LiMPETS Education Field Trip AssistantAt — Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History (PGMNH)
This program is recommended for CSUMB students pursuing marine sciences, environmental sciences, or teaching.
LiMPETS (Long-term Monitoring Program and Experiential Training for Students) is a community science program for students. This hands-on program was developed to teach students how to do science while monitoring the coastal ecosystems of California's National Marine Sanctuaries. Volunteers help Museum Education staff deliver rocky intertidal and sandy beach monitoring programs for students, grades 6-12.
Programs are delivered during school hours, Monday - Friday.
Benefits include:
- Learning identification and natural history of local shoreline animals.
- Acquiring outdoor education skills for middle and high school students.
- Participating in a long-running community science program.
- Tidepooling in the beautiful shorelines of the central California coast.
Volunteers MUST be able to transport themselves to sites ranging from Asilomar State Beach in Pacific Grove to Davenport Beach in Santa Cruz.
In addition to the LiMPETS programs, volunteers are required to participate in, at minimum, two PG Museum public-facing events, like outreach or Science Saturday events.
Field trips occur at the beach and in rocky intertidal areas that require:
- carrying equipment (up to 50 pounds)
- walking/hiking to sites up to a mile away
- climbing rocks and uneven, slippery surfaces
- walking/climbing with species that have sharp shells (mussels, oysters, barnacles etc.)
- working in cold, heat, rain, wind, and water
To view the various site locations, please see links and choose CENTRAL tab sites.
- https://limpets.org/rocky-intertidal-monitoring/ri-sites/
- https://limpets.org/sandy-beach-monitoring/sb-sites
Requirements:
- Background Check (e.g. fingerprinting/livescan, driving record)
- Computer Literacy
- Driver's License
- Health Check/Screening (e.g. temperature screening, COVID-19 test)
- Must be 18 or older
- Bilingual Desired
- Personal vehicle to get to field sites
LiMPETS Manager will train service learner on both LiMPETS programs (sandy beach and rocky intertidal monitoring). This includes program history, life history/species identification, field methods/ protocols, learn how to score students in the field for our quality assurance requirements. Service learner will also be trained in entering/interpreting student field data in our two LiMPETS online databases.
The LiMPETS Manager will set up weekly check-in sessions with service learner to go over tasks and duties assigned each week. They will also go over overall internship expectations as well as logistics all of field trips occurring during the internship. The LiMPETS Manager will be available by phone or email to answer any questions, concern, or changes in schedules of the service learner during the week. They will also ensure the safety of the service learner (as well as the students) in the field and make sure they are comfortable performing duties during field trips.
Field trips occur at the beach and in rocky intertidal areas that require:
- carrying equipment (up to 50 pounds)
- walking/hiking to sites up to a mile away
- climbing rocks and uneven, slippery surfaces
- walking/climbing with species that have sharp shells (mussels, oysters, barnacles etc.)
- working in cold, heat, rain, wind, and water
Students can fill out a volunteer application at:
https://www.volgistics.com/appform/2135411407
Questions? Contact:
Natalie Johnston, Volunteer & Community Science Coordinator
Johnston@PGMuseum.org
(831) 648-5716 ext 24
(office hours: Wed - Sun, 9 am - 4 pm)