hot topics - curriculum for secondary grades topics - curriculum for secondary grades table of...

Hot Topics

Climate

Forests

Habitat

Invasives

Oceans

Pollinators

Watersheds

Wildland Fire

C u r r i c u l u m f o r s e c o n d a r y g r a d e s

A National Network of Field Classrooms Connecting Students, Teachers, and Parents to Their Public Lands and Waterways

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Hot Topics - Curriculum for Secondary Grades

Table of ContentsINTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................. 2

HOT TOPICS WEBSITE ACTIVITY ............................................................................................... 3

ORIGIN AND DESTINATION WATERSHED MAPS .............................................................................. 6

MATHABITAT ...................................................................................................................... 9

THE FALLEN LOG ............................................................................................................... 11

WEED PULL DESIGN ............................................................................................................ 17

PROBING FOR POLLINATORS ................................................................................................. 23

NO BURNIN’ DOWN THE HOUSE .............................................................................................. 25

OCEAN ACIDIFICATION ......................................................................................................... 27

OZONE INQUIRY ................................................................................................................. 29

Hot Topic Curriculum Page 1 of 33 Hands on the Land

Introduction

Project BackgroundThe Hot Topics Curriculum has been compiled from Hands on the Land member-posted educator resources. Additional lessons were developed in conjunction with Olympic National Park and the North Olympic Peninsula Skills Center (NOPSC). Some lessons were field-tested by teachers and students involved in the Elwha Summer Field Course a Natural Resource Science class offered to high school students grades 9 to 12.

The following lesson plans may be adapted for middle school and high school students.

About the North Olympic Peninsula Skills CenterThe North Olympic Peninsula Skills Center (NOPSC) offers cost effective, quality job training in programs that would be too expensive to offer at the high school. The NOPSC provides an opportunity for students between the ages of 16 and 21 to receive career training as part of their public education with no cost to the student. The NOPSC prepares students with the academic and work skills to successfully enter the job market or advanced education/training.

Thank youMany thanks go out to participating researchers, Susan Sachs, Greg Ira, Daniel Lieberman, Kiley Barbero, David Swan and the excellent students who were involved with development and testing of the following activities.

Nootka Rose, by Leah Marsh, 9th Grade


Activity 1 All Topics

Hot Topics Website Activity

Overview

In an attempt to capture the character of the 19th Century naturalist, we have developed this place-based collection of student-based observations and reflections. The database developed for this lesson may be posted to by Hands on the Land’s registered users. If you would like to be a part of this project, please send us a note requesting access for you or your students.

http://www.handsontheland.org/feedback.html

For this overarching lesson students will be entering place-based data, photographs, and observations into a live website database. Each entry will be associated with one of Hands on the Land’s Hot Topics: Climate, Forests, Habitat, Invasives, Oceans, Pollinators, Watersheds, and Wildland Fire.

Focus Question

• What is data?• How do we make observations?• The importance of scientific analysis and philosophical reasoning?

BackgroundWe all must be keen observers, whether we are naturalists or just human beings trying to figure out our life. But being an observer and not jumping to conclusions is only the first half of the program. We must also draw conclusions from what we observe. If we don’t, then we run the risk of thinking that there really are no conclusions to be made. Eventually, we must take the risk and draw a conclusion, because there are conclusions to be made. And this is our journey.

What about truth? Is truth observable? Is the nature of truth a conclusion we can make? If we are a true skeptic, we don’t allow ourselves to assign a judgment to the


Hot Topic All Topics

Drawing from Cyclopedia, 1728

Class Time Required

2 class periods plus field work

Materials Needed GPS, science notebook, Internet connection

Prior Student Knowledge

The scientific method

Vocabulary GPS, Hypothesis

http://www.handsontheland.org/feedback.html


nature of truth. But even the skeptic can’t help from leaning this way and that way toward a particular ideal or presuppositions. It’s in our nature. These leanings are unavoidable.

We are continually bombarded with observations in the natural world that help us define truth. These observations beg questions as well as answers. Why are there so many stars? Why is water liquid on earth? What is the human mind?

