Ocean Acidification

Notes from our reviewers

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• Teaching Tips
  Can only be accessed online (need internet connection). Well-designed animation that is easy to manipulate.
• About the Science
  Lacks guided questions, but the ability to manually change the CO2 emissions provides opportunity for authentic exploration and inquiry on the part of the learner. The SRES scenarios provide a basis for a greater discussion linking to future carbon concentration projections in relation to human adaption and mitigation techniques. Animation is easy to understand and easy to manipulate.
• About the Pedagogy
  Shows the relationship between atmospheric CO2 concentrations and its effect on near sea surface pH and levels of carbonates. Allows user to change CO2 concentrations manually and depicts how surface ocean pH changes accordingly. Assumptions explain the limitations to the simulation as well as describes the basic trends being displayed. Animation is based on the Special Report on Emissions Scenarios (SRES). They were used in the Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change (IPCC) emissions scenarios https://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/special-reports/spm/sres-en.pdf of the 3rd and 4th Climate Assessment. While the scenarios are not used in the most recent report the scenarios are still assumptions that visualize the difference in CO2 concentrations under different emission scenarios. Comments from expert scientist: Nicely shows a simplified relationship between atmospheric CO2 and surface ocean pH. Passed initial science review - expert science review pending.
• Technical Details/Ease of Use
  Educators might want to review with the students the key terms used in the animation (see legend). No scaffolding is provided and should be given to students when working with the animation.