Creator: Physical Oceanography Distributed Active Archive Center | visit site
Grade Range: 6 - 11
Use this interactive website to show scientific data about the Oceans of the World. The site uses Google Earth. Don’t have Google Earth? Launch it by clicking the title of this <a href="/single.cfm?id=10268">TeachersFirst review</a>, or request it from your school tech department--using this site as an example of why you need it! Manipulate the sea surface temperature, sea surface height, chlorophyll levels, and ocean wind speeds by clicking on the appropriate checkbox. (Be sure to click the box to show the legend bar as well.)
In the Classroom
Choose a parameter to display, such as wind speed. It is best to choose only one topic (data set) at a time and be sure to instruct students to uncheck previous boxes before choosing a new one. Use as an inquiry activity to look at various parameters around the globe and ask questions about what they see. For example, Sea Surface Temperature Anomaly shows areas of the oceans that are warming and some that are cooling more than others. Provide time for students to spin the globe and zoom in to look at where various changes are occurring and make observations. Enhance student learning by bringing these observations to light in class using Padlet, <a href="/single.cfm?id=10007">reviewed here</a>, and brainstorm why the phenomenon exists. If you have an interactive whiteboard, display the Padlet so that students can see theirs and others ideas as they add their observations to the board as they make discoveries. Then, create columns in your Padlet to have students discuss and sort their statements into "proven" and "unproven" columns in the Padlet displayed on your IWB. Research what has already been demonstrated about warming and cooling as well as the potential impacts it may have. Compare these changes with other parameters such as chlorophyll to understand producers and their ocean environment.
At Home
Reading about Ocean changes? Find the actual data shown in Google Earth.
Tags
earth, climate, climate change, data, oceans,
Subjects
Biology/Life Science, Chemistry, Earth Science/Geology, Science,