We are also given testimonials to truth from witnesses. These observations of others also beg questions and answers—unless we just consider all testimonial of all other humans to be either lies, fantasy or insanity. If we believe the observations of others, then we must consider at least a part of their observations in the body of evidence. Then it’s time for us to draw conclusions. We make a judgment based on what we know.

Making observations and forming hypothesis and checking hypothesis based on more observations is most certainly the fundamental reason for science. But it is more than just science, it is what makes the human animal different indeed from all other known life.

ExplorationTime Required: 2 class periods plus field work

Part 1: ‘No Jumping to Conclusions’

Have the students arrange themselves in a circle. Pass out some natural objects, such as skins and skulls. Have a variety of objects available from which to choose.

On the first round of the activity, students will make only observations. No conclusions are to be made. Go around the table and have each student make one observation. If the student makes a conclusion say, “No conclusions please, only observations this time around.”

Next, go around the table and have them make conclusions based on their first-round observations. For example students may conclude that “the dense fur helps the beaver to stay warm in the water” or “the sharp canines are to hold flesh tightly.”

Finally, go around one more time and have the students support or contradict their conclusion based on one more piece of evidence. (Contradicting ones own conclusion is a mark of a truly superb and intellectually honest scientist!)

Explain that this in a nutshell is the Scientific method.



Part 2: Field Observations

If your students are visiting one of Hands on the Land’s sites or a local natural area have them keep a science notebook. Students will keep a log of their observations and track each observation using a GPS. They may also take photographs of interesting observations. This 'data' will be posted in the Hot Topic database back in the classroom. Data should be fact- or observation-based and should be relevant to one or more of the eight Hot Topics.

Before setting off into the field, read to your students a few excerpts from David Douglas' journal from 1823-1827 for early observational accounts by a naturalist in the Pacific Northwest.

http://www.sos.wa.gov/history/publications_detail.aspx?p=56

Part 3: Posting Observations

Each group will register with Hands on the Land and gain a username and password. http://www.handsontheland.org/. Users will need approval from Hands on the Land’s website administrator before they can post data.

Once users are approved, students may post their observations. Work within group to choose which data sets are most relevant. Log on to Hands on the Land and post your observations. Please assist with the editing of your student’s data entries.

http://www.handsontheland.org/environmental-monitoring/hot-topics-data.html

While browsing this curriculum, this icon represents observation posting opportunities.

Part 4: Posting Reflections and Analysis

In the commenting area for each data entry (Reflections), students may post their conclusions, hypotheses or some interesting analysis.

Lesson modified from activity developed by North Olympic Peninsula Skill Center and Olympic National Park.


http://www.sos.wa.gov/history/publications_detail.aspx?p=56

http://www.handsontheland.org/environmental-monitoring/hot-topics-data.html

http://www.handsontheland.org/

Activity 2 Watersheds

Origin and Destination Watershed Maps

OverviewStudents will learn about watersheds by analyzing a variety of maps. They will discover the geographical area where their water originates and plot where it goes.

Focus Question• What is a watershed?

BackgroundEveryone lives in a watershed. The boundaries of a watershed are defined by the topography of the earth and how gravity channels water into aquifers, streams, rivers, lakes and oceans. A watershed can be as large as the area east of the Continental Divide or as small as a few-acre marsh located along a seashore. But no matter how large or small your watershed is, someone or something is affected by the waste-water you release downstream. And unless you collect purified rainwater to drink, your water has been affected by someone or something upstream.


Hot Topic Watersheds

Watershed observations, photo courtesy of NRCS

Class Time Required

1-2 class periods

Materials Needed A copy of your school’s watershed on 8” x 11” paper for each student group


General local geography

Vocabulary aquifer, aquifer recharge zone, hydrology, topography, watershed


Exploration Time Required: 1-2 class periods

Discuss with your students the reasons why hydrologists try to calculate flow and map the movement of water below and above ground. Then have your students work in groups of two or three to create a map of where your school's water originates and where it goes. Each group can pick one water source and trace it to the origin of their choosing (there will most likely be more than one).

The scale of map for this activity will depend on the location of your school. Students in the Mississippi watershed will need a map of North America, while students along an isolated coastal region may need a localized map. Maps of various scales with river and water body layers are available on-line from the National Atlas.

