Re-evaluating the Five Ocean’s Pictures

Materials / Preparation

Students will need to go back to their worksheets from the Lesson 1, Activity 1 and the five pictures of the ocean surfaces from that lesson. These are available from Ocean Surfaces on the Exploring Oceans Student Web Page.

Grouping

Groups of four

Teacher tips

This is a discussion activity and can be used to assess the class' understanding of the concepts of seasonal upwelling. The teacher has the opportunity in this activity to fill in any gaps in student understanding and evaluate student readiness for the final assessment activity.

You may wish to talk about El Niño at the end of the class. If you are not familiar with this phenomenon you may wish to review it at NOAA El Niño. This website can also be used by students.

Procedures

Have students get in their groups of 4 from Lesson 1, Activity 1 and redistribute (or have the students take out) their completed Oceans Surfaces Worksheets and the pictures of the Ocean Surfaces, (also linked at the Exploring Oceans Student Web Page).
Have the groups re-evaluate their comments and suggest new ones.
a. Ask them to make any changes that they wish to, based on their new understanding of seasonal upwelling and food webs.
b. Ask students to list the changes in both biotic and abiotic factors that would cause the ocean surface to change from the active sea back to the quiet sea. Remind students about the seasonal changes in wind patterns that they saw in the last lesson.
c. Ask students to think about what might happen in a year that didn’t have northerly winds in the springtime.
Have a class discussion that allows each group to share their comments and suggestions. (Guide students to discuss components of the marine food web, phytoplankton blooms, and seasonal upwelling in relation to the original five pictures).

Resources used

NOAA El Niño
http://www.teachingboxes.org/catalog.jsp?id=BRIDGE-888