Oceanography Links
Carolina Coastal
Science
http://www.ncsu.edu/coast
Carolina Coastal Science is an innovative, inquiry-based, science
resource that utilizes the interactive technologies of the World Wide Web to
explore science in coastal Carolina. Carolina Coastal Science has been created
based on the goals stated in the National Science Education Standards. While this
web site has been designed specifically for an Environmental Science component of
a primary and secondary science curricula, it may be used in different curriculum
areas.
Teachers and students can use this web site independently or as a class using a number of different teaching strategies including open-ended inquiries, guided inquiries, independent research, and cooperative group learning. Carolina Coastal Science contains an interactive photojournal that students can use to construct their own set of inquiry questions to explore; an inquiry simulation in which students investigate the issues concerning the fate of the Shell Island Resort and then debate the future of this and other oceanfront structures threatened by coastal erosion; a section of "Inquiry Images" which can be used as whole class guided inquiry activities; and a Coastal Research Technology section that students can use to identify the scientific instruments used by oceanographers and coastal geologists to collect data.
An educators guide is provided with a variety of teaching suggestions to incorporate this site into primary and secondary school classrooms.
WhaleNet
http://whale.wheelock.edu
WhaleNet is a collaborative project of the biology departments
at Wheelock College and Simmons College in Boston, Massachusetts. It is an educational
site devoted to whales, whale research, the marine habitat and environmental
studies. Students are encouraged to use telecommunicatins tools to ask researchers
questions online in the "Ask a scientist" area. The Satellite Tagging Observation
Program (STOP) electronically tracks whales to study their movements and migrations.
STOP includes data, observations, and satellite tracking maps. Teachers are
able to download a variety of tracking maps for use in their classrooms. Curricular
lesson plans are included to guide the study of the range of whale movement
during their migrations.
This web site also contains classroom activities in which students study the relationships between whales and their marine habitat.
At the WhaleNet web site, students can read logs of oceanographic research vessels. These logs can be used in a variety of activities with K-12 students including graphing a ship's position by plotting coordinate data on a map, analyzing meteorological data such as wind speed, air temperature, water temperature, barometric pressure, relative humidity, and classifying the plants and animals encountered by the research vessels on their voyages.
WhaleNet also contains an area of curricular activities which provide ideas on how to use the WhaleNet data and information for a variety of topics including navigation, water testing, plankton tow and analysis, data collection, photo identification of whales, bathymetry, topographic models of the ocean bottom marine pollution, and data analysis.
This web site also contains a multimedia collection of whale movies and images that can be used by teachers as visual resources in their science classrooms.
The Ocean Drilling Program
http://www-odp.tamu.edu/
The Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) consists of research into the history of the
ocean basins and the nature of the crust beneath the ocean floor. This web site
can be used in an upper level secondary education science classroom to learn
about oceanographic science processes. Students can learn about laboratory equipment
and the types of research conducted on board the research vessels. Students
can access online data from a database containing downhole measurements taken
from core samples. Students can analyze the data to look for patterns in the
phsical properties, paleomagnetism, and chemistry of the core samples. This
web site provides excellent maps of the drilling sites. Science teachers can
also use the resources at this web site for mapping activities with their students.
Topex/Poseidon
http://topex-www.jpl.nasa.gov/
This web site is the homepage of the TOPEX/POSEIDON satellite. Teachers and
students can learn how TOPEX/POSEIDON maps ocean surface topography and how
oceanographers use ocean topography to monitor ocean currents and use data to
compute the ocean's heat budget. Many of the resources at this web site can
be incorporated into secondary science curricula.
The TOPEX/Poseidon science images highlight many of the scientific discoveries of the TOPEX/Poseidon mission. Teachers can use the images to illustrate different ocean characteristics to their students.
The "near real time data" section includes data sets of sea surface heights, ocean wind, significant wave heights, and map coordinates. Science teachers can use this data for data analysis activities and mapping activities with their students.
The "image library" includes graphics of dynamic ocean topography, sea surface variability, significant wave height, wind speed, and precipitable water vapor.