Students will need to research the locations of associated rivers, topography, and possibly aquifers to complete their maps. Have them mark incoming water with a blue line and outgoing water with a red line. If their water comes from aquifer, help them understand about aquifer recharge zones so they can include those on their map. Have them also shade their total incoming watershed with blue. Afterward, students should share their maps with each other. They may find that there are a variety of sources for the water they drink at school.

Using Google Earth or Google Maps online, have the students follow their blue lines upstream to find possible pollution sources. They should also consider whether their town is a possible pollution source for people downstream (along the red line).

Websites and Software• http://www.nationalatlas.gov

• http://www.charttiff.com/

• http://www.usgsquads.com/svcs_contour_extraction.htm

• Google Earth


http://www.usgsquads.com/svcs_contour_extraction.htm

http://www.charttiff.com/

http://www.nationalatlas.gov/


ElaborationTime Required: 1 class period

As an extension to this activity, have your students research some of the people or communities who use the water downstream. What do these people do for a living? How are they affected by the water? What methods do they use for treating water before drinking it? Also, if applicable, have your students research industrial use of the water in the blue shaded area on their maps. How do these industries affect the water that your students are drinking?

Lesson modified from activity developed by Great Smoky Mountains National Park.


Post your observational findings on Hands on the Land’s Hot Topic observation map.

Activity 3 Habitat

Mathabitat

Overview

Students will learn about how energy moves through an ecosystem and the food web. Students will use algebra to explore simplified food webs for three common ecosystems of the Pacific Northwest.

Focus Questions• How are ecosystems structured?

• How does energy flow through an ecosystem?

Background All ecosystems are based upon the abiotic characteristics of the landscape and climate. The combined topography, soil type, amount of precipitation, amount of sunlight, temperature regime, and wind regime all affect what kind of life will grow in a particular area.

Out of these abiotic factors emerge the first level of life—the producers. As a group, producers make up what ecologists refer to as the first trophic level. Producers are algae, cyanobacteria, and plants within an ecosystem. They produce the foods on which organisms within the other trophic levels feed. Trophic levels are simply a way for ecologists to describe the food chain.

It is important to note that trophic levels are visualized as pyramidal in form. Because energy is lost in the form of heat at each level, the quantity of life that can be supported becomes smaller at each level. All biological factors decrease at each ascending level: energy, biomass, and number of organisms.


Hot Topic Habitat

Class Time Required

1 class period

Materials Needed Internet connection


Students should have a basic understanding of predator-prey relationships and what energy is.

Vocabulary aboitic, biotic, consumer, cyanobacteria, decomposer, food web, herbivore, primary producers, trophic levels

Activity 3 Habitat

Biological systems are typically composed of four trophic levels:

1 2 3 4

primary producers primary consumers secondary consumers tertiary consumers

plants and algae herbivores small carnivores large carnivores

There are animals that overlap these groupings, such as scavengers, decomposers and omnivores.

ExplorationTime Required: 30 minutes

Visit this webpage: http://www.handsontheland.org/educator-resources/hol-games/hol-sponsored-games/mathabitat.html

Have your students play the game in groups of two. They will be building trophic pyramids for three Pacific Northwest ecosytems: alpine, rain forest and river.

Drag the food web components and place them in the trophic pyramid. Each trophic level (row) must contain the same values. For example, all abiotic factors of the rain forest ecosystem must be a value of 7. To complete each of the three ecosystems, the eco-factor must equal 100 for each ecosystem. Students may use algebra to figure out which components fit in each ecosystem. When you click on each component, a clue will be provided at the bottom. Use the following equation to solve for the missing values:

(1 x carnivore) + (2 x herbivore) + (3 x producer) + (4 x abiotic factor) = 100

c+2h+3p+4a = 100

Lesson modified from activity developed by Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve.


http://www.handsontheland.org/educator-resources/hol-games/hol-sponsored-games/mathabitat.html





Activity 4 Forests

The Fallen Log

Overview: Students will examine and compare fallen logs and learn about decomposition, nutrient cycling, microhabitats, and soil/humus formation

Focus Questions:• What is the purpose of

decomposition in a forest ecosystem?

