Activity 1 - Water on Earth model

This activity is Activity 8 in the Pollution Unit and has more related to water and pollution in the unit.

Materials

• Globe, different sized containers, liter, 500 ml, 100 ml, 10 ml
• Graph paper
• Lab notes

Focus questions: 

1. How is water on Earth distributed?
2. How much water on Earth is drinkable?

Challenge

Make a model that shows the distribution of water on Earth.

Learning outcomes:

1. Make and describe a model that shows the percentage of water on earth that is fresh.

Exploration 

1. Organize learners into groups and pairs.
2. Have each learner decide which finger they want to use as the landing indicator.

3. Tell the learners you will gently toss it them and they will tell if their selected finger is in water or on land. Toos them the globe and they will say (right or left) hand and (thumb, index finger, middle finger, ring finger, or pinky) Repeat tossing the globe, and have another learner record if the position of their choice is on water or land.
4. Repeat the toss to all students in the class. If there is less than 25 students, then have some repeat a catch till you get to 25. Or if there is more than 25, you might want to continue to 50. As a mater of fact you may want to do 50 tosses no matter what, so you can just double the amount of selected fingers on the ocean to get a percentage.
5. Tell. How can we use the results to determine how much of the Earth is covered with water? Make a fraction. 71/100 or  71% 
6. Use 1,000 ml of water as the total amount of water on the Earth. Make a model to show how much would be drinkable or fresh water (fresh water can be defined as water that has less than 1,000 milligrams per liter of dissolved solids (salts)). There are three main sorces of freshwater; glaciers, groundwater, and surface water. 

1. Use the containers to show were the water is located. Fresh water in glaciers, groundwater, and surface water. Salt water in the oceans. 
2. Ocean is about 970mL and 30 ml fresh (3%). 
   
3. Of the 30 ml or 3% being located with 70% is in glaciers, 29% in groundwater, and 1% surface water. 
4. Use this information to redistribute the 30 mL of water. 21 mL glaciers, 8.5 mL represents ground water, & .5 mL represents surface water. in containers and label them.
5. Discuss. 
6. Most learners are truly shocked when they learn about this. Provide time to process. 
• How truly limited drinkable water is. 
• The consequences of glacier melt. 
• How important groundwater is. 
• How limiting surface water is. 
• H0w pollution is more consequential when the source of fresh water is so limited.
7. How would these be represeented on a sheet of graph paper to show ... 3% of Earth's water is fresh, 97% is ocean or salt water. with the 3% showing that 70% of it is in glaciers, 29% in groundwater, and 1% surface water?

Invention 

1. Regroup as a class and groups demonstrate their models with water. and graphing.
2. Share their graph paper representations.

Activity 2 - Mapping the oceans and their currents

Materials

• Lab Note Ocean Properties
• World Map
• Ocean currents map
• Lab note

Focus questions:

1. What do you know about the location of Oceans on Earth?
2. What do you know about how their water's flow?

Learning outcomes:

1. Label a map with the position of the Oceans.
2. Draw and label the major currents in the Oceans.

Exploration - .

1. Put learners in pairs.
2. Ask. What do you know about the Ocean?
3. Record for all to view. Might want to group their ideas by the Ocean properties below.
4. Tell them. You can use this property list to add to it as we learn about the properties of the Ocean.

1. Tell the learners. We are going to explore these properties after we locate the Oceans and their currents on a world map.
2. Map the location of the Oceans on the World Map
3. Use the Ocean currents map and add the currents to your map.

Invention -

1. Review the locations of the Oceans and currents.
2. Explain that you will be doing some explorations to understand more about the Ocean currents in the coming activities, but they are going to watch some videos about what is in the oceans so they can learn about those properties and also to think about what organisms they might pick to do a deep dive aboiut them and present what they find to the class. (PUN intended)

Discover

Review properties of oceans and current in coming activities.

