The year began with the students forming learning teams. They immediately started working on activities related to ocean atmosphere, exploration, and the tools of oceanography. They learned about mapping the sea floor, acoustics and under-sea geology research that they discussed with scientists at sea on the two live broadcasts in which they participated on October 8th and October 13th via the HighSeasNet satellite communication system, made possible by representatives of Scripps Institution of Oceanography. (Check the Live At-Sea Broadcast page for details).
|
 |
|
The students studied waves, tides, and tsunamis, and how wind and density affect the ocean currents. While Mrs. Brice was at sea, they followed her cruise by studying the chemical properties of seawater, water masses and global thermohaline circulation, global warming and the Greenhouse Effect, the interaction between the biological and the physical ocean, careers in oceanography, and analysis and interpretation of real-time data.
Upon her return from sea, the students completed construction of their robots, hydrophones and underwater cameras.
They tested these and other tools of oceanography at the Ocean Institute in Dana Point where they performed mud grabs, plankton tows and seawater analysis.
The students have learned how to create digital lab journals and record their data in them. They used Microsoft Word and Excel on Macintosh computers for these journals and the terrific work they did is posted on the Students' Lab Journals page. |