Background You and your best friend are walking in the woods on a beautiful fall day. You see two fallen trees lying near each other. You friend kicks one of the trees—it immediately falls apart, almost like dust!! You decide to kick the other tree but (OUCH!!) you hurt your foot and the tree does not even move! We are going to examine two different trees and see what could have caused these drastic differences and how this relates to our unit on earth’s surface (soil).

ExplorationTime Required: 1 class period plus field work

Part 1: Review with Students

• Introduce or review the carbon-oxygen cycle

• Review the role of bacteria in decomposition

• Review the role of decomposition in creating rich soil


Hot Topic Forests

Nurse Log, photo courtesy of NPS

Class Time Required

1 class period plus field work

Materials Needed(per group)

2 x Containers with lids, 3 x Clear plastic bags, 1 x Hand Lens/field microscopes, 1 x GPS, 1 x Field guide on insects, 1 x Field guide on fungi, 3 x Tweezers/forceps, 1 x Thermometer (optional), 1 x Soil Thermometer


Prior experience with use of science tools and/or with hunting and gathering would be helpful, though not necessary.

Vocabulary photosynthesis, respiration, decomposition, fungus, bark, humus, microorganisms, plants, carbon cycle, decomposers, fossil fuels

Activity 4 Forests

Part 2: Field work

Bring students to a location with previously identified dead logs (preferably one recently dead and one heavily decomposed).

a. Ask the Question: “What would the area (forest, woods) look like if logs (or any plants or animals) did not decompose?”

b. Divide the students into two groups. Each group should examine a log and complete the questions on the data sheet. Have the students collect interesting and small items in the clear containers for viewing under the field microscopes.

c. After the students have completed the data sheets and examined items (including at least one fungus) under the field microscope, have them switch and examine the other log.

Part 3: Discussion

a. Answer and discuss the assessment questions as a group and allow each student to record an answer.

b. Review the key concepts (items on pre-post-test).

Part 4:

At this point you can introduce the life cycle of a tree. Describe the role of decomposers in the cycling of nutrients and focus on the carbon containing woody tissue of trees. Introduce the cycling of carbon by describing how carbon moves from the atmosphere to wood in the tree (through photosynthesis), then follow three paths after the tree dies: 1) decomposes and return to atmosphere through respiration of decomposers, 2) burns returning carbon to the atmosphere as smoke, and 3) is buried under sediments and over time and with the right geologic conditions is converted to hydrocarbons like coal, oil, and gas.

ElaborationHave your class post a photograph or describe their log or species they find. Record the location with a GPS.

Lesson modified from Florida Department of Environmental Protection's LIFE program and Project Learning Tree



Activity 4 Forests

Earth’s Surface: The Fallen Log Student Data Sheet

Full Name: Date:

School (teacher): Time:

Latitude: Longitude:

Hypothesis: If two trees are found on the ground after they have fallen, then I will/will not (circle one) be able to tell which tree has been dead for a longer period of time because

Field Observations/Measurements/Data

Item Log #_____ Log #_____

Is the log wet or dry?

• On top:

• On bottom:

Top: Top:

Bottom: Bottom:

Is there bark on the log? What is its condition?

What kinds of plants are growing on the log?

What kinds of animals are on the bark?

What kinds of animals are under the bark?

What kinds of animals are under the log?

What do the animals you see appear to be doing?

What evidence of animal activity do you see on or around the log?

Is the wood hard or soft (soft can be easily broken by hand)


Activity 4 Forests

Earth’s Surface: The Fallen Log Assessment

1) On which log do you see more animal activity? Why?

2) Compare the two logs. Which one had more plant life growing on it? Why?

3) Which tree has been dead the longest time? The least time? What makes you think so?

4) How would forests be different if trees were cut and removed before they died and fell?

5) What is the relationship between decomposers and rich soil?

6) Imagine that you are looking to grow a vegetable garden this year. Describe land/soil features that would help you grow the best vegetables.


Activity 4 Forests

Portfolio Journal Prompt:

In the forest, decomposing plants and animals eventually add to the fertility of the soil so other plants can grow. Before you begin writing, think about how this continuous cycling of matter might take place under a single tree. Now, explain how this ecological concept might relate to the Chinese saying, “The fallen leaf returns to its roots.”


Activity 4 ForestsComplete the Carbon – Oxygen Cycle concept diagram below

Dead plants

Plants

Respiration

_______________ in the air

Producing water and . . .