The Educational Resources section contains an online tutorial which presents ideas on how to incorporate the TOPEX/Poseidon data on the Internet into the classroom. This tutorial can be used effectively as a stand alone tutorial for secondary students in a networked computer lab. Many sections of the tutorial contain images which can be used by teachers as presentation materials to explain oceanographic science processes and concepts.
El Niño Theme
Page
http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/toga-tao/el-nino/nino-home.html
This web site contains a wealth of information about El Niño. The
material at this web site is appropriate for students in grades 10-12. Graphic
images and animations facilitate learning about El Niño. Extensive information
about the impacts of El Niño and benefits of El Niño prediction are
presented with many web links to recent graphic images on the Internet. Teachers
and students can access the latest El Niño forecasts and measurements which
include global sea surface temperature, equatorial Pacific sea surface temperature,
and tropical Pacific buoy data. These datasets can be used in the classroom
for graphing and data analysis activities.
Ocean
Planet
http://www.seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov/ocean_planet.html
Ocean Planet is an online exhibition from the Smithsonian Institution. This
online exhibit contains extensive information on many different oceanographic
topics including ocean science, sea people,"SEA store", marine pollution, threatened
habitats, global change, fishing issues, and much more. This exhibit contains
many great animations and movies of ocean topography and also many audio sounds
of the sea. Ocean Planet has many excellent K-12 lesson plans throughout the
exhibit.
A special section of this web site contains marine science and classroom lessons activities from the Smithsonian which adapt several themes of the exhibition for use in the middle and high school classroom. Each lesson plan contains teacher and student objectives, materials, detailed procedures, downloadable student handouts, and links to additional resources on the WWW. These lessons include:
"Sea Secrets" which explores ocean geography, "Sea Connections" which looks at the plants and animals that live in different marine ecosystems, "Ocean Market" which identifies and values many products of the seas, "Pollution Solution" which examines the effects of an environmental crisis, "Stranded Along the Coast" which explores both natural and human causes of animal strandings, and "Reflections on the Sea" which explores the influence of oceans on language and literature.
Ocean Planet is a great resource for teachers who wish to give their students a terrific educational oceanic experience without leaving the classroom.
Oceanography
from the Space Shuttle
http://daac.gsfc.nasa.gov/CAMPAIGN_DOCS/OCDST/shuttle_
oceanography_web/oss_cover.html
Oceanography from the Space Shuttle is a pictorial survey of oceanic phenomenon
visible to the naked eye from space. Fantastic visual images are accompanied
by text descriptions. The oceanographic content includes coastal scenes, islands,
local winds, waves, ship wakes, pollution at sea, spiral eddies, and suloys.
The web site images taken from the space shuttle can be used to supplement a
textbook for a variety of oceanographic topics. These images can also be used
by K-12 science teachers for journal writing activities for students.
COSEE - Centers for Ocean
Sciences Education Excellence
http://www.cosee.net/
Louisiana Coastal Restoration
Web Site
http://lacoast.gov/new/default.aspx
Ocean Challenge/Class
Afloat
http://www.sitesalive.com/ca9697/classafl.htm
Institute of Marine and
Coastal Science - Rutgers
http://marine.rutgers.edu/
Aquatic Network
http://www.aquanet.com/
Wind
and Sea - An Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences Internet Locator
http://www.lib.noaa.gov/docs/windandsea.html
Assateague
Plants
http://www.assateague.com/plants.html
Coastal Ecosystems
Program - U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
http://www.fws.gov/cep/cepcode.html
Restore America's Estuaries
http://www.estuaries.org/
North Carolina Coastal Federation
Home Page
http://www.nccoast.org/
The BRIDGE
http://www.vims.edu/bridge/
Project YOTO Drifters
http://drifters.doe.gov/
NOA/NGDC Marine
Geology and Geophysics Images
http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/mgg/image/
CHL-FRF Duck Research
Facility
http://www.frf.usace.army.mil/