Join us for a remote visit to the CMLC. This engaging experience provides students with an opportunity to delve deeper into our living exhibits. They will get close-up looks at our animals, ask questions, and participate live while learning about the marine diversity along the Oregon coast. These virtual field trips are adapted to meet Next Generation Science Standards and are tailored to your students’ grade level.

Duration: 60 minutes

This hybrid experience combines hands-on learning for your students with virtual instruction. Throughout this program, students will participate in a guided squid dissection while learning more about the internal and external anatomy of these jet-propelled cephalopods. Concepts and learning objectives are designed to meet Next Generation Science Standards and we are happy to communicate with you in advance about the program setup.

Duration: 60 minutes

• Classes provide own materials
  • Squid (recommended one per pair of students, available at bait shops)
  • Paper plates and paper towels
  • Toothpicks
  • Scissors
  • Small rulers

Bring your students for a guided tour of the CMLC. Tours are offered on Tuesdays between the hours of 8:30am-5pm and Wednesdays-Fridays  8:30-11:00am.

Duration: 60 minutes

• Maximum of 30 students
• Tour includes both floors of the CMLC — the live animals and exhibits.

Tidepools are challenging places to live. As tides come and go, these areas along rocky shores are sometimes exposed to waves, hot sun, rain, and different predators. In this lesson, students learn about common local tidepool animals, challenges they face, and adaptations they have to survive at low tide. The program combines problem-solving, observation of animals, and exploration of the center’s aquaria.

Duration: Program lasts 60 minutes including time to explore.

Concepts covered:
Animal Diversity
Adaptation
Intertidal

The sand on a beach tells a story. In this lesson, students will learn how to “read” a beach by looking at its sand. They will examine sand to determine what different grains are made of (rock, shell, wood, etc.) and learn how sand gets to beaches. As sand detectives, they will examine grain size and shape for hints, and learn about erosion and wave energy. Students will examine a variety of sands, both local and distant; make and label sand cards to take with them; and learn how sand itself becomes a habitat for animals we can see and microscopic animals that live between sand grains. 

Duration: Program lasts 60 minutes; add an additional 30 minutes if you want students to have time to explore the rest of the CMLC.

Concepts covered:
Sand Formation
Erosion
Properties of  Materials
Sand as Habitat

The shape of fish, including tail shape, mouth orientation, and tooth type, give clues about the way fish live. The body shape of a fish provides hints of where they spend their time and how they move. Tail shape influences swimming speed and maneuverability. Tooth type and mouth orientation indicate the type of prey they eat and where they find their prey. Coloration also provides clues to a fish’s lifestyle.  Morphology and coloration are both influenced by selective pressures. Students will learn how traits are adaptations for different situations and survival strategies, and then examine the center’s fish to identify these traits and adaptations.

Duration: Program lasts 75 minutes; add an additional 20 minutes if you want students to have time to explore the rest of the CMLC.

Concepts covered:
Fish Diversity
Morphology
Form and function
Adaptation and selective pressures

This program introduces students to the variety of sharks found off Oregon and to the adaptations that make sharks successful in their various environments.  Sharks come in a range of sizes and shapes, eat a variety of prey, and are found in just about every ocean habitat.  At least 16 species are found off the Oregon coast.  Students will handle and examine shark jaws and fossilized teeth, and learn about Oregon’s sharks and how shark sensory systems and physical adaptations have allowed them to roam the ocean for more than 400 million years.

Duration: Program lasts 60 minutes; add an additional 30 minutes if you want students to have time to explore the rest of the CMLC.

Concepts covered:
Shark Diversity
Adaptation
Sensory Systems
Ecosystem Health

The skeletal structure of marine mammals is very different than that of terrestrial mammals due to the nature of the medium they move through (water rather than air).  In this program students investigate and compare the skeletons of whales and dolphins to develop hypotheses as to how skeletal anatomy relates to swimming, diving, and feeding capabilities.  Based on the observations and knowledge gained from these comparisons, students put together the skeleton of a “mystery” cetacean and identify its method of moving and feeding.  The program emphasizes the diversity of ways whales and dolphins move and feed in the water.

Duration: Program lasts 120 minutes. We recommend you plan for 2 1/2 hours so students can also look around the CMLC.

Concepts covered:
Cetacean diversity
The mechanics of motion
Anatomical form & function
Developing hypotheses from observations

• Available Tuesdays 8:30am-5pm and Wednesdays-Fridays 8:30-11:00 am
  
• Self-guided by group’s teachers or counselors, not by CMLC staff
• Please note—this is not unstructured time, rather an opportunity for teachers and counselors to run their own programs 
• Must have 1 chaperone for every 6 students (preK-6th grade) or every 10 students (7th – 12th grade)
• Maximum of 40 students
• Contact us regarding special needs
• Flat fee of $35 per hour or part of hour