A newsletter from the Prince William Sound Science Center

May 2, 2023

Mt. Eccles Elementary 4th grade students peak through a microscope during a Discovery Room field trip to the Prince William Sound Science Center.

First Ocean Tracking Network cruise of 2023

Esa Mayo-Pitts and Dr. Alysha Cypher redeploying a receiver after being serviced.

Copper River Delta Shorebird Festival

Flier about the shorebird microplastics sampling project at Hartney Bay.

Flier about the upcoming aerial bird surveys monitoring Arctic and Aleutian tern populations.

Community events calendar for shorebird week

We hope you can join us this week for some educational shorebird fun! Different programs are intended for certain ages, noted below. All are welcome to attend. A calendar of events can be found on our website. If you would like to receive email notifications for upcoming community education programs, subscribe here.

May 4-7 (all day) Shorebird Festival

Visit the PWSSC table at the Cordova Center during Shorebird Festival to learn about our on-going bird research projects and educational programs.

May 4-7 (all day) Birding Bonanza Scavenger Hunt

After watching the birds at Hartney Bay take the kids across the road for a scavenger hunt. We've hidden some favorite birds along the Heney Ridge Trail.

May 5 (2:30-3:30 pm) Discover Cordova: Shorebird Feeding Frenzy!

Meet at The Eyak Corporation's upper camping area at Hartney Bay to learn about shorebirds in Cordova. Geared towards families with kids in grades K-4. Caregivers are required to stay with children.

May 7 (2-4 pm) Tour de Peeps

Meet at the Fisherman's Memorial. Walk or bike the tour. Geared toward children; open to all.

May 7 (7-8 pm) Yoga: Birds

At the Prince William Sound Science Center. Geared towards adults.

On May 16, we will host a watch party for the Prince William Sound Natural History Science Symposium.

The theme for this year’s event is “Resilience: Perseverance and Tenacity in Prince William Sound.”

Stop by anytime between 9 AM and 5 PM to watch the livestream!

Sixth graders spent the past year in Discovery Room exploring physical oceanography and marine technology. After learning what's involved in an oil pill clean up, they designed and built remotely operated vehicles (ROV). They put their ROV's to the test in a mock oil spill challenge at the local pool.

The education team was busy wrapping up school-year programs while hosting some new events. Here's a quick run down (click here to read full details). 

• We hosted four Tuesday Night Talks in April. Our weekly talks are now on summer break and will resume in September. Past programs can be viewed on our YouTube Channel under Lecture Series.
• We ran several events for children, including two Fun Fridays and a family hike. Fun Fridays will return in September. In lieu, we will be hosting Discover Cordova once a month (May-August) at various outdoor locations ... stay tuned!
• We received over 10 submissions for the Stitch Your Science exhibit. These fiber arts pieces will be on display at the Science Center starting May 4. Stop by during business hours to see what the community has been creating.
• We hosted a film festival focusing on women in the outdoors exploring adventure, conservation, and identity. This was a fundraiser to support the Women in Science scholarship fund which sponsors Cordova girls for science camp. Thank you to all who joined us for a night of fun!
• Our education staff was busy with Discovery Room. The close of the school year brought forth field trips and end-of-year connections:
• First grade learned about color and light waves. Then to tie all their Discovery Room lessons together, they took a field trip to Odiak Pond and made a map using their five senses.
• Second grade learned about invertebrates and made their own invertebrates out of craft supplies for the shorebird mural that will be on display at the Cordova Center during the Copper River Delta Shorebird Festival.
• Third grade had two Discovery Room lessons last month focused on birds. In preparation for an upcoming shorebird field trip they learning about feeding habits and made two-dimensional feeding shorebirds for our shorebird mural.
• Fourth grade took a field trip to the Science Center to meet our researchers and experience a day in the life of a scientist. The shorebird mural will feature three-dimensional hanging birds created by this class.
• Sixth grade participated in the ROV pool challenge. They’ve been working on ROV’s the past couple of Discovery Rooms and this month they tested how well their designs worked in a five-task series where they moved their ROV’s forward and backwards, through hoops, attached anchor chains, and cleaned up oil spills. See image above.