STUDENT-CENTERED TEACHING DEMONSTRATION FOR OCEAN ACIDIFICATION

One of the primary goals of InTeGrate (Interdisciplinary Teaching about Earth for a Sustainable Future) Program is to increase student literacy of the Earth. InTeGrate addresses this goal by bringing together teams of multidisciplinary, multi-institutional faculty and staff to develop Earth Science teaching materials for undergraduate classrooms. InTeGrate’s Ocean Sustainability Module is one such set of teaching materials. This module includes six units that explore how modern climate change impacts seawater chemistry, ocean currents, marine species and ecosystems in addition to mitigation strategies for changes in ocean health. Each unit provides student-centered activities that allow students to take an active role in their learning. In this presentation, we will demonstrate teaching activities from the Ocean Sustainability Module’s Unit 2: Ocean Acidification (https://serc.carleton.edu/165003).

Ocean acidification is a key aspect of ocean health that is directly connected to every day human activities. Much of the public has difficulty connecting the effect of their lifestyle on the environment, especially oceans since many live far from any coastal environment. Unit 2 of InTeGrate’s Ocean Sustainability Module addresses this by requiring students to analyze their role in changes in seawater pH. Unit 2 activities help students make this connection by requiring them to:

• outline how atmospheric CO₂ concentration, seawater pCO₂ and pH are linked,
• analyze seawater pCO₂ and pH data and make global interpretations by comparing data sets with classmates,
• predict the effect of changes in seawater pH on marine organisms, and
• determine their contribution to atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration and ocean acidification by calculating their own carbon footprint.

This activity will be presented as an interactive learning demonstration that will require audience participation. While all of the Unit 2 materials are already available at the link provided above, the teaching demonstration will highlight some modifications for different classroom sizes and settings as well as possible topics to expand the application of the current teaching materials.