Ocean acidification, a product of CO2 absorption by the world’s oceans, is largely driven by the anthropogenic combustion of fossil fuels and has already lowered the pH of marine ecosystems. Organisms with calcium carbonate shells and skeletons are especially susceptible to increasing environmental acidity due to reduction in the saturation state of CaCO3 that accompanies ocean acidification. Creating a connection between human-mediated changes to our environment and the effect it will have on biota is crucial to establishing an understanding of the potential effects of global climate change. We outline two low-cost laboratory experiments that eloquently mimic the biochemical process of ocean acidification on two timescales, providing educators with hands-on, hypothesis-driven experiments that can easily be conducted in middle and high school biology or environmental science courses.
Posts Tagged 'education'
Demonstrating the effects of ocean acidification on marine organisms to support climate change understanding
Published 14 April 2015 Media coverage ClosedTags: education
Laboratory experiment investigating the impact of ocean acidification on calcareous organisms
Published 20 July 2014 Science ClosedTags: chemistry, education
The increase in ocean acidity since preindustrial times may have deleterious consequences for marine organisms, particularly those with calcareous structures. We present a laboratory experiment to investigate this impact with general, introductory, environmental, and nonmajors chemistry students. For simplicity and homogeneity, calcite was substituted for calcareous organisms and placed in buffer solutions of variable acidity. After 30 min, students quantified the percent mass loss of calcite in their buffer. Individual student data was then pooled into a class spreadsheet for further analysis. This experiment could enable a class discussion on ocean acidification supplemented with primary and secondary literature.
Ocean acidification effects on the oceanic ecosystem around Dutch Harbor
Published 16 May 2014 Science ClosedTags: education
In the waters we rely on for sea food: such as King Crab (Lithodidae), Pollock (Pollachius), and pteropods (Limacina), there are many things seeking to harm, or kill these animals. What if I told you there was a silent killer on the loose, that’s getting away with doing just that. This killer’s name is carbon dioxide, also known as CO2. Carbon dioxide is slipping into the water, and lowering the pH levels. Animals that rely on the pH levels in the ocean are not able to properly form their shells. This is their protection from predators, as well as chemicals. If these animals don’t have their shells it will make it harder for them to survive in their natural habitat. In the near future the CO2 levels are expected to rise, and if this happens the crab will be affected greatly, and our fisheries and ports will become an up-and-coming past-time. This will result in many fishermen losing their jobs, and sea food industry will crash. It’s apparent that we need to implement solutions to this problem so that we can have healthier bodies of water, and plentiful sea food today and in the future.
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Ocean-acidification.net is a new website launched by the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme and its collaborating partners. For the science community, the website offers immediate access to current information on the topic of ocean acidification in a variety of print formats and visual media. The up-to-date content published online about changes in ocean acidification worldwide is designed to help those working in various areas of science, education and decision-making. (…)
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Opportunities for communicating ocean acidification to visitors at informal Science Education Institutions
Published 25 April 2014 Science ClosedTags: education
The broader public is largely unaware of ocean acidification; yet, when provided with basic information about the issue they quickly become concerned.
This finding has its foundation in the national survey results, as supported by the on-site visitor intercepts. The national survey confirmed our sense that unaided awareness of ocean acidification is extremely low. On the aforementioned agreement scale (which runs from 1 [total disagreement] to 100 [total agreement]), the unaided score for “I have heard of the issue of ocean acidification” was a 14 for the public as a whole, rising only slightly to 19 when looking at recent visitors to a zoo, aquarium or museum, and to 31 when looking only at those who already claimed concern about climate change. (…)
Virtual labs as context for learning – continuities and contingencies in student activities
Published 28 February 2014 Science ClosedTags: education
While sceptics have been little convinced about the beneficial consequences that would follow from the introduction of IT in school, technophiles have continued to make claims about how such resources will contribute to solving pedagogical problems of various kinds, including changing the role of the teacher (cf., e, g., Postman, 1979; Selwyn, 1999). (…)
The aim of the present study is to explore virtual labs as a context for learning about ocean acidification. In particular, we are interested in the activities that evolve when students engage in virtual lab work. Our question concerns what the consequences are for interaction and knowledge-sharing between students in such contexts. (…)
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HANDS-ON OCEANOGRAPHY | Corals on acid: an inquiry-based activity leading students to a better understanding of ocean acidification impacts
Published 21 February 2014 Science ClosedTags: education
Purpose of Activity
The objective of this inquiry-based lesson is for students to gain an understanding of how increasing ocean acidity can affect the calcification of marine organisms. During this activity, students: (1) design an experiment to quantify the CaCO3 concentration of two invertebrate skeletal samples, one that has been soaked in normal seawater and another in a low pH solution, and (2) use critical thinking and discussion to evaluate possible explanations for the difference in the skeletal CaCO3 compositions. Our lesson focuses on exploring the activity before ocean acidification is introduced to provide a common conceptual framework to engage students.
