Lesson Plans:

HANDS-ON OCEANOGRAPHY
Digging into the Geologic Record of Environmentally Driven Changes in Coral Reef Development

Philip M. Gravinese, Richard B. Aronson, Laurent T. Toth

This lesson uses data based on real-world geological archives to guide students toward understanding how climate and oceanographic conditions have impacted coral reef growth over the last 5,000 years. The objective of the lesson is for students to determine the relationship between environmental variability and coral reef development over millennial timescales. In this activity, students will:

1. Characterize the species composition and condition of coral reefs from different time periods in the past using cores that reveal reef architecture
2. Calculate the rate of calcium carbonate accretion (production) of the reefs during those past time intervals
3. Reconstruct trends in past climatic conditions using a mock data set

This lesson is designed for junior and senior high school students, as well as undergraduates in lower-level biology, marine biology, environmental chemistry, and oceanography courses. The activities will introduce students to paleoecological relationships associated with chemical variations in the coral skeleton, so the lessons may also be appropriate for courses in the geosciences.

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HANDS-ON OCEANOGRAPHY
How Do Upwelling and El Niño Impact Coral Reef Growth? A Guided, Inquiry-Based Lesson

Philip M. Gravinese, Lauren T. Toth, Carly J. Randall, Richard B. Aronson

This lesson uses real-world data to guide students toward understanding how climate and ocean variables impact coral reef growth. To begin this activity, students hypothesize how changes in environmental conditions could affect coral reef growth. They then compare metrics for reef growth (linear growth and percent coral cover) between two reefs in Pacific Panamá that are located in oceanographically and environmentally different embayments, or gulfs. A discussion following the first two activities allows the students to explore possible reasons for the observed differences between the reefs. Students then use their data to calculate a carbonate budget to estimate the rate of reef growth in each gulf. The purpose of calculating a carbonate budget is to provide students with an opportunity to estimate how variables such as coral growth rates, percent coral cover, and bioerosion contribute to the long-term potential for accretion or deterioration of coral reefs.

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HANDS-ON OCEANOGRAPHY
Corals on Acid: An Inquiry-based Activity Leading Students to a Better Understanding of Ocean Acidification Impacts

Casey L. Boleman, Philip M. Gravinese, Ellen N. Muse, Andrea E. Marston, John G. Windsor

The objective of this inquiry-based lesson is for students to gain an understanding of how increasing ocean acidity can affect the calcification of marine organisms. During this activity, students:

1. design an experiment to quantify the CaCO3 concentration of two invertebrate skeletal samples, one that has been soaked in normal seawater and another in a low pH solution.
2. use critical thinking and discussion to evaluate possible explanations for the difference in the skeletal CaCO3 compositions.

Our lesson focuses on exploring the activity before ocean acidification is introduced to provide a common conceptual framework to engage students.

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