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Resource: Ocean Expeditions Modules

El Niño

Resource Type:
Half-Day Workshop / Software

References:
CNN Special - El Niño News Updates
Ocean Expeditions modules home page.

Summary:

Planet Earth Science will present a half-day workshop in Earth System Science (ESS). The objectives of this workshop are:

  1. to provide an overview of Earth System Science as interdisciplinary science,
  2. to demonstrate through the use of ESS themes how interdisciplinary concepts can be integrated to achieve a higher level understanding of important scientific phenomena, and,
  3. to introduce an interactive teaching tool based on ESS themes (e.g., El Niño).

Our proposed workshop will take the form of a one-hour interactive lecture and 2 to 4-hour hands-on small group activities that will provide a chance for teachers:

  1. to learn how to integrate ESS in their curriculum and,
  2. to experience the research process in Earth System Science.

The half-day workshop will be delivered by a group of college professors and advanced graduate students who are experts in Earth System Science and specifically trained to present these workshops. Both formative and summative evaluation will be performed to improve the workshops as they are delivered and to better design future workshops.

People:
Catherine Gautier (CEO, Planet Earth Science; Dir., ICESS, UCSB)
Jeannette Gautier-Downes (VP Marketing, Planet Earth Science)

Product Cost:

Full version (with all teacher and student materials): $99. Review copies are available free. To order, contact Tom Snyder Productions at 1-800-342-0236 or Ask@Teachtsp.com.

Workshop Outline:
(See the schedule for dates and times.)

  1. Interactive Lecture
    1. Earth System Science as Interdisciplinary Science (10 min.)
    2. Different Approaches to Earth System Science Education (10 min.)
      • Cycles (energy, water, biogeochemical)
      • Natural Variability (seasonal, interannual, decadal ) and Earth History
      • Themes (Global Warming, Antarctic Ozone Hole, Volcanoes and Climate, El Niño, etc.)
    3. Earth System Science Methodology (20 min.)
      • Scientific Method in Earth System Science
      • Remote Sensing and In-Situ Observations
      • Modeling (conceptual, numerical)
    4. El Niño: An Encompassing Theme of Earth System Science (20 min.)
      • El Niño Phenomenon
      • El Niño : Earth System Science Theme
  2. Hands-on Activities
    1. Tool to integrate Earth System Science into classroom (1 - 3 h)
      • Ocean Expeditions: El NiñoTM
      • Antarctic Expeditions: Ozone HoleTM
      • Future titles

Hands-On Activities:

After the interactive lecture, teachers will be given the opportunity to learn more about Earth System Science and interdisciplinary science content using two CD-ROM based tools. The first tool, the Teacher Mentoring System®, lets teachers work individually or in small groups at a computer to learn more about implementing an interdisciplinary curriculum, national standards, and in-depth ESS concepts. The second activity will group teachers in teams of four to "play" Ocean Expeditions: El Niño® in order to learn more about ESS and inter-annual climate variability.

In the first activity using the Teacher Mentoring System®, participants will each be given a copy of an interactive CD-ROM which they will use to learn more about ESS education, from a teacher's perspective. Teachers will be able to see how ESS learning objectives can be applied in the classroom, meet national and state science education standards, and promote achievement of higher level learning objectives. Also, using the TMS® teachers will be exposed to a new generation of teacher support materials for educational technology applications.

In the second hands-on activity teachers will "play" Ocean Expeditions: El NiñoTM. They will learn about the variable aspects of the climate including: Sea Surface Temperature (SST), ocean currents, surface winds, atmospheric pressure, and clouds and precipitation and their relationship to El Niño. The extent to which teachers engage in this activity will depend upon time available for the workshop. In the absence of time or equipment for hands-on activity, the presenting scientist will use a computer and projection system to demonstrate the TMS® and Ocean Expeditions: El Niño®. Participants will then be given time to explore the tools independently.

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