students. On day one, we talked to students in grades K-8 about the five species of salmon, the salmon lifecycle, and how salmon play a critical role in the ecosystem and the health of our forests. On day two, we led middle school students in seabird “stomach” dissections where the students dissected a mock seabird stomach and learned about seabird research. In teaming up with Robb Kaler (USFWS), we led a lesson for the high school students about what it is like to be a seabird researcher and ran through mock seabird research stations where they got to trap, measure, and band a stuffed bird; take environmental data; perform a boat seabird survey; and practice putting on their safety gear. On the final day, we worked with middle school students in a mock oil spill clean up. We talked about the properties of oil and discovered what the best methods were for cleaning up an oil spill. We also worked with high school students to run the ROV challenge. High schoolers worked in groups of 4 to build an ROV in under 45 minutes then fly them in the harbor. After they were comfortable flying their ROV, they got to fly their ROV in an ROV relay race to see who made the best design.