Engaging students in the Pacific and beyond using an inquiry-based lesson in ocean acidification
Published 9 December 2013 Science ClosedTags: education
We present a hands-on, inquiry-based activity exploring how CO2 input to seawater affects the skeletons of several species of reef-building corals and other marine organisms by testing for changes in pH and calcium ion concentrations. Originally developed to inspire and recruit high school students in the state of Hawai‘i into the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields, we assessed the effectiveness of the activity through the responses of 380 high school students to a series of questions about ocean acidification both before and after guiding them through the inquiry-based activity. Our results show that students gain a better understanding of ocean acidification and the relevance of the geosciences to their daily lives after their participation in the activity.
Exploring nature through virtual experimentation
Published 21 November 2013 Media coverage ClosedTags: education
In the present article, a study of the use of a virtual lab in environmental science teaching is reported. The lab was used as part of regular instruction; the idea was to provide a context to learn about experimentation as a research method. The study builds on a sample of 80 of 511 students, and uses pre- and post-test data of students’ insights about concepts and procedures relevant for designing an experiment in environmental science. The results show that students discovered some principles of how to organize an experiment. A majority of the students appropriated some of the relevant terminology and procedures relevant for organizing experiments. However, the findings also pointed to limitations in how students were able to reason about experimentation. A major problem for the students was to understand the role an experiment plays in resolving an issue. Such insights do not emerge from using the virtual lab per se, but rather from realizing the role an experiment plays as part of a scientific study of a problem.
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Purpose of Activity
» Understand how the pH of water changes with the addition of CO2
» Understand why increasing the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere is decreasing the pH of the ocean
» Learn how different human activities affect the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere
» Understand how temperature affects the solubility of CO2 in aqueous solutions
Narratives can motivate environmental action: the Whiskey Creek ocean acidification story
Published 11 October 2013 Science ClosedTags: education, socio-economy
Even when environmental data quantify the risks and benefits of delayed responses to rapid anthropogenic change, institutions rarely respond promptly. We propose that narratives complementing environmental datasets can motivate responsive environmental policy. To explore this idea, we relate a case study in which a narrative of economic loss due to regionally rapid ocean acidification—an anthropogenic change—helped connect knowledge with action. We pose three hypotheses to explain why narratives might be particularly effective in linking science to environmental policy, drawing from the literature of economics, environmental policy, and cognitive psychology. It seems that yet-untold narratives may hold similar potential for strengthening the feedback between environmental data and policy and motivating regional responses to other environmental problems.
Participation in a study circle through the National Network of Ocean and Climate Change Interpretation (NNOCCI) project enabled staff at the California Academy of Sciences to effectively engage visitors on climate change and ocean acidification topics. Strategic framing tactics were used as staff revised the scripted Coral Reef Dive program, which resulted in positive engagement on the topic of ocean acidification, including self-reported awareness, understanding and receptivity to the Academy’s specific asks, including to support and use public transportation as an alternative to driving and to consider green energy alternatives such as solar panels.
