New Ocean Acidification Education Tool Developed

The Ocean Acidification Module

The CRCP developed a new Ocean Acidification (OA) Data-in-the-ClassroomModule, as part of the NOAA Ocean Data Education (NODE) Project in partnership with NOAA's National Estuarine Research Reserve System and National Marine Sanctuaries. Thenew module incorporates real (and near-real time) OA data collected in theCaribbean region and maintained by the NOAA NationalOceanographic Data Center.  Thesedata sets support a collection of five scalable lesson plans with a Flash simulation of rising carbonate levels as well as other demos.  A betaversion of the module is available online.

NODE modules were selected by a teacher/scientist network tobe among the most effective web materials for building climate data literacy inthe classroom. This curriculum contains five activities designed for grades10-12, with lesson plans organized as a pathway with five levels of increasingsophistication and student engagement, starting from the simple scienceparameters and culminating in student-driven research:

  • Lesson 1: Ocean pH – Understanding spatial and temporal variations of ocean pH
  • Lesson 2: Ocean-Carbon connection –Understanding CO2-ocean connections
  • Lesson 3: Carbonate Chemistry – Ocean pH and carbonate chemistry
  • Lesson 4: Aragonite Saturation– Aragonitesaturation state and marine calcifiers
  • Lesson 5: Student-driven Investigation – Design an investigation and obtain data
Screenshot from the OA NODE Module. The screenshot includes a graph, a box where users can select OA parameters to change, and a box that shows an animation of what those parameters will do to a reef over time.