_______________

Is us ed by . . .

Respiration releases . . .

Is used by . . .

Oxygen

____________

convert carbon dioxide to useful energy through. . .

Convert oxygen and carbohydrates in the process of

die

Convert oxygen and carbo-hydrates in the process of

Soil

Decompose and return nutrients to . . .

Supports

Burn and release . . .


Activity 5 Invasives

Weed Pull Design

Overview: From a land manager’s perspective, some plants are ‘bad’ because they disrupt natural cycles. These species are known as non-native, invasive species or weeds.

Through this assignment, students will identify areas where noxious weeds need to be removed. They will develop and implement a plan to reduce the impact of invasive plant species.

Focus Questions:• What are invasive species?

• How do they impact ecosystems?

BackgroundAs our bodies are prone to invading diseases, so our landscape is subject to plant and animal invaders. Federal land managers use a variety of physical, chemical and biological control methods to manage exotic, invasive species.

One way to protect our bodies from foreign biological invaders is to keep our bodies healthy. Similarly land managers also help to protect and restore native habitat. But sometimes that’s not enough. Aggressive invasive species are sometimes pulled, sprayed with chemicals or managed with natural biological enemies.

In this activity students will develop a plan for the physical management of an invasive weed in your area.

For more information on managing invasive species, see US Fish and Wildlife’s Training for Managing Invasive Species website:

http://www.fws.gov/invasives/staffTrainingModule/


Hot Topic Invasives

A student removes Herb Robert from campground

Class Time Required

1 class period and 1 field day

Materials Needed Worksheets, gloves, bags



Vocabulary Exotic, invasive, non-native

National Science Standards

K-12 Standards A1, A2, C2, G2, G3, G4

http://www.fws.gov/invasives/staffTrainingModule/


ExplorationTime Required: 1 class period and 1 field day

Part 1: Choose a location to pull weed

For this lesson, you will need to choose a location for your weed pull project. You may choose a nearby park, natural area, or even your school yard. If the area is not at your school, you will need to make a connection with a nearby public land. No matter where you live there will be some invasive species in which land managers will be looking to remove. Some species are better than others for removing by physical extraction.

Part 2. Weed Pull Design (in classroom and/or field):

Divide your students into groups of 4 or 5 students. Students will use the Weed Pull Design Packet to design a weed pull plan. Copy enough packets to have one packet per group.

Part 3: Weed Pull Service Project (in field):

Plan a visit to your site and have each group complete their weed removal plan. Remind your students to not hurt other native species while they are implementing their plan. It may be that the land manager will have a defined method of their own to pursue. If so, have each group present their proposed plan to the land manager for his or her feedback.

Elaboration1) While they are pulling weeds have them make up a song about weed removal.

Singing makes tedious work more tolerable and fun!

2) Take photographs of the bags of weeds pulled and post the photographs with observational findings on the Hot Topic observation map.

Lesson modified from activity developed by North Olympic Peninsula Skill Center and Olympic National Park.




Weed Pull Design Packet

Objective: Develop and implement a plan to reduce the impact of invasive species in your area.

Gather Information:

Explore Ideas:

Plan Summary:



Steps to Do the Plan

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.



Weed Pull Peer Review

Please give your plan to at least two peers who will include their review below:

1.

2.



How will you change your plan based on the feedback you have received?


Activity 6 Pollinators

Probing for Pollinators

Overview: In this 60 second game, you'll hover above a flower and use your proboscis to figure out what adaptation a species of plant uses to attract pollinators.

Focus Question:• How do plants adapt to attract

pollinators?

BackgroundSpecial relationships develop between flowers and animals that feed on the sugary nectar and protein from pollen-rich flowers. The symbiotic relationship that form between species provide vital pollination services for the plant while providing food for insects, birds and even bats.

As an animal feeds pollen is transferred from the male part of the flower (anthers) to the female part of the flower (stigma). During this process fertilization may occur causing a seed to develop. Fertilization occurs when a sperm from the pollen unites with an egg within the plant’s ovary.

Plants have adapted in various ways to attract insects and other pollinators to the appropriate flowers. One example is illustrated by this activity.