COMPASS: navigating the rules of scientific engagement
Published 7 May 2013 Science ClosedTags: education
In an era of heightened competition for scarce research positions and funding, the mantra of modern academia—“publish or perish”—continues to intensify [1]. Scientists are under increasing pressure to produce as many publications as possible in “high-impact” journals to raise their profile among peers and influence their discipline. Yet, in recent years, another measure of significance also has been on the rise—one that focuses on a scientist’s reach beyond their field and captures societal impact [2].
More than a decade ago, Jane Lubchenco (a marine ecologist who recently stepped down as Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and Administrator of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) codified the idea of a “new social contract for science” [3]. She asserted that society expects two outcomes from its investment of public funds in science: “the production of the best possible science and the production of something useful.” Lubchenco challenged scientists to consider not only making their research relevant to today’s most pressing problems, but also to embrace their responsibility to share their findings. She urged them to invoke “the full power of the scientific enterprise in communicating existing and new understanding to the public and to policymakers, and in helping society move toward sustainability through a better understanding of the consequences of policy action—or inactions.”
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ICT tools in environmental education: reviewing two newcomers to schools
Published 19 March 2013 Science ClosedTags: education
United Nations of Education Scientific and Cultural Organisation’s (UNESCO’s) founding statements about environmental education (EE) in the 1970s positioned it as a multidisciplinary field of inquiry. When enacted as such, it challenges traditional ways of organising secondary school education by academic subject areas. Equally, according to UNESCO, EE requires various forms of integrated and project-based teaching and learning approaches. These can involve hands-on experimentation alongside the retrieval and critical analysis of information from diverse sources and perspectives, and with different qualities and statuses. Multidisciplinary and knowledge engagement challenges are key considerations for an EE curriculum designed to harness information and communication technologies (ICT) to support and enhance student learning, which also challenge traditional instructional priorities that for example are largely based on textbooks. This review summarises research that has sought to integrate ICT and digital tools in EE. A key finding is that while there is a rich variety of such tools and applications available, there is far less research on their fit with and implications for student learning. The review calls for further studies that will provide models of productive forms of teaching and learning that harness ICT resources, particularly in developing the goals and methodologies of EE in the twenty-first century.
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Impact of ocean acidification on marine ecosystems: educational challenges and innovations
Published 11 May 2012 Science ClosedTags: education
Population growth and social/technological developments have resulted in the buildup of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere and oceans to the extent that we now see changes in the earth’s climate and ocean chemistry. Ocean acidification is one consequence of these changes, and it is known with certainty that it will continue to increase as we emit more CO2 into the atmosphere. Ocean acidification is a global issue likely to impact marine organisms, food webs and ecosystems and to be most severely experienced by the people who depend on the goods and services the ocean provides at regional and local levels. However, research is in its infancy and the available data on biological impacts are complex (e.g., species-specific response). Educating future generations on the certainties and uncertainties of the emerging science of ocean acidification and its complex consequences for marine species and ecosystems can provide insights that will help assessing the need to mitigate and/or adapt to future global change. This article aims to present different educational approaches, the different material available and highlight the future challenges of ocean acidification education for both educators and marine biologists.
Virtual ocean acidification laboratory as an efficient educational tool to address climate change issues
Published 1 December 2010 Science ClosedTags: education
As the carbon dioxide concentration in the air is increasing, the oceans are changing: they are getting warmer (global warming) and more acidic (ocean acidification). These threats are very likely to have substantial impacts on marine ecosystems and on terrestrial species that depend on the oceans (e.g. human beings). To prevent the most dramatic consequences of such changes to the climate, citizens need to take collective actions. In that respect, education is a key factor to increase our awareness and understanding of climate change. Within the educational project Inquiry-to-Insight (I2I) we have developed, implemented, and tested Information Communication Technology (ICT) tools addressing the climate change issue with high school students.
One such tool that we have developed is an open access virtual animation and laboratory on ocean acidification (OA). This tool allows students to improve their background knowledge of OA and to become virtual scientists, conducting and analysing research on the effect of ocean acidity on a key and well known marine organism: sea urchin. Our results from a pilot study in two high schools in Sweden and California indicate that the OA I2I activities in particular, and other I2I tools in general, increase students’ awareness and understanding of OA.
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