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| Last Updated April 29, 2004 |
Jennifer and Jane's
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Lesson Plan
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Description
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| Latitude and Longitude | Students will find latitude and longitude on
a map or atlas and create maps with the actual EPIC cruise
route PDF Version |
| Plan a Cruise | Students will measure distances and report them
in fractions, convert fractions to decimals, and Multiply
decimals PDF Version |
| Building a Ship | Students will learn what schematic diagrams
are while using the NOAA Research Vessel Ron Brown, design
a ship using basic math, draw their ships to scale, and build
models of their ship PDF Version |
| NOAA Research Project | Students will research a specific topic related
to NOAA and present it to the class. PDF Version |
| Weather and Climate | Students will be able to distinguish between
weather and climate and will be able to give examples of weather
in their town, and examples of climate in their town PDF Version |
| Ocean Influences on Climate | Students will brainstorm about the geographical
factors that contribute to climate, will graph average monthly
temperatures at two island groups, and analyze the data for
similarities and differences, and will demonstrate comprehension
of the impact of ocean currents on coastal temperatures by
completing a quiz. PDF Version |
| Research Cruise Word Problems | Students will learn about life onboard the NOAA
Research Vessel Ronald H. Brown and practice basic arithmetic
by completing word problems and will practice basic arithmetic
by creating word problems relating to their school or home.
PDF Version |
| CLIVAR and EPIC | Students will learn about international efforts
to investigate climate, will demonstrate understanding of
the current Ronald H. Brown mission by mapping the EPIC2001
cruise within the CLIVAR framework, will learn that scientific
research is often a joint effort internationally, and many
countries work together to improve the world's scientific
understanding, will demonstrate understanding about why climate
research is of international interest, and will practice their
Internet search skills by determining what key words to use
in a search engine. PDF Version |
| Scavenger Hunt | Students will familiarize themselves with the
research being conducted on the Ronald H. Brown from San Diego,
CA to the Galapagos Islands by completing a scavenger hunt
using Mrs. Richards' daily logs and the scavenger hunt will
give the students an opportunity to interact with the daily
logs posted on the web site, embedding the key points of the
logs into their memories more effectively that if they had
just read the logs. PDF Version |
| Physical Characteristics
of the Troposphere |
Students will learn about environmental trends
in the troposphere- temperature, dew point, pressure and wind
speed- by checking their hypotheses against data collected
by weather balloons launched from the NOAA ship R/V Ronald
H. Brown September 15, 2001 by Dr. Rob Cifelli from Colorado
State University and will practice their skills in obtaining
information from graphs by answering questions. PDF Version of Lesson PDF Version of Graphs |
| Ocean Microstructure | Students will learn about the microstructure
of the ocean by analyzing graphs created by Dr. Mike Gregg
of the University of Washington Applied Physics Laboratory
during the EPIC 2001 research cruise on the Ronald H. Brown
NOAA vessel, will practice critical thinking skills by fully
analyzing the data presented, and will generate a better understanding
of plant and animal habitats by relating ocean profile conditions
to the types of sea life that may live at different depths. PDF Version of Lesson |
| Lightning | Students will learn how to read scientific
material by reading about the research being conducted by
Dr. Rob Cifelli from the Colorado State University, will learn
new scientific terminology by reading scientific material
and researching definitions of new words, will learn how radar
can be used to determine lightning potential of a cloud by
reading about the research being conducted on the R/V Ronald
H. Brown on a research cruise from San Diego, CA to the Galapagos
Islands, Ecuador, will demonstrate comprehension of scientific
writing by illustrating part of the document they will be
reading, and will practice note-taking skills by summarizing
each paragraph in the attached research overview. PDF Version |
| Cruise Conditions: Graphing and Statistics | Students will graph some of the weather conditions
at 10N, 95W for the 18-day period when the Ronald H. Brown
NOAA research vessel was stationed there, will do basic statistical
calculations using the data they plotted, and will look for
trends in the data. PDF Version |
| Correlating Atmospheric Data | Students will examine data presented on several
different graphs to explain anomalies and make correlations,
and students will make and test hypotheses about atmospheric
data collected aboard the NOAA ship Ronald H. Brown research
cruise. PDF Version PDF Version of Heat Flux Graphs |
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Students will use books and other resources
to research different clouds types, identify different cloud
formations by their characteristics, use classification
skills to create a reference chart, use symbols to identify
cloud types, and will demonstrate an understanding of the
relationship of clouds to weather by maintaining a classroom
weather chart.
PDF Version |
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Students will understand the collection
of weather data as presented in different formats newspaper,
TV, Internet), will use appropriate terminology related
to weather maps, and will use the Internet to capture weather
data from a city of choice and present a TV style weather
report to the class.