On Lantana camara, the cluster of individual flowers produces one ring of new flowers per day. Initially, the flowers are yellow and full of nectar. The pollen and stigma are mature and ready for pollination by insects. In the following days, the flowers turn shades of pink, orange and red, have less nectar and are no longer viable for pollination. After 3-12 days all of the flowers have opened in the inflorescence.

Some butterflies have learned to associate yellow flowers with nectar, which benefits both the butterfly and the plant.


Hot Topic Pollinators

Class Time Required

1 class period

Materials Needed Internet access


Pollination process

Vocabulary Anthers, pollinator, inflorescence, stigma, symbiosis

Activity 6 Pollinators

ExplorationTime Required: 1 class period

Have your students go to the Hands on the Land website and play Probing for Pollinators. This game places the students into the position of the Gulf Fritillary butterfly. In order to gain points, students must pollinate as many flowers as possible in 60 seconds. To pollinate many flowers students must adapt their method of pollination based what they learn about the viability and color of the Lantana flowers.

Before they play the game, don’t reveal to them adaptation that Lantana has developed with pollinators.http://www.handsontheland.org/educator-resources/hol-games/hol-sponsored-games/probing-for-polinators.html

If your students log in before playing, their high scores will be saved.

Elaboration1) Go outside and play the Pollination Activity for a hands-on challenge. See:

http://www.handsontheland.org/data/documents/pollgame.pdf

2) Have your students research and learn about a special flower-pollinator relationship in your area. Document one of those species with a photograph and a GPS location on Hands on the Land’s Hot Topic observation map.

Adapted from a pollinator activity on Clemson University's website.



http://www.handsontheland.org/data/documents/pollgame.pdf

http://www.handsontheland.org/educator-resources/hol-games/hol-sponsored-games/probing-for-polinators.html

http://www.handsontheland.org/educator-resources/hol-games/hol-sponsored-games/probing-for-polinators.html

Activity 7 Wildland Fire

No Burnin’ Down the House

Overview:

Play with digital fire and find out how researchers manage forests that are near people’s homes, yet depend on fire.

Focus Question:• How do forest managers protect

structures and the environment in fire-dependent ecosystems?

Background Too often we arrive at black and white judgments: fair weather is good, fire is bad. However, life is rarely this simple.

For the ponderosa pine, fire is an essential part of its life cycle. This tree is endowed with thick bark that is somewhat fire resistant. If it were not for fire, other trees would snuff out a ponderosa's light from above and draw off its water from below. For communities of ponderosa pines and those plants and animals that depend on open-canopied forests, fire is good.

On the other hand—in the case of the town of Stehekin at the north end of Lake Chelan—fire would destroy homes and other buildings. Yet, without fire, our food would not be cooked, nor would our homes be warm. Forests from which we harvest great numbers of resources would be unhealthy were it not for fire. For humans, fire is both bad and good.

Forest fires tend to have a cleaning effect in forest communities. They burn through brush, limbs and logs to clear out 'fuel' that would otherwise accumulate and create the potential for dramatic forest-infernos. In Stehekin, forest fires have been suppressed for many years, thus creating a tinderbox of logs, limbs and brush in nearby forests. One lightning bolt or match could set off a massive fire-in-waiting. The National Park Service has embarked on a Forest Fuel Reduction Plan near Stehekin to help reduce fuel accumulated in nearby forests. This plan is intended to protect Stehekin residents from forest fires as well as to protect the biological


Hot Topic Wildland Fire

Photo credit: US Forest Service

Class Time Required

1 class period

Materials Needed Internet connection


None

Vocabulary Forest ecologist, over-story, pole, snag

Activity 7 Wildland Fire

integrity of the forests. By both removing accumulated fuels and setting fires under carefully determined conditions (prescribed fires), the National Park Service is reducing the risk of catastrophic fire in the Stehekin Valley.

ExplorationTime Required: 1 class period

With this online activity, your students will act out the part of a forest ecologist who maintains a unit of Douglas-fir/Ponderosa Pine forest at North Cascades National Park. Their duty will be to keep old John McMillian's cabin from burning down, while at the same time keeping the forest community healthy and intact. Visit this website:

http://www.handsontheland.org/fire-effects

Create the landscape of your choice by clicking the words below the landscape feature, then click "Set Landscape." A lightning button will appear. Click it to test your landscape under fire conditions. When your landscape has an Eco-factor of 8 or greater and your Fire Potential is 2 or less, an eagle will appear and congratulate you.

