Emerging and Re-emerging Infectious Diseases has two objectives: to introduce students to major concepts related to emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases and to convey to students the relationship between basic biomedical research and the improvement of personal and public health.
Most people understand that significant climate changes are predicted in the next century, but they may not be aware that these changes will likely vary regionally. Using climatological data from the University of New Hampshire's EOS-Webster, students will obtain annual predictions for minimum temperature, maximum temperature, precipitation, and solar radiation for Minnesota and California to explore this regional variability. They will learn how to access climate model predictions from EOS-Webster, a digital library of free Earth science data. They will then be walked through the process step-by-step of producing graphs of the data in a spreadsheet application to compare climate predictions among U.S. states through the year 2100. Students are asked to analyze the graphs to interpret regional trends in climate change. Data used: Climate Model Predictions. Tools used: EOS-Webster, and access to the a spreadsheet application like Microsoft Excel.
This website is a collection of Images and notes from a workshop presented to grade 5-12 science and math teachers, suggesting how SeaWiFS data can be incorporated into the curriculum. One of the modules is about ocean chemistry and discusses major ions in seawater, seawater composition, carbonate buffer system chemistry, dissolved organic and inorganic carbon and Redfield Ratios, nutrient loading in the ocean, and sources and sinks of carbon in marine environments.
This interactive learning demo includes two videos (ocean energy sources and global impacts) and supplementary resources. The ocean energy sources described and explained are tidal energy, ocean thermal energy conversion, and wave energy. Oil, natural gas, and methane hydrates are non-renewable but potent fossil fuels that lie buried in sea-floor sediments. There are two activities included with this learning resource: ocean thermal energy and methane hydrates.
This Webcast is an expert lecture by Dr. Kevin Trenberth of NCAR's Climate and Global Dynamics division published on June 14, 2004. The presentation includes evidence that the atmosphere is changing, discussions on global energy flows and human factors contributing to change, and concludes with predictions for the future.
As part of a high school course on astronomy, Newtonian mechanics, and spaceflight by Dr. David P. Stern, this webpage chapter explores the link between the tilt of the Earth's axis to the ecliptic and seasons of the year -- length of day, effectiveness of sunlight, polar day and night, and seasons south and north of the equator, as well as near it.
From this web page you can access graphic presentations of predicted and observed water levels, air and water temperatures, wind speed and direction, and air pressure in real time from U.S. coastal and territorial waters.
This lesson explores the effects of pollution, in particular nitrogen pollution, on marine ecosystems. Students can brainstorm the effects of pollution on marine life, examine the sources and causes of nitrogen pollution, discuss possible solutions, and apply their knowledge to specific actions in their own lives.
This animated lesson focuses on ocean currents. Some of the topics covered include: gravity- and wind-driven currents, the Coriolis Effect, El Nino, longshore currents, upwelling, and the global conveyor belt. Additional links to the global impact of ocean currents (video), El Nino (activity), and currents and marine life (activity) are available.
In this activity, students will construct models of water molecules in the three physical states. By completing this activity, students will understand that matter can be found in three forms or phases (solid, liquid, and gas) and they will be able to explain the molecular behavior of ice, water, and water vapor.
The Carbon Stabilization Wedge game, a unique, hands-on learning tool, helps students learn the impacts of different strategies for reducing greenhouse gases. To emphasize the need for early action, this activity strives to drive home the scale of the carbon mitigation challenge and the tradeoffs involved in planning climate policy. It uses the the concept of 'stabilization wedges' - 25 billion ton "wedges" that need to be cut out of predicted future carbon emissions in the next 50 years to avoid a doubling of atmospheric carbon dioxide over pre-industrial levels.
This is a 12-minute video on climate change made by the American Academy for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), which can be viewed online as RealVideo or Windows Media. Some of the nation's top climate experts are featured in this video detailing the latest science on the subject and working with the audience to explore inventive educational and technological responses to it.
This teacher guide created by AAAS is designed to give you a brief overview of Project 2061's recommendations for the relevant ideas and skills that all students should learn to understand the science of climate change, the process of scientific inquiry, and the trade-offs and constraints implicit in making choices about technology.
This hands-on Oceanography article describes an activity that helps students better understand the nonintuitive concept of diffusion and introduces them to a variety of diffusion-related processes in the ocean. As part of this activity, students also practice data collection and statistical analysis (e.g., average, variance, and probability distribution functions).
Interactive maps of surface conditions can be clicked on this tool to create in-water profiles of salinity, temperature, or density. Sources include interpolated atlas data or actual measurements from the database.
How can we use ice core data from the polar regions to investigate changes in Earth's climate past, present, and future? Students investigate climate changes going back thousands of years by graphing and analyzing ice core data from Greenland and Antarctica.
The Curriculum Guide activities engage students in an exploration of the impacts of global climate change on ecosystems and natural resources, on community, and on individuals and society.
In this lesson, students build upon their previous investigations of water and its different forms by learning about the water cycle. Students begin by reviewing previous knowledge about water and how it can freeze or turn into a gas depending on how low or high temperatures become. They then learn about the water cycle and its key processes that affect our lands, oceans, and atmosphere. The ongoing need for fresh-water conservation is also highlighted.
Students will use a lab activity to describe the change in water level when the water is exposed to heat, differentiate between thermal expansion and melting snow and ice fields as they relate to sea level rise, and predict the impact of rising sea level on coastal areas.
Students observe convection in water due to temperature differences and describe the pattern of water movement with words and pictures. During a class discussion students learn that the same process happens in both the oceans and the atmosphere.
Exploring the Environment™ (ETE) is a series of interdisciplinary, problem-based learning (PBL) modules for high school students. The project engages student teams in addressing real-world problems related to weather, population growth, biodiversity, land use patterns, volcanoes, water pollution, and global warming. Teams analyze remotely-sensed satellite images to come up with solutions to open-ended earth science problems--problems that real scientists are working on today in much the same fashion. In this module, students are asked to track and predict landfall of the next hurricane to threaten the United States.
This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under Grant # NSF OCE-0707385. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the NSF.
COSEE-Ocean Systems Central Office School of Marine Sciences, University of Maine Darling Marine Center 193 Clark's Cove Road Walpole, ME 04573
Phone: (207) 563-8176 E-mail: cosee-os