Activity 3 - Exploring What's in the oceans

Materials

• Ocean maps
• Video PBS - Oceans: What's under the surface (7:04)
• Video - Draining the Oceans (.34)
• Lab note

Focus questions:

1. What do you know about what is in and under the Ocean?

Learning outcomes:

1. Watch videos, identify some basic ocean zones, the geography of the Earth's Oceans, their floors, and map and diagram their characteristics in their lab notes and add to class properties list.

Exploration - .

1. Put learners in pairs.
2. Review the class list of what they know about the Ocean and say we are going to be adding to our list and their lab notes.
3. Ask. What do you know about what is in and under the Ocean?
4. Add to what has been recorded and reorganize as desired.
5. Tell. You are going to watch some videos about what is in the oceans so they can pick some organisms to do a deep dive into and present what they find to the class. (PUN intended).
6. Watch the Video on PBS - Oceans: What's under the surface (7:04)
7. Review and note ... the following information under the appropriate categoreis in the class tree or map.

Ocean properties

Light in ocean zones (sunlight, twilight, midnight).

Temperatures: Mixed layer, (55degree F,) 0 - 200 meters, Thermocline 200 - 1,000 meters, Deep water (39 degrees F)

 

Geography: Continental shelf, continental slope, abyssal plain, oceanic trench,
Mariana Trench
Ocean Ranges
Bay of Dundee

Map and video shows the oceans and drains them to show the ocean floors

Draining the Oceans (.34)

Ocean movements - currents

Variables that affect ocean currents: turning of the Earth, Tides, Temperature differences
Motion of waves, up and down till reach shore.

Invention -

Discover

 

Activity 4 - Ocean Motion

Materials:

• Clear container (about 5 liters), semi-hot water, cold water or ice, pepper, plastic bag.
• Lab note

Focus questions:

1. What causes the ocean motion?
2. How can we model the flow of currents in the ocean caused by different temperatures?
3. How does water flow?
4. How is the experiment relate to the Ocean's currents?

Learning outcomes:

1. Differences in temperature create currents.
2. Oceanographers map ocean surface temperatures using isotherms. - Isotherms are lines created by connecting places with equal temperatures.
   • Water Temperature and Current Direction (in the Northern Hemisphere). If you float on an ocean isotherm with cold water to your left and warm water to your right, the current will push you from back to front.
   • Isotherm Spacing and Current Speed. Closely spaced isotherms mean the ocean temperature changes drastically over a very short distance.This sharp temperature contrast creates a steep density slope. The steeper the slope, the higher the pressure difference, and the faster the ocean current flows.
3. Warm water is less dense and moves to the sea surface slightly increasing its height (sloping upward).
4. Cold water is denser and sits lower.
5. Water naturally wants to flow down from warm to cold. However, the earth's rotation generates the Coriolis effect, which deflects the moving water to the right in the Northern Hemisphere. This creates a balanced, stable current that flows parallel to the isotherms, keeping the cold water on its left.
6. Major global currents like the Gulf Stream are driven by these intense temperature differences and feature very tightly packed isotherms.

Exploration

1. Put learners in pairs.
2. Put the ice or cold water into the plastic bag and seal it.
3. Fill the large clear container with semi- hot water.
4. Stir in some pepper until you have a fair distribution of pepper.
5. Let the water motion settle down.
6. Slowly lower the ice bag into one end of the container.
7. Observe the current.

Invention

1. Recall and review .
2. What directions does the pepper go relative to the ice?
3. What about relatve to the warmer water in the other end of the container?

Activity 5 - Ocean Motion & Earth motion

Materials:

• Videos -
• Diagrams -
• Lazy susan, bowl,
• Lab note

Focus questions:

1. How does the Earth's motion cause the ocean motion?
2. How can we model the the relationship of the Earth's motion to the motion of the Ocean?

