HISTORY & SCIENCE
2010 Interactive Science Project
Welcome Teachers and Students to Charlston Explorers Marine Science Project's (CEMSP) innovative science program, as offered at Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum. To maximize your educational experience, we have prepared the following resource page. It contains an overview of the concepts used in the programs formation, links to resource materials, a calendar of events and a post program survey.
The TeaherChecklist has been prepared to assist teachers with the recommended pre and post arrival activities. For the students, the Vocabulary page contains definitions of the key terms used throughout the program.
This program is master piece in development. We are anticipating and relying on teacher and student input in assisting its evolution. We are also soliciting illustration ideas for Oscar's story.All suggestions or questions should be directed to Keith Grybowski Grybowski@gmail.com). Let the experience begin ...................
THE CONCEPT
Our goal is to bring science to life, make it interesting, give the students an experience they can work with. In doing this, we have written a story that touches on all of the science concepts within South Carolina's Fifth Grade Curriculum, "The Yo Yo Travels of Oscar the Oxygen Atom, from the Sea to the Mountains and back". To assist the students with their comprehension of the story's subject mater, we have developed hands-on, minds-on experiments. The estuarine environment found at Patriots Point, with the Charleston Harbor and the Wando and Cooper rivers, is the perfect teaching platform. No matter at want point students are at in the science education, the story and its supporting experiments will either provide a review or an introduction of mandated concepts.
The programs guide is Oscar , an atom of Oxygen. In his various forms, created by his temprature, number and partnerships with other elements, Oscar leads Student scientist in a journey through South Carolina's ecosystems. The hands-on, minds-on experiments focus on the interaction between Oscar and the ecosytems physical land forms and living organisms'..
The story starts high in the sky off the coast of South Carolina. There, Oscar transforms from a gas to a liquid state as he travels from the atmosphere to the ocean. After a visit with the ocean's Aquatic Ecosystem, Oscar travels to the mountains and hills of the upstate for an exploration of the natural processes found within the Terrestrial Ecosystems. His trip completes a full circle back to the coast by way of the State's pond, lakes, streams and rivers. The last leg of the journey includes a visit with the USS Yorktown at her berth in Charleston Harbor's Estuarine Ecosystem.
Upon completion of the story, students will have the foundation to conduct experiments and participate in standard based discussions during their visit to Patriots Point. The experiments will include investigations into the physical properties or H2O as effected by temperature, as a solvent in the brackish water solution, or in its role in erosion process. All experiments will include mathematical concepts and applications that are introduced at the Fifth Grade Level. With Charleston Harbor as a back drop, student discussions will involve the dynamics of the South Carolina's ecosystems and how they affected by the various aboitic and biotic factors..
OBJECTIVES Upon program completion, Students will be able to: 1. Discuss the ecosystems in which water passes through to Charleston's estuarine environment: the forest, the pond and lakes, the river, the estuary and the ocean. 2. Identify organisms within each of the ecosystem's habitat and be able to understand their roles and adaptations that allow them to thrive.
3. Identify biotic and biotic factors and illustrate how they affect a habitat. 4. Conduct authentic research in which the students will build and test a hypotheses. 5. Through scientific experiments, demonstrate the various properties of H2O. METHOD The Oscar story is organized in multi-part curriculum modules. All modules follow South Carolina's Science, Math and Language Arts standards. Each module tells Oscar's story through three perspectives - earth, life, and physical science.
Earth Science Module - Students investigate the ecosystem's landforms and features, the source and make up of its water, and the relationship of the dynamic changes that occur in the ecosystems due to drainage and runoff, and those changes associated with natural events such as hurricanes and earth quakes.
Life Science Module -student's investigate the composition of an ecosystem, identifying and considering the effects of abiotic and biotic factors such as pollution and microorganisms. Students will discuss ecosystem, and how limiting factors such as food, water, space and shelter, affect ecosystem's populations.
Physical Science Module - Using a stream table, students investigate how the natural processes ( weathering, erosion, deposition, landslides, floods) affect the watershed's river and estuarine environment in a constructive or destructive way. Students will also discuss how waves, currents, tides and storms affect the geological features of the oceans shore zone. As part of the physical science models students will conduct authentic research in their investigation of the nature of the cycle changes of salt as an element inherent in the chemistry of estuaries brackish water.