PDF Version |
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Students will demonstrate an understanding of latitude
and longitude by identifying locations by degrees, will
learn and use the meanings of a.m. and p.m. appropriately,
will become familiar with a 24-hour (universal) clock,
and will demonstrate an understanding of time zone changes
by calculating the time at different degrees longitude. |
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Students will learn about life onboard the
NOAA Research Vessel Ronald H. Brown and practice basic
arithmetic by completing word problems and will practice
basic arithmetic by creating word problems relating to their
school or home.
PDF Version |
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| Signal Flags | Students will use signal flags chart to identify
common ship signals and will create different signal flags
and meanings on their own. PDF Version |
Related Lesson Plans and
World Wide Web Resources
Climate Lesson Plans
Discovery School.com
The Big Wet
"Students will understand the northernmost areas in Australia are characterized by a climate known as “tropical wet and dry,” the temperatures are always warm, with a six-month dry season and a long rainy season known as “the big wet,” and other areas in the world have similar climates."
Understanding Weather and Climate
"Students will understand infrared rays from the sun enter Earth’s atmosphere, the gas carbon dioxide (CO2), which is given off by green plants, traps the sun’s warmth within Earth’s atmosphere, the greenhouse effect is important to life on Earth because it provides our planet with the warmth it needs for animal and plant life to thrive, and the burning of certain fuels creates excess CO2, which traps even more heat within Earth’s atmosphere, possibly creating a phenomenon known as global warming, which may be harmful to life on Earth."
National Geographic Lesson Plans:
Climate Controls
"Students consider how various parts of the world and the U.S. are affected by climate controls such as world air currents."
Climate and Agriculture
"Students will research, discuss, and write reports on the relationship between climate and agriculture."
Discovery School.com
Landslides
"Students will understand how to design an experiment and how to control different variables in an experiment, how different soil materials can produce varying types of landslides, how scientists can predict where landslides could occur, and what El Niño has to do with landslides."
Discovery School.com
Understanding Oceans
"Students will understand all the oceans on Earth are really one 'world ocean,' warmer water from the oceans around the equator rises to the top, while colder water from the oceans around the poles sinks to the bottom, ocean currents are caused by the rising and sinking of warmer and colder water, ocean currents affect weather and life all over the globe." (This lesson can be tied into a lesson about El Niño)
American Association for the Advancement of Science: Science Netlinks
El Niño
To understand that El Nino is caused by changes in the atmospheric and ocean content.
Galapagos Lesson Plans
National Science Teachers Association
Galapagos Education Web Site
"Contains downloadable and online activities to use in the class about the Galapagos."
Discovery School.com
Galapagos: Beyond Darwin
"Students will understand the term endemic, as applied to animal and plant life, means “native,” or “restricted to certain geographical areas,” the presence of introduced species, or animal and plant species not endemic to a certain area, can endanger endemic species in that area, many unusual animal species are endemic to the Galapagos Islands, and the presence of introduced animal and plant species in the Galapagos is endangering the endemic animal and plant populations."
General Science Lesson Plans
NOAA Education Web Site
Climate Change and Our Planet
Multiple resources about climate change.
National Geographic Lesson Plans:
What can we learn from satellite images?
"Students look at maps and the satellite images to see how various settled parts of the Earth have changed over the past few decades."
Educational Resources
NOAA Education Web Site
NOAA Education Resources
Multiple resources about science, climate change, weather, oceans, etc.
Climate TimeLine Web Site
Climate TimeLine Information Tool
Climate and weather impact our everyday lives in numerous ways and have strongly influenced human and natural history for many millennia. Yet climatic dynamics are complex. Reconstructing past climate events and patterns (such as abrupt climate change) is challenging, and forecasting future weather and climate remains difficult at best.
NOVA Online Adventure
Tracking El Niño
"Next to the seasons, El Niño is the most powerful force driving global weather. Find out what scientists are learning about this mysterious weather phenomenon and its reach through space and time. Learn about the Anatomy of El Niño, Chasing El Niño, and El Niño's Reach."
NOAA Central Library
Information about NOAA's History, the library's special collections, brown bag seminars and much more.
http://www.lib.noaa.gov/
Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory
El Niño Theme Page
Web site access to distributed information on El Niño
Franklin Institute Online
Hot Air Over Hot Water
Includes the "science of El Niño, local news reports about El Niño, and information about the Tropical Atmosphere Ocean (TAO) Array.
Note for educators: Although Jennifer and Jane's reseearch cruise ended, the EPIC research continues. Please use this web site, Jennifer and Jane's lesson plans, daily logs, the videos, and the photos to educate your students about climate, El Niño, and scientific research in general.
Consider this web site, as well as the TAO web site, a resource for teaching your students.
Many organizations and countries are involved in funding the EPIC Experiment. Primary U. S. funding is provided by The National Science Foundation and The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
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