Learning outcomes:

1. Explain how the Ocean tides are caused by the gravitational pull of the Moon and Sun, combined with Earth's inertia and rotation, which pull the oceans into two alternating bulges. These two science experiments model and demonstrate how these forces shape our oceans

Exploration

1. Put learners in pairs.
2. Watch and discuss the NASA animatition of tides - models gravity interactions, high & low tides, solar and moon tides combined, spring and neap tides.
3. Draw models to show the moon's force related to tides.

Invention

1. Recall and review .

 

 

How does the Earth's rotation affect the motion of the Earth?

Spinning Turntable (or Lazy Susan) Experiment

Demonstrate how a straight line curves on a rotating planet.

Materials:

A lazy Susan (or rotating tray), a circular piece of paper, a ruler, and a marker.

Procedure:

Tape the paper to the tray.

Spin the tray counter-clockwise (representing Earth's rotation).

While it spins, try to draw a straight line from the center to the outer edge using the ruler. - Hold the ruler above the paper and move the pencil along it from the center to the edge as the paper spins.

The line will curve beautifully on the paper, showing how straight-moving currents are deflected by rotation.

 

The Swirling Water Tub Experiment

Models the Coriolis effect combines with land boundaries to create amphidromic points (the hubs of swirling tides).

Materials:

A circular plastic tub, water, a drop of food coloring, and a lazy Susan

Procedure

Fill the tub with water and place it on the lazy Susan.

Spin the tray steadily counter-clockwise.

When the water is moving, gently squeeze one drop of food coloring into the outer edge of the water.

The dye will swirl into a circular pattern around a calm center point, perfectly mirroring how actual ocean tides rotate around the glob.

 

Discover

• How do ocean currents affect weather and marine life.

Concepts

When used in association with water, the term "current" describes the motion of the water. Some currents you may be familiar with are the motion of rainwater as it flows down the street, or the motion of the water in a creek, stream, or river flowing from higher elevation to lower elevation. This motion is caused by gravity. The speed and direction (velocity) of currents can be measured and recorded.
Oceanic currents are driven by several factors. One is the rise and fall of the tides, which is driven by the gravitational attraction of the sun and moon on Earth's oceans. Tides create a current in the oceans, near the shore, and in bays and estuaries along the coast. These are called "tidal currents." Tidal currents are the only type of currents that change in a very regular pattern and can be predicted for future dates.
A second factor that drives ocean currents is wind. Winds drive currents that are at or near the ocean's surface. These currents are generally measured in meters per second or in knots (1 knot = 1.15 miles per hour or 1.85 kilometers per hour). Winds drive currents near coastal areas on a localized scale, and in the open ocean on a global scale.
A third factor that drives currents is thermohaline circulation - a process driven by density differences in water due to temperature (thermo) and salinity (haline) in different parts of the ocean. Currents driven by thermohaline circulation occur at both deep and shallow ocean levels and move much slower than tidal or surface currents.
The Currents Tutorial is an overview of the types of currents, what causes them, how they are measured, and how they affect people's lives.

 

Rotate a cup slowly and the water inside will push the water in the direction of the rotation.

Bulge and rotation makes tides

From bulge to low is about 6 hours or 24 hours from

high to low (6) to high(6) to low(6) back to high(6)

Law of universal attraction between objects f= force of gravitational attraction, G is the gravitational constant, m₁ is the mass of one object, m₂ is the mass of a second object, and r is the distance between the center of the two masses.

Since the distance is squared it changes considerably over distance as represented by the orange force vectors. This difference is one force that affects the motion of water currents.

Activity 6 - Class ocean mural

Materials:

• Wall covered in blue craft paper, sic foot by eight foot, resource books or access to online references for ocean organisms. Markers, wordprocessor, printer, ...
• Marine life encyclopedia
• Lab note

Focus questions:

1. What are the organisms in the ocean?

Learning outcomes:

1. Research and report on one organism that is a producer and one that is a consumer.
2. Understand how animals adapt to different ocean zones.