Adapted from North Cascades National Park's Homeward Bound Journey.


http://www.handsontheland.org/fire-effects

Activity 8 Oceans

Ocean Acidification

Overview: NOAA’s Data in the Classroom website features five activities at different levels to help you learn about ocean acidification using real data.

Teach your students about the phenomenon of ocean acidification by using this five-lesson curriculum module that incorporate real data from NOAA. Delve into the atmospheric and oceanic chemistry behind this CO2-related issue.

Focus Questions:• How might climate change affect

ocean chemistry?

BackgroundIncreasing carbon in the atmosphere not only affects the global climate, but also affects the chemistry of our global ocean. Almost a third of the CO2

released into the air is absorbed by our oceans. At first glance that might seem like a good thing, but scientists are now finding that increases in ocean carbon lead to a shift in ocean chemistry. This process known as ocean acidification limits the ability for marine organisms to absorb calcium carbonate minerals, potentially affecting populations of coral reefs and other marine species that depend on these minerals for shell and skeleton building.

ExplorationTime Required: 1-5 class periods

To use the entire curriculum, visit Data in the Classroom and download the curriculum.

http://www.dataintheclassroom.org/content/oa


Hot Topic Oceans

Photo credit: National Park Service

Class Time Required

1 - 5 class periods

Materials Needed Internet connection, a shell or piece of coral, vinegar


Students will need to have a basic understanding of pH, chemistry and the carbon cycle.

Vocabulary Acid, aragonite, carbon dioxide, pH

http://www.dataintheclassroom.org/content/oa

Activity 8 Oceans

You may simplify the full 5-day lesson plan into one or two class periods by doing the following.

Step 1: View Simulation

Go to the website above and show them the Carbonate Simulation. Click “View IPCC Projection.” Explain the graph and describe how when CO2 increases pH decreases, thereby increasing the acid level of the ocean.

Step 2: Shell Experiment

If you have a cupped-shaped shell, you can pour vinegar into the shell. As an acid, vinegar will cause the shell to dissolve. You can see this by looking at the bubbles forming on the inside of the shell.

CaCO3+ 2H+ -> Ca+2 + H2O +CO2

calcium carbonate + hydrogen ions -> calcium + water + carbon dioxide

Explain to your students that the ocean will not become so acidic that it will dissolve shells, but that this experiment demonstrates how hydrogen icons can help to limit the ability for growing organisms to get aragonite for their calcareous body structures.

If you have time, have them work with the online simulation to see how the coral environment changes due to more or less carbon in the atmosphere.

Step 3: Compare NOAA Data

Visit the website again and click Get Data. Have your students browse the data looking for interesting patterns. For example:

• Compare a present day saturation state map with an older saturation state map

• Compare a present day pH map with an older pH map

• Compare a time series graph of pH to saturation state and to pCO2sw

ElaborationTake two interesting graph comparisons and post them with a location on Hands on the Land’s observation map.

Lesson adapted from NOAA’s Data in the Classroom project.



Activity 9 Climate

Ozone Inquiry

Overview:

Join Great Smoky's gastropod Ozzy Ozone to learn about how ground level ozone affects plants. Test out your skills in recognizing ozone-related injury.

Focus Questions:• What is the difference between

the ozone layer and ground-level ozone?

BackgroundAlthough climate change usually refers to long-term changes in temperature and precipitation patterns in the earth’s atmosphere, it may also refer to other more obscure long-term atmospheric changes such as the presence of ground-level atmospheric ozone.

Ozone occurs naturally in the air we breathe. It collects in a thin band high up in the atmosphere called the Ozone Layer. When found there, ozone is extremely beneficial to all life on earth because it absorbs damaging UV radiation. But when ozone is generated from pollution sources and collects close to the ground (tropospheric ozone), it can be highly damaging to sensitive tissues in both plants and animals.

