Purpose:

The purpose of this lesson is for students to model the scientific process – which includes the experimental bench work they are completing in Lesson 5a and the collaboration and connection to others’ research.  This lesson gives students the time and resources to learn from the work being completed by scientists and through their online contributions.

More In-Depth Carbon Cycle Learning

• General CO₂ Information
  • General carbon dioxide cycling knowledge worksheet
  • University of New Hampshire’s GLOBE program has resources on the terrestrial carbon cycle that can be adapted.
    • PDF:  An Introduction to the Global Carbon Cycle from GLOBE
  • In Lesson 3, there are two PowerPoint presentations that help teach the general carbon cycle.  Please see that lesson for more information, or find the actual presentations here:
    • PowerPoint – Overview of Carbon Cycle
    • PowerPoint – Specific Chemistry of CO₂ Dissolution
    • Video – This one minute YouTube video, produced by the North Carolina Aquarium, gives a nice, very basic, pictorial description of what happens to carbon dioxide as it enters a marine system and impacts shelled organisms. (Please note: It is likely best to save the video to your machine so that you can share it with students without viewing the Comment section posted below the video. Several of the comments are not necessarily appropriate for schools.)
• Carbon Cycle Jigsaw
  • For an adapted Lesson Plan that builds on students’ network and Cytoscape abilities, click here:  Adapted Carbon Jigsaw Lesson Plan.  See Lesson 1 and 2 from Ecological Networks for more information on network diagrams and visualization through Cytoscape.
  • Background Reading for Teachers
    • For more on Biological and Physical Pumps, see this article by Scott Nodder & Philip Boyd on Marine Snow (retrieved from the NIWA site).
    • For more on Geological Pumps, see this article by Robert A. Berner: “A New Look at the Long Term Carbon Cycle” (retrieved from the Geological Society of America).
    • For more on Biological Pumps, see “The Ocean Carbon Cycle,” published by Harvard Magazine in Nov/Dec 2002.
  • See also the Biological Pump Module from the University of WA High School Climate Science program. It is a great resource to teach students about Biological Pumps. An overview of the lesson’s questions and goals can be found on the Climate Science website.  Specifically, the slides from the PowerPoint could be used for students to build a network diagram using Cytoscape. Again, see Lesson 2 of Ecological Networks for more information on Cytoscape. Also, the PowerPoints on the Climate Science webpage on how scientists use proxies are very helpful for both teacher background information and for teaching students.

Wet Lab Simulations

• Virtual Sea Urchin Lab (Bad Acid) – Our Acidifying Ocean Website:  http://virtualurchin.stanford.edu/AcidOcean/AcidOcean.htm
  • Bad Acid Student Worksheet
• Netlogo Simulation – Use this simulation model to have students get a feel for how carbon, pH, silica-shelled diatoms, and coccolithophores might impact and affect each other in an ocean system.
  • You must first download NetLogo.  Follow the Download instructions and prompts on the NetLogo website. The program is free, but registration is necessary.
    • Click the appropriate download button for your machine.
    • Save the file to your desktop or program folder.  If you have find you have issues running any files, you may need to save all needed net logo files and programs to one folder.
    • Run the NetLogo Installer when prompted.  Allow the Wizard to guide you through the process.
  • Download this Ocean Acidification.nlogo file and save it in your NetLogo folder.  You can download the file by right-clicking the link and selecting “Save As.”  Save it in the NetLogo folder on your Desktop or in the Models subfolder.
  • View the contents of the program folder and launch NetLogo.
    • You will find there are many files and programs to choose from.
    • Scroll through to find the main, non-3D version of NetLogo.  Double click to launch that NetLogo program.
  • Once open, select the File tab, then click the Open option.  Select to open the Ocean_Acidification.nlogo file that you previously saved.

• From the open model, click the Information tab to read the instructions and run the model.

Finding Current Data from around the Globe

• Global Carbon Atlas:  http://www.globalcarbonatlas.org
• Puget Sound – Worksheet making use of the Department of Ecology’s Eyes Over Puget Sound
• Mauna Loa – Worksheet guiding students through Mauna Loa data
• Carbon Seeps – Areas in the ocean where carbon dioxide swells up from the ocean floor are called carbon seeps.  These areas of high carbon gases and lowered pH offer insight into ocean acidification.  Have students use the internet to research more on these carbon seeps.  A good place to start is withWoods Hole Oceanographic Institute.  Here is an article with more information from the Max Planck Institute.
• Online Data Repositories – there are many, here are a few to get you started:
  • Northwest Association of Networked Ocean Observing Systems:  NANOOS.  In addition to data, NANOOS also provides lesson plans on how to bring NANOOS data into your classes.
  • The Earth System Research Laboratory’s Global Monitoring Division at NOAA is especially useful when looking for data on trends.
  • Ocean Data Viewer:  http://data.unep-wcmc.org/
  • This NOAA webpage leads to many data access sites.
  • CIA World Factbook:  While this does not seem like a resource you might go to for more information on ocean acidification, it has been very helpful in this module for students to peruse.  Use this resource to have students learn more about various countries, their water resources, and their economies and to gain further insight into their interest group.
• How do scientists get data?  This is an important question and the answer is not always easy for students to visualize.  This video, Inches of Snow and Tide, from the Olympic National Park discusses sea level rise and climate change research. Beginning at minute 10.00 and going to 13.00, two scientists work on downloading a year’s worth of interdial zone temperature data.  The visual on the sensors, the STEM process, and on being a scientist who gets their hands dirty, are terrific and beneficial for students to see.

What the Past Tells Us

The past tells us a great deal about current conditions in the ocean. Scientists use reliable data from the past on trends and rates of change to make predictions about our future.  Here are a few marine education resources on using our past to understand the future.

• Background on ice cores and carbon dioxide:  B. Geerts’ website – Chapter 1: Ice Cores.  Text cleaned up in a Word Document.
• For more background information see the article, “The Geological Record of Ocean Acidification,” by B. Hönish et al., Science, 2 March 2012, Vol. 335 no. 6072 pp. 1058-1063.  A PDF can also be downloaded through many sites such as:  http://droyer.web.wesleyan.edu/Honisch_et_al_2012_Science_ocean_acidification.pdf .
• Chapter 12 of the textbook, BSCS: An Inquiry Approach (Level II) gives a nice description of how foram shells can be used to measure the ratio of oxygen isotopes to better understand the past.
  • Teacher Resource linking to articles and key words for learning more about long term effects and studies.
• Collaborative animation showing compiled time history data:  Trends in Atmospheric CO₂.
  • Walking students through this 3 minute animation is very important. There is a lot of information in the animation, which can be easily lost when first viewed.  Walking students through the video is well worth the 3 minutes.  It is a VERY powerful visual that gives us insight into our past and future.  It also is a terrific example of the understanding that can come from combining multiple data types and sources.  One of the key things to point out to students is that the rate of change in carbon dioxide levels in our atmosphere is 10-100 times faster than ever observed through our geologic records.
• Ice Core Studies:
  • Lab Activity from the University of Washington’s Climate Science program – adapted by SEE teacher Mari Knutson Herbert.  See the Climate Science pagefor more information and more resources.
  • Teacher Resource for activity
  • Student Instructions
  • Student Worksheet
  • Graphs for the activity
  • See the Ice Core Labs page of the UW for more student and teacher resources.
  PLEASE NOTE:  To return to the updated DRAFT version:  Lesson 5b – Online Data and Supplemental Evidence. Any feedback can be submitted to Claudia Ludwig at cludwig@systemsbiology.org or 206-732-1453.