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Paper No. 245-7
Presentation Time: 2:20 PM
EARTHLABS CLIMATE DETECTIVES: CURRICULUM BASED ON IODP EXPEDITION 341 ON THE JOIDES RESOLUTION
EarthLabs, envisioned as a national model for high school Earth Science Lab courses, includes five related modules designed to help students deepen their understanding of how our climate system works. The newest module, Climate Detectives, is based on IODP expedition 341 off the southern coast of Alaska in 2013 to examine the history of past climate as recorded by the sediments beneath the seafloor. The two-week module, which follows a challenge-based approach, has six labs. Students assume the role of a “climate detective” and imagine themselves as members of the science team on board the drillship Joides Resolution. Just like real scientists on the expedition, they work collaboratively with classmates to examine authentic data from a section of Core U1417B to answer a set of questions related to past climate posed in lab 6: (1) How have environmental conditions in in the Gulf of Alaska changed during the time when the sediments in this core were deposited? (2) What does the occurrence of different types of diatoms and their abundance in the core reveal about the timing of the cycles of the advance and retreat of glaciation? (3) What timeline is represented by the section of core? (4) How do results from the Gulf of Alaska compare with the global record of glaciations during this period based on oxygen isotopes measured in microfossils? To answer these questions, students work progressively through activities in the first five labs that introduce them to the scientists on the expedition and their geoscience expertise; equip them with an understanding of the drillship and ocean drilling technology; and teach them, through actively engaging with the data and tools, about the different types of data, including proxy data, used to document changes in Earth's past climate and the methods used to determine when changes in climate occurred in sediment cores. This presentation provides an overview of the module and demonstrates new curriculum that uses NGSS Science and Engineering Practices to integrate key Earth Science Disciplinary Core Ideas and Crosscutting Concepts. Development of the module was carried out in collaboration with IODP’s Teacher at Sea Program and the IODP Expedition 341 science team, and is a fine example of how IODP and scientists can leverage resources to address NSF’s broader impacts.