How do we know that tissue damage in plants is caused by tropospheric ozone? In 1988, researchers in Great Smoky Mountains National Park set up study chambers with over 100 species of plants growing in them to determine which plants were affected by ozone. The result of this study is that 30 species were classified as highly sensitive and another 60 species showed some signs when exposed to high levels of ozone.


Hot Topic Climate

Class Time Required

2 class periods

Materials Needed Internet connection and copies of the worksheet



Vocabulary Chlorosis, necrosis, ozone, purpling, troposphere

Activity 9 Climate

The highly sensitive species showed symptoms after being exposed to ozone levels as low as 10 parts per billion (ppb). In contrast, the EPA has set 65 ppb as the National Ambient Air Quality Standard (the level safe for people to be outside with no ill health effects).

What can we do to prevent ozone damage to vegetation and to other sensitive organic tissues (like your lungs)? Now that we understand that extreme levels of tropospheric ozone may come from pollution, we will begin our search for treatments there.

ExplorationTime Required: 1 or 2 class period

Step 1: Brainstorming

Explain to your students that combustion of fuel and air in automobile engines and in factories is what leads to the production of ozone. Have your students come up with a list of ways they can help to limit the production of ground-level ozone. Some examples are:

• Ride a bike or walk to get places more often than driving.

• Conserve energy at your home or school.

• Eat foods and buy goods that are less processed. (Many factories that process goods release nitrogen-based wastes into the air.)

Step 2: Visit Ozzy Ozone Webpage

Copy the following worksheet for your students. Divide your students into groups of two or three and have them fill out the worksheet while using the Internet activity.

This tool was developed by Great Smoky National Park in order to help citizen scientists learn how to recognize foliar injury on plants in their ozone gardens. See Hands on the Land’s Ozone Bio-monitoring page for more information:

http://www.handsontheland.org/environmental-monitoring/ozone-bio-monitoring.html

Lesson from Parks as Classrooms - Great Smoky Mountains National Park O3 Skills Center


http://www.handsontheland.org/environmental-monitoring/ozone-bio-monitoring.html

Name ______________________________

O3 Skills Center Student Worksheet Go to the O3 Inquiry website: http://www.handsontheland.org/ozone-inquiry

Answer the following questions in a few phrases or in a sentence. 1. What does chlorosis look like?

2. What does chlorosis mean for the plant?

3. What does necrosis look like?

4. What does necrosis mean for the plant?

5. What does purpling/stippling look like?

6. What does purpling/stippling mean for the plant?

7. What is happening inside of the leaf?

8. How do we know that the symptoms are from ozone?

9. Choose one Plant in the drop down menu. Circle the one chosen: Plant 1, Plant 2, Plant 3, Plant 4

10. Choose one of the following Dates in the drop down menu.Circle which one you chose: June 29, July 6, July 13, July 20, July 27, August 4

11. Complete the following table using the following foliar area injury codes: 0 = leaf missing 1 = 0% 2 = 1%-6% 3 = 7%-25% 4 = 26%-50% 5 = 51%-75% 6 = 76%-100%

Chlorosis Purpling Necrosis

Leaf A Leaf B Leaf A Leaf B Leaf A Leaf B Set 8 Set 7 Set 6 Set 5 Set 4 Set 3

Set 2

Set 1

12. Insert the above data into the O3 Skills Center website and click the “Check” button. What is your score? ________


13. When was the first observed date the selected plant flowered (click at the top of the plant for each week to determine if the plant has flowered)? Circle which date the selected plant flowered: July 27, August 4, August 11, August 31, September 7, September 14

14. Choose another Date (use a date listed below) in the drop down menu using the same selected plant as before. Circle which one you chose: August 11, August 31, September 7, September 14, September 20, September 28

15. Complete the following table using the following foliar area injury codes: 0 = leaf missing 1 = 0% 2 = 1%-6% 3 = 7%-25% 4 = 26%-50% 5 = 51%-75% 6 = 76%-100%

Chlorosis Purpling Necrosis

Leaf A Leaf B Leaf A Leaf B Leaf A Leaf B

Set 8 Set 7 Set 6 Set 5 Set 4 Set 3

Set 2 Set 1

16. Insert the above data into the O3 Skills Center website and click the “Check” button. What is your score? ________

17. Describe three differences you observed between the two dates selected.

1.

2.

3.


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