Activities: Undergraduate

A Reader’s Guide to Climate Change
Activity of the Month: December 2009
Grades 9-12 | Undergraduate

Students use articles describing climate change research done by the Ocean Drilling Program to summarize how cores can help us learn about the past climate.

A Science Reader’s Guide to CORKS
Grades: Undergraduate

Students read several articles about seafloor observatories to gain an understanding of their purpose and the kinds of data they collect.

Abrupt Events of the Past 70 Million Years – Evidence from Scientific Ocean Drilling
Grades 9-12 | Undergraduate

In this 6-part activity, students learn about climate change during the Cenozoic, and the abrupt changes at the Cretaceous/Paleogene boundary (65.5 million years ago), the Eocene/Oligocene boundary (33.9 million years ago), and the Paleocene/Eocene boundary (55.8 million years ago).

Students will be able to:

• Use their prior knowledge, plus the guides and materials provided, to catalogue and label one or more core samples.

Core Understanding – Core Description and Lithostratigraphy
Grades 9-12 | Undergraduate

You will model the role of a shipboard sedimentologist and describe a split core. This is an inquiry-based activity and it will draw on and further develop your scientific skills of observation and description. You will also learn how important it is in science to be complete and consistent in recording your visual observations.

CORKS in the Crust: Part 1
Grades 11-12 | Undergraduate

Students use CORK data to investigate the causes, effects, and relationships between fluid pressure measurements at the seafloor and the oceanic crust below.

CORKS in the Crust: Part 2
Grades 11-12 | Undergraduate

Students use CORK data to investigate the causes, effects, and relationships between fluid pressure measurements at the seafloor and the oceanic crust below.

Density of Oceanic Crust
Grades 9-12 | Undergraduate

Using prior knowledge and the formula for density, students will be able to:

• Calculate the density of samples from a single core;
• Determine the relationship between density and depth in a given core; and
• Measure, calculate, and compare continental rock samples

Drilling Rates through Oceanic Crust
Grades 9-12 | Undergraduate

Students will be able to:

• Calculate drilling rates over a threeday period during Expedition 309 by using the data provided.

High-Resolution Marine Ice Core and Marine Sediment Records Archives of Orbital Oscillations (Milankovitch Cyclicity) in Climate
Grades: Undergraduate

This activity serves as an inquiry-based introduction to description of sediment cores and to primary types of marine sediments, their distribution on the sea floor, and the controls that determine their distribution.

How Old is It? Part 1 – Biostratigraphy
Grades 9-12 | Undergraduate

Students beome micropaleontologist to learn how to use microfossils to obtain ages for cores.

How Old is It? Part 2 – Magnetostratigraphy (Paleomagnetism) and the Geomagnetic Polarity Timescale
Grades 9-12 | Undergraduate

Students learn how paleomagnetism is used to accurately date cores of rock onboard the JOIDES Resolution.

This activity serves as an inquiry-based introduction to description of sediment cores and to primary types of marine sediments, their distribution on the sea floor, and the controls that determine their distribution.

Inquiry into Sediment Cores
Grades: Undergraduate

This activity serves as an inquiry-based introduction to description of sediment cores and to primary types of marine sediments, their distribution on the sea floor, and the controls that determine their distribution.

Like a Bolt from the Blue
Grades 9-12 Undergraduate

A Bolt from the Blue demonstrates the chemical formation of methane hydrates deep below the world’s oceans. Utilizing a series of clathrate structures, the poster reveals new windows of scientific research currently being performed in the complex study of gas hydrates. By visualizing the face of each clathrate structure through an image, the poster simplifies chemical concepts, enabling students to learn
chemistry fundamentals, including temperature conversions, balancing equations, molecular structures, and gas laws.

Mineralogy and Petrology of Oceanic Crust
Grades 9-12 | Undergraduate

Students will be able to:

• Examine and match whole thin section photos to the cores from which they were sampled by defining textural characteristics.

The “Hole” Story About Ocean Cores
Grades 9-12 | Undergraduate

The five activities found on the back of the “Hole” Story About Ocean Cores poster introduce students to core description and curation techniques then challenge them to examine high resolution photos and data from four cores taken at various depths on Expedition 309.

Visual Core Description
Grades 9-12 | Undergraduate

Students will be able to:

• Use their prior knowledge, classroom resources, and the visual identification key and record sheets used by scientists aboard the JOIDES Resolution to identify and describe distinguishable characteristics in one or more core sections.

Why Did They Drill There?
Grades 9-12 | Undergraduate

Imagine you are a scientist writing a proposal to use the JOIDES Resolution. Where would you drill? This activity guides students through the drill site location decision making process.

Window on Arctic Coring
Undergraduate

This suite of short activities opens a window to both the scientific motivation and impact of a coring expedition, using an Arctic Expedition as a case study. The question “Why Drill there?” is addressed at multiple levels, so students can experience the scientific rationale behind drilling the sea floor at a particular location. A subset of research results are also investigated and compared with the current scientific paradigm on Cenozoic climate evolution to demonstrate that science is an evolving process.