ACTIVIES
As part of the scientific process, program activities are broken down into three phases. The first phase, conducted in the classroom, requires the students develop a foundation for the proposed research. Students are asked to read " The Yo Yo Travels of Oscar the Oxygen Atom, from the Sea to the Mountains and back. ". They will form research teams and review the proposed research projects to be conducted at Patriots Point. Students will be asked to develop a hypothesis for the water quality and erosion experiments. They will be required to discuss the experiments variables, including the effect of the weather and tides. At Patriots Point, students will conduct the experiments which will produce data to be included in actual research being conducted at the site. The water quality experiments will include tests to determine the salinity, PH and temperature of the brackish water at the estuarine site. Back in the classroom, students will post the data they created on our web site, to be used by all students participating in the program, for development of the students' post experiment findings and conclusions. Further, each participating class will be asked to post their data in the web site maintained by South Carolina's Department of Natural Resources as part of the outgoing water quality research be conducted in Charleston Harbor. PREARRIVAL ACTIVITES 1. Teachers download and read the
Teacher's Checklist.
2. Download a copy of the Student's Project Management Sheet
Research Data Logs.
Vocabulary
3. The teacher will review with the class the program outline and goals. 4. The students are asked to be divided into research teams of between four and six members. 5. Using the student project management sheet, each team of students will select a project manager. If there is more than one volunteer, the group will take a vote. The project manager will work with the team members in appointing a scientist's for each of the activities listed on the project management sheet. A copy of the project management sheet should accompany the scientific team during their visit to Patriots Point. All of the research data obtained from this experiments conducted at Patriots Point will be recorded on the management sheet. 6. A vocabulary list of the key words used in the program is available as a resource tool. 7. Students are asked to read "The Yo Yo Travels of Oscar the Oxygen Atom, from the Sea to the Mountains and back ". We hope to publish an illustrated form of the story in the spring of 2010. This is a work in progress. Comments regarding content or illustration suggestions are warmly welcomed. 8. Students will meet as a group and develop a hypothesis for the water quality experiments.
9. Prior to arrival, the teacher will work with our staff in determining the time slot for each team's participation in the science segment of the History and Science program. There will be four science sessions each day ACTIVITES AT PATRIOTS POINT NAVAL & MARITIME MUSEUM SHIP'S THEATER ON BOARD THE USS YORKTOWN: All students will meet in the ship's theater for program introduction and pretest. Upon completion of the pretest the students will be directed to either the history for science program. The science program will be conducted using two stations, the Ship and Pier labs. The Pier Lab - The outside Pier lab, with its view of the Wando River and Charleston Harbor, is the perfect platform for discussions of the three modules. Students will use the updated touch table for demonstration on how H2O's affects the earth's oceans and land in a constructive and destructive ways. The station will also be used for demonstration on how the forces of waves, currents, tides and storms affect the geological features of the oceans shore zone. Students will conduct organism inventories of "underwater habitats", and discuss the role of biotic factors within the estuarine environment. Experiments -student's will record the stage and height of the tide, temperature and salinity of the water at the research site. Ship Lab -In the Ship's marine lab, students will summarize the composition of the ecosystems studied in the project, considering both abiotic and biotic factors. Students will also compare the characteristics of different ecosystems including forest and grasslands, lakes and ponds, Rivers, estuaries slash salt marshes, and the ocean. They will discuss the roles of organisms as they interact and depend on one another through food chains and food plants in an ecosystem considering, producers and consumers, decomposers, predators, prey, parasites and hosts. Experiments - Using our projection microscope, students will conduct and inventory of the plankton pull conducted by our staff. The students will use hydrometers to demonstrate the characteristics of brackish water. The students will perform a PH test on the harbor's water. Using the " boiling pot", students will witness how temperature changes the physical characteristics of water. They'll also witness how salt is a solute and water a solvent in the brackish water solution. FOLLOW-UP ACTIVITIES Once back in the classroom, student's will be ready to discuss the following issues: - What are some of the unique characteristics of each ecosystem studied.
- Discuss how animals have adapted to life in Charleston's estuarine environment and how the adaptations enabled them to survive.
- Discuss the journey of Oscar the Oxygen Atom to Charleston Harbor , by way of rain in the mountains of the upstate, or through the tides caused by the moon.
- Discuss the Scientific Data obtained by each team from the experiments conducted at Patriots Point.
- Determined a conclusion to the experiment's hypothesis.
- Input the classrooms Scientific Data into CEMSP and the SCORE web sites.
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