The Ocean and Climate Change Educator Guide

Climate Portal

In this lesson students test the ability of cold and warm water to take up carbon dioxide, and they learn about ocean acidification. They explore the role of the ocean in the climate system and one tool scientists use to understand ocean warming. Then, they are challenged to communicate one of the Ocean Literacy Principles to a chosen audience.

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Notes from our reviewers

The CLEAN collection is hand-picked and rigorously reviewed for scientific accuracy and classroom effectiveness. Read what our review team had to say about this resource below or learn more about how CLEAN reviews teaching materials.

Be sure to visit the "1. How to use TIL climate Educator Guides" for suggestions on how to teach with podcasts. The experiment at the beginning is an interesting way to look at carbon dioxide in water. This activity is well designed with clear objectives, and no pre-requisites are required. This resource includes different activities making it an excellent resource for learning about the ocean carbon cycle, ocean currents, ocean acidification.
The topical focus of this resource is how temperature affects water's ability to absorb carbon dioxide and how this applies to marine life, ocean water chemistry, and global climate. The activity includes several hands-on experiments that are engaging. Using real-world data, students learn what scientists are using to study the oceans. Passed initial science review - expert science review pending.
This lesson does an excellent job of engaging different learning styles in a class by incorporating podcasts, an experiment, a longer term communication project, and an interactive model and maps. The sequencing of the lessons gives a clear understanding of ocean acidification and why oceans are important in a global climate context. The teacher's guide is helpful to understand why the lesson is laid out the way it is.
This activity includes an easy-to-follow lesson plan that is low-cost and quick to prepare. Technological requirements are minimal as the activity is mostly done in the lab, using basic lab equipment. There are no fees/costs associated with this resource if basic lab equipment is available. Teacher prep time is fairly short due to the clarity and focus of the teacher prep materials. This resource is full of external links to valuable additional content. A link to background information from "carboeurope" is no longer active at the time of the review.