Ocean Acidification Module

Description

The Ocean Acidification Module explores how human disruption of the carbon cycle can negatively impact the ocean, and our planet as a whole. It looks at the importance of algae like the giant kelp forests around the Channel Islands in mitigating these impacts. Not to be all doom and gloom, the module ends with an examination of personal agency and action, looking at what students can do in their daily lives to mitigate the causes of ocean acidification.

Key Themes

Carbon Cycle
‍
Ocean Acidification
‍
Carbon Footprint

Useage

This module contains materials for roughly 3 hours of instruction,
plus time spent gathering information at home for carbon footprint calculation.

Suggested Grade Level: 6-9

Lessons

The following sequence of lessons and activities will examine how the ocean supports life on this planet, and how human impacts like ocean acidification are disrupting this. It ends with an exploration of what actions we can take on a daily basis to reduce our individual contributions to these impacts. These elements can be completed in sequence, or as separate lessons.

Engage

Class Reading and Discussion: “Our Life Support System”

Students will read and discuss Sylvia Earle’s explanation of how the ocean literally supports all life on this planet.
‍Island Visions, pages 78-81

Discussion Guide

Suggested Duration: 30 minutes

Explore

Independent Research: Our Carbon Explained

Students will examine the resources below, completing a comprehension worksheet.

Web Experience: Ocean Acidification
See what happens when the carbon cycle gets overloaded, acidifying the ocean.
‍ islandvisions.org/acid
Read: “Carbon Footprint”
Learn how your daily actions contribute to this carbon cycle overload.
‍Island Visions pages 254-255

Comprehension Workshop

Suggested Duration: 40 minutes

Explain

Class Discussion: Your Carbon Footprint

Students will discuss what individual actions in our personal lives might lead to ocean acidification.

Discussion Guide

Suggested Duration: 30 minutes

Elaborate

Activity: Calculating Your Footprint

Students will calculate the total amount of carbon that they generate in a year.

Activity Guide

Suggested Duration: 50 minutes + time at home to gather personal carbon footprint data

Evaluate

Class Discussion: End of the World Fatigue

Students will discuss how to cope with their individual actions contributing to such a large issue, and how to transform hopelessness into action.

Discussion Guide

Suggested Duration: 30 minutes

6th Grade

Human activities have significantly altered the biosphere, sometimes damaging or destroying natural habitats and causing the extinction of other species. But changes to Earth’s environments can have different impacts (negative and positive) for different living things. (MS-ESS3-3)
Human activities, such as the release of greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels, are major factors in the current rise in Earth’s mean surface temperature (global warming). Reducing the level of climate change and reducing human vulnerability to whatever climate changes do occur depend on the understanding of climate science, engineering capabilities, and other kinds of knowledge, such as understanding of human behavior and on applying that knowledge wisely in decisions and activities. (MS-ESS3–5)

7th Grade

All human activity draws on natural resources and has both short and long-term consequences, positive as well as negative, for the health of people and the natural environment. (MS-ESS3-1)
The uses of technologies and any limitations on their use are driven by individual or societal needs, desires, and values; by the findings of scientific research; and by differences in such factors as climate, natural resources, and economic conditions. Thus technology use varies from region to region and over time. (MS-ESS3-2)
Plants, algae (including phytoplankton), and many microorganisms use the energy from light to make sugars (food) from carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and water through the process of photosynthesis, which also releases oxygen. These sugars can be used immediately or stored for growth or later use. (MS-LS1-6)
Organisms, and populations of organisms, are dependent on their environmental interactions both with other living things and with nonliving factors. (MS-LS2-1)
Ecosystems are dynamic in nature; their characteristics can vary over time. Disruptions to any physical or biological component of an ecosystem can lead to shifts in all its populations. (MS-LS2-4)

8th Grade

The uses of technologies and limitations on their use are driven by individual or societal needs, desires, and values; by the findings of scientific research; and by differences in such factors as climate, natural resources, and economic conditions. (MS-ETS1-1)
Typically as human populations and per-capita consumption of natural resources increase, so do the negative impacts on Earth unless the activities and technologies involved are engineered otherwise. (MS-ESS3-4)
All human activity draws on natural resources and has both short and long-term consequences, positive as well as negative, for the health of people and the natural environment. (MS-ESS3-4)

High School

The process of photosynthesis converts light energy to stored chemical energy by converting carbon dioxide plus water into sugars plus released oxygen. (HS-LS1-5)
Photosynthesis and cellular respiration are important components of the carbon cycle, in which carbon is exchanged among the biosphere, atmosphere, oceans, and geosphere through chemical, physical, geological, and biological processes. (HS-LS2-5)
A complex set of interactions within an ecosystem can keep its numbers and types of organisms relatively constant over long periods of time under stable conditions. If a modest biological or physical disturbance to an ecosystem occurs, it may return to its more or less original status (i.e., the ecosystem is resilient), as opposed to becoming a very different ecosystem. Extreme fluctuations in conditions or the size of any population, however, can challenge the functioning of ecosystems in terms of resources and habitat availability. (HS-LS2-2),(HS-LS2-6)
New technologies can have deep impacts on society and the environment, including some that were not anticipated. Analysis of costs and benefits is a critical aspect of decisions about technology. (HS-ETS1-1) (HS-ETS1-3)
Changes in the atmosphere due to human activity have increased carbon dioxide concentrations and thus affect climate. (HS-ESS2-6),(HS-ESS2-4)
The sustainability of human societies and the biodiversity that supports them requires responsible management of natural resources. (HS-ESS3-3)
Science and technology may raise ethical issues for which science, by itself, does not provide answers and solutions. (HS-ESS3-2)
Science knowledge indicates what can happen in natural systems—not what should happen. The latter involves ethics, values, and human decisions about the use of knowledge. (HS-ESS3-2)
Many decisions are not made using science alone, but rely on social and cultural contexts to resolve issues. (HS-ESS3-2)
Scientists and engineers can make major contributions by developing technologies that produce less pollution and waste and that preclude ecosystem degradation. (HS-ESS3-4)
Though the magnitudes of human impacts are greater than they have ever been, so too are human abilities to model, predict, and manage current and future impacts. (HS-ESS3–5)
Through computer simulations and other studies, important discoveries are still being made about how the ocean, the atmosphere, and the biosphere interact and are modified in response to human activities. (HS-ESS3-6)
Current models predict that, although future regional climate changes will be complex and varied, average global temperatures will continue to rise. The outcomes predicted by global climate models strongly depend on the amounts of human-generated greenhouse gases added to the atmosphere each year and by the ways in which these gases are absorbed by the ocean and biosphere. (secondary to HS-ESS3-6)

Ocean Acidification Module

Description

Key Themes

Useage

Lessons

Engage

Explore

Explain

Elaborate

Evaluate

Optional Add Ons

Additional Resources

CA Environmental Principlesand Concepts (EPCs)

CA Next Generation Science Standards (NGSSs)

CA Environmental Principles
and Concepts (EPCs)

CA Next Generation
Science Standards (NGSSs)