Exploration

1. Put students in pairs.
2. Ocean Life and Ecosystems Objective: https://ocean.si.edu/ecosystems/deep-sea/ocean-zones
3. Introduce different types of ocean life: through classification
   • Marine mammals
   • Fish
   • Reptiles
   • Crustaceans
   • Mollusks
   • Cnidaria
   • Echinoderms
   • Plankton
   • Algae
   • Seagrass
4. Write the different type where you can list examples and other notes.
5. Ask. What organisms doyou know as examples of the different types? List the examples with the class.
6. Watch the video: Learn 50 sea animals in English. (9:58)
   Maybe for younger audiences, but it does have clips of 50 actual animals. if you are asking your students to draw their selected animal, you could convince older learners that the initial pictures can illustrate how artist try to simplify them for younger children or how to make them more interesting, or to think about how they will illustrate their selection. Might discuss if this is good or not. What advantages or disadvantages there is to try to make animals look better?
   
7. Activities: Sort photos of ocean creatures by zone, small-group research on one animal, share findings. Plan: 15 min intro, 25 min group activity, 10 min presentations.
8. Have each learner select one consumer and one producer to research, illustrate, and report on.

Invention

1. Recall and review list of ocean types.
2. Each student reports on their organism: Name, size, in what ocean zone it inhabits, illustration, other properties, how it gets its energy, life cycle, .

Discover

 

 

A Powerhouse species in peril
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aeh0749

 

 

Activity 7 - Measuring ocean depth

Materials:

Prepare an ocean.

I got a very large paper towel box from my local grocer. Along with another box tout up and make the ocean floor in the bottom of the large paper towel box. Then I covered it with blue craft paper from a roll, left a very narrow opening lengthwise along the top to insert a fishing sinker weight tied to a piece of twine. Then I used meter stick to make a mark every 5 centimeters.

• Cardboard box and extra boxes or pieces of cardboard, lead sinker, twine, meter stick, Graph Paper.
• Lab notes

Focus questions:

1. How is the depth of the ocean measured?

Learning outcomes:

• Ancient mariners measured the depth of the ocean with lead and line.

Exploration

1. Ask. How do scientists measure the depth of the ocean? Ocean depth - Sonar, submersibles, ROV's.
   
2. Introduce echolocation by bats, dolphins, and sonar.
3. Compare sonar to bouncing a ball from a foot off the groud and six feet off the ground. The time it takes to go down and back can be measured and divided by two and the speed of sonar in water.
4. Mention. Sounding, which ancient mariners did with lead and line. Tell them they are going to use lead and line to map the bottom of the ocean you made. Just like ancient mariners did.

Herodotus (-440 BCE): Recorded in his Histories (Book 2, 5), this description: "... approaching the Egyptian coast and using a sounding lead sailors brought up mud when the ship was still a day's sail from land.

2. Put learners in pairs. Explain they will take turns while working on their reports and drawings for the class mural.

Invention

1. What
   

Discovery

1. Discuss how

 

Activity 8 - Human Impact on the Oceans & Conservation of Oceans

Materials

• S
• Lab notes
  

Focus questions:

1. How does

Learning outcomes:

1. Learners

Exploration

1. Ask.

Invention

1. Ask. How

Discover

 

Objective: Recognize pollution and ways to help oceans.
Activities: Examine photos of ocean pollution, brainstorm solutions, write a pledge for ocean care.
Plan: 15 min visual discussion, 20 min group brainstorm, 15 min pledge writing.

Beach safety - riptides , sun, buddy,

Story map on beach safety with videos showing six dangers

Write a plan for a beach visit.

Activity 9 -

Materials:

• M
• Lab notes

Focus questions:

1. What

Learning outcomes:

1. Explain

Exploration

1. Organize learners into pairs and groups.
2. Have learners

Invention

1. W

Discover

1. If

 

Activity 10 -

Materials

• T
• Lab notes

Focus questions:

1. How do

Learning outcomes:

1. Describe

Exploration

1. Organize learners into groups and pairs.

Invention

1. Regroup as a class and groups demonstrate their projects.
2. Ask.

Discover