In order to solve community problems, we have to EXPLORE our environments and talk with the people around us to learn what is most important. Siletz high school students participated in a trio of activities designed to get outside and see for ourselves.
Students visited an oyster farm owned by their math teacher to learn the history of King Slough and environmental issues of concern at this field site.
Afterwards, they visited the Hatfield Visitor's Center to how different marine topics and issues are represented in an educational setting.
A wild ride through the coastal forest
Hiking in
Playing in the mud
Don't get stuck!
Sorting baby oysters
Picking up nets
Intrigued by the wave mechanism
Tidepool exhibits at the Visitor Center
Students learned about how otters act as keystone species within an ecosystem and the story behind their local extinction in Oregon. They learned about the sea otter restoration movement and work of the Elakha Alliance organization, founded by a Siletz tribal member.
Interactive food web game at the Newport Aquarium!
Traveling underwater
Touching otter artifacts
Learning from the Elakha Alliance
Siletz students and OSU mentors learned from a teacher leader about the importance of dentalia shells in Native culture and the disappearance of this cultural resource. They used shells, beads, and sinew to create their own necklaces.
This was a great opportunity for students to act as leaders, showing their new mentors how to bead!
Laying out the pattern
Matching shells by size
Wrapping with sinew
Sealing the ends