When you think about “Inquiry”what comes to mind?

Write a few thoughts on a card without your name.

You will pass in the card.

You will be asked to share what you’d like.

Ferdinand Magellan

Magellan’s Route1519-1522 CE

Another World Explorer

Ducks Ahoy!!!

Jan. 1992 – 29,000 plastic bath toys wash off of a ship in the Pacific near Int’l Dateline

Nov. 1992 – First recorded find of toys; six toys found on the southern coast of Alaska

Late 1990’s—Estimate of when toys passed Bering Straight and entered Arctic Ocean

Late 2001—Estimate of when toys entered Atlantic

Curtis Ebbesmeyer

Toy Recoveries

Toys’ Route Over 5 Years

How did the toys move?

Which could lead to investigations about…• Floating and sinking• Ocean currents• Ocean winds• ???

Hmmm…

I was just thinking about ocean currents,and that led me to the question…

What makes ocean currents move?

Let’s Investigate!

• What do we know about ocean water?– If you were to go swimming in the ocean, what

might it feel like?– Would it matter where on Earth you were

swimming?– What would you need to think about to stay

safe as you swam in deeper water?

On Your World Map

Draw arrows to show the general flow of major ocean currents.

Write a few words, phrases or sentences to tell something you know about how and why ocean currents move.

By now, we’d expect students to have brought up…

• Differences in ocean water and fresh water, especially salinity.

• Differences in temperature based on geographic locations.

• Aspects of the ocean that cannot be seen easily, such as riptides.

Cup SimulationPredictObserve

Explain

What makes the set ups behave differently?

How does this relate to our question:What makes ocean currents move?

Predict

How does this relate to ocean currents?

ObserveExplain

Note that the dye is just a marker

Words, Phrases, Sentences

Explain

What do we know is happening?• Fluid (water is moving), but so is heat• Has to do with differences in heat• Has to do with differences in density

Convective Heat Transfer—The movement of heat due to the differences

that heat causes in the density of a fluid

Warm and Cold in the Ocean

Label Your Second Handout MapCompare Your Two Maps

Ocean Currents—Major Gyres

•Magma•Hot Air Balloon•Bubbles•(Your favorite leisure activity)

How is this like/unlike…

So…

What makes ocean currents move?

How did the duckies end up exploring so far?

What else might be affected by ocean currents?

Magellan’s Route1519-1522 CE

Create a Concept Map Ocean currents

Some Terms• Convective Heat

Transfer• Water temperature• Warm water• Cool water• Density• Floating• Sinking• Gyre

• What are two attributes of ocean currents you could put on your concept map?

• What are two examples of ocean currents or things that are affected by ocean currents that you can put on your concept map?

So what?Does it matter?

Bird carcass with trash that had been eaten visible inside.

• Center for Marine Conservation has been coordinating coastal cleanups since 1986. The CMC keeps careful track of all the debris that is collected The CMC divides their data into debris found, listing the "dirty dozen"--twelve items found most frequently:

1) cigarette butts2) paper pieces3) plastic pieces4) styrofoam5) glass pieces6) plastic food bags7) plastic caps and lids8) metal beverage cans9) plastic straws10) glass beverage bottles11) plastic beverage bottles12) styrofoam cups

A Clean Beach Is A Beautiful Thing

Additional Resources

• Flotsam Science http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20070428/bob9.asp

In what ways did this model “systems”?

– Parts– Processes– Functions– Interactions– Matter– Energy– Input– Output– Feedback– Scope– Boundaries– Limits (Limiting factors)– Scale

Debrief

Think-Pair-Share

What were the parts of the lesson?

Was this inquiry? How do you know?

How could this be more like authentic inquiry?