Arctic Coastal Oceanography
Summary
This unit combines classroom sessions with an in-person field day to teach fundamentals of Arctic Coastal Oceanography. The approach integrates sensor preparation and deployment with scientific concepts and hypothesis development. The key objectives of the unit include learning the physical oceanography concepts of ocean temperature, waves, and currents, as well as the marine geology concepts of turbidity and coastal sediment transport. Additional objectives are providing experiences with sensors and programming, data collection, and data analysis. The project was developed to bring Arctic Oceanographers together with students from a specific Arctic village (Kaktovik, Alaska) along the coast of the Beaufort Sea. The material can be adapted for use in other coastal Arctic or mid-latitude classroom environments. A primary goal of this unit is to encourage students in coastal communities to consider how a coastline evolves and changes over time, what materials it is composed of (sediments), and how the ocean plays a role in those processes. A related goal is to engage students in tangible aspects of climate change that may affect local people living in coastal zones.
Context
Audience
This unit is designed for high-school level science class, and can be adapted for a middle-school level science class. It is specifically designed for use in a remote coastal community.
Skills and concepts that students must have mastered
No specific background information is required. Students will benefit from experience with the scientific process and basic data analysis. Prior introduction to the concepts of energy, temperature, and the scientific method (hypothesis development and testing) will assist students.
How the activity is situated in the course
The unit comprises 6 lessons, with corresponding activities, that are designed to be conducted over days to weeks. The first 5 activities were designed to be led by a remote instructor (if a local teacher is comfortable facilitating the activities), with the final activity (lesson 6) including in-person interactions between the students and instructor team. This is designed to be stand-alone from other course content.
Goals
Content/concepts goals for this activity
Ocean currents and waves, temperature, and turbidity, in the context of the Arctic coastal region.
Higher order thinking skills goals for this activity
Forming and testing hypotheses. Scientific sensors and data collection. Giving students tools to integrate sensors and scientific data with their personal, local knowledge.
Other skills goals for this activity
Operating sensors and using software. Working in groups to form hypotheses, especially hypotheses derived from local/traditional knowledge.
Description and Teaching Materials
This unit consists of five lessons which introduce concepts and hands-on activities to culminate in ocean deployment of simple buoys and moorings for temperature and current measurements. A summary is provided in the "lesson plan overview". Each lesson (1-5) is structured around a set of slides:
Lesson 1: Introduction to Arctic coastal oceanography
Lesson 2: Ocean currents and GPS measurements
Lesson 3: Temperature and light measurements
Lesson 4: Buoys and hypotheses
Lesson 5: Moorings and deployment preparations
Lesson 6: Buoy and mooring deployments
Supplementary worksheets are provided for some lessons:
Erosion worksheet (Lesson 1)
Waves worksheet (Lesson 2)
Hypotheses development worksheet (Lesson 4)
Buoys and moorings are built with students using commercially produced electronics, with existing software interfaces to connect to provided laptops. We recommend all components and necessary materials to assemble and program are shipped to the school prior to the unit. These kits will be simple and will not require soldering or technical tools. After assembling, the buoys and mooring will be 'bench tested' prior to a real field deployment at the beginning of the next school year. Pre-assembled sensors can also be sent as backups to ensure the students have sensors that work.
Buoys supplies (1 per every 2-3 students):
Garmin dog trackers: Garmin "T5" GPS/radio collars
Nalgene bottles
Garmin "A320" GPS/radio handheld receivers
Laptop with Garmin Basecamp
Mooring supplies (1 per every 2-3 students):
Float
Line
Lightweight anchor (e.g., ~10-lb river anchor, depending on site conditions)
One small shackle (for easy anchor removal)
Onset "Hobo" temperature/light pendant loggers
Tape and zip ties to attach Hobo to line
Laptop with Hoboware software
Lesson plan overview (Acrobat (PDF) 0bytes Nov15 23)
Student worksheet on erosion (Lesson 1) (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 0bytes Nov15 23)
Student worksheet on waves (Lesson 2) (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 0bytes Nov15 23)
Student worksheet on hypothesis development (Lesson 4) (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 0bytes Nov15 23)
Slides for Lesson 1 (PowerPoint 2007 (.pptx) 0bytes Nov15 23)
Teaching Notes and Tips
A risk assessment should be completed prior to the the field activities and a complete safety briefing should be done with students before taking them in the field for lesson 6.
Assessment
Can use the covered concepts (currents, waves, temperature, turbidity) to describe the observations made in the final field lesson.
Can independently program and download data from the sensors used.
References and Resources
Coastal Ocean Dynamics in the Arctic (Project Website)
https://www.apl.washington.edu/project/project.php?id=coda
This website includes overview and resources of the CODA project which originally funded development of this unit. It includes videos on the science of the coastal Arctic and the methods that scientists use to understand this system.