This can be used at a number of levels although I developed it for an upper division course , "Marine Microbiology: Phytoplankton," offered to Biology Majors. It is also cross-listed as a graduate course.

Students need basic computer skills and access to a computer and storage device. Weekly presentations also required some knowledge of PowerPoint. Students need to understand basic role of chlorophyll in cells, why we use chlorophyll as a proxy for productivity, and, at least by mid-term, they need to understand wind-driven circulation, Ekman transport, and the reasons why there are seasonal cycles of productivity in many parts of the Earth.

This is an activity that is introduced in the second week of the term after lectures on nutrients and phytoplankton, and at the time that photosynthesis and light begin to be discussed. By week 3, we are talking about factors that get nutrients into the euphotic zone and why there are plankton blooms in different parts of the ocean. When the assignment is first introduced, a lab period is spent visiting all the sites and talking about gliders and other ocean observing technology, a companion lecture discusses satellite oceanography. Students self-identify small groups that will make a weekly presentation for about 10 minutes about what they observed the previous week, and, at the end of the term each student turns in their journal (data pages and notes) along with a two-page summary or synthesis. The exercise is worth 20% of the course grade.

• Spatial and temporal variability in phytoplankton biomass
• Coastal upwelling and downwellng, forcing and impact on ecosystem
• Interaction of winds, heating, and insolation on primary productivity in coastal and open ocean environments.
• Value of synoptic and continuous measures (e.g. gliders, satellites, buoys) ... (see #1 above)
• Concept goal #1 - for students to see the Earth as a dynamic system, very much dominated by the ocean
• Concept goal #2 - For students to appreciate that there is an going active program of earth observing that can be tapped for scientific input on many issues relating to environmental and social needs.

• Data reduction, finding ways to synthesize large amounts of factoids in a way that can be used to describe complex patterns
• Planning, requires regular visits to websites
• Hypothesis building and testing

• Writing
• Working in groups to achieve a goal (e.g. presentation)
• Working in groups collaboratively (sharing insight and ideas for a better overall outcome.. seek '4' below)
• Presentation skills and adapting to ideas from the audience. (e.g. the process of scientific presentation where others may see things you did not, and how to adjust one's thinking without feeling defensive)

Two files are included. One is the assignment itself, the second is the excel spreadsheet students started with this term. This is the first time we have done this exercise and I think there are a number of changes I would make to the spreadsheet. The final products the students submitted, however, have been awesome.

Note that the last few pages of the assignment on accessing ocean color data were adapted from a file obtained from the Monterey Bay
Ocean Observing Journal Assgmt (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 3.1MB Jun5 13)

• Weekly updates through the student presentations allows everyone (students, me, and gtf) to assess how people are doing and what problems they may be having with interpretation of observations or accessing information.
• Mid-term discussion in class of what should be included in the rubric for grading the final product
• Grading rubric and grading of final document