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The Aquarium is an excellent resource for educators and students. We offer grade-appropriate, on-site programs, many of which are hands-on, that will augment your classroom instruction. Learn about our various onsite programs and then check the program matrix below to see what is available to your grade level.
Self-guided visit materials help you make the most of touring the Aquarium on your own. Our suggestions for activities before, during and after your visit will help you create a structured, focused experience for your class, and our Chaperone Guidebook will help your chaperones ask and answer questions. Materials are tailored to three levels: Pre-K-1, 2-5 and 6-12.
Lab programs are for 10-40 students per program plus chaperones. They are 60 minutes long ("Coastal Close-ups" are 30-45 minutes) and are available at 10:00 a.m., 11:30 a.m., and 2:00 p.m. M-F. The Aquarium's classroom can only accommodate one program at a time.
$45 additional fee for each Lab program.
Theater programs are for 30-70 students per program plus chaperones. They are 30 minutes long and are available at 10:00 a.m., M-F. The Aquarium's theater can only accommodate one program at a time.
$45 additional fee for each Theater program.
Behind the Scenes Tours are for up to 15 students plus chaperones. They are 60 minutes long and are available at 11:30 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. M-F. They are designed for grades 9-12. This one-hour walking tour takes Students and Teachers behind-the-scenes to five different working areas. Learn all about the science of animal training, animal care, and water quality. Discover fascinating facts about the Oregon Coast Aquarium animals. Behind-the-scenes locations include the Water quality Laboratory, Jellyfish Culturing area, the Aviary and Aquarist Kitchen, the top of the Passages of the Deep Shark exhibit, and our Seal, Sea Lion and Sea otter training areas. Due to space limitations we limit tour sizes to a maximum of 15 students and 3 chaperones.
$145 additional fee for each Behind the Scenes Tour.
All school groups that visit the aquarium are required to bring a signed copy of both the teacher and student/chaperone contracts. School groups will not be admitted to the aquarium without these signed documents. You can view these documents by clicking on the links below.
The arrows (Æ) denote grade range expansions for some programs. These programs
can be modified by the instructor to fit the ability of your students. Teachers
who choose to take advantage of the new grade expansions may, however, have to
modify the pre/post visit activities to fit their grade level.
Most Oregon Coast Aquarium activities allow for this kind of flexibility by
offering lesson extensions, background information etc. Click on the program
name below for a description.
= this program uses live animals
In this introduction to marine food chains, students will explore four ocean habitats and learn about a food chain from each. Using live animals and marine biofacts, students will discover where some sea animals head when they have a snack attack!
Tide pools are full of life. Students compare their own adaptations to those of four tidepool animals, learning how they eat, move, see and protect themselves.
The end of every cycle is only a beginning. Students will explore four ocean cycles while they dress a puffin in its breeding plumage, take a trip with a gray whale, get to know members of a kelp forest food cycle and explore the stages of an ocean animal's life cycle.
Every animal's form has a function. Student volunteers are transformed into fishes, birds and marine mammals as the group learns why these animals come in so many sizes, shapes and colors.
It's an eat-or-be-eaten life in the sea. Through close-up animal observation, students take a look at the complexities of marine food webs and see what happens when humans join the web.
Marine mammals' success in the ocean depends on special adaptations for keeping warm, finding food and communicating in the dark, cold ocean. Focusing on sea otters, seals, sea lions and whales, students will examine fur, blubber, bones and teeth and learn how marine mammals are adapted for life at sea.
What is covered with fur and works like a crowbar? By comparing animal adaptations to human tools, students will learn some of the ways that marine mammals, birds, fishes and invertebrates are adapted to their environment.
Grades 4-6: 60 minutes.
10-40 students plus chaperones
Kelp plants form thick, beautiful forests beneath the sea. While handling and even tasting kelp, students will compare kelp forests with forests on land, observe some of the animals that make up kelp communities and discover the many uses of commercially harvested kelp.
Oil spills are only the beginning when it comes to marine disasters. Through hands-on activities, students will understand how human action causes pollution and how it affects marine animals.
An animal has to be tough to survive the harsh conditions on Oregon's rocky shores. Students investigate representatives from four phyla and how they've adapted to this rough-and-tumble environment.
Take all the fish out of the sea, and it would still touch our lives in more ways than we realize. Students will be introduced to oceanography with discussions of the tides, ocean circulation and global warming and will learn why the health of the marine environment is so important.
It's dark, it's cold, the food chains begin with chemicals--but animals thrive. Students will watch video from the deep sea, examine real animals brought up from hydrothermal vents over a mile deep, conduct experiments, learn about bathymetric mapping and more.
Spines, shells, tentacles and joints help define four intriguing invertebrate phyla. Working with live animals, students explore the world of echinoderms, molluscs, cnidarians and arthropods and learn about taxonomy and identification.
The rocky shore is a tough neighborhood. Students will learn about the remarkable ways tidepool residents are adapted to weather the extremes of life on the rocks.
