Teacher's Guide Area(s) of Concentration: Atmosphere, Biosphere, Hydrosphere Time required: 3 - 4 weeks Student grouping(s): Jig-saw cooperative learning groups. Thinking skill(s): Looking for a pattern Compare / Contrast Reading and interpreting graphs

Lesson Overview:

Engage:

• Students will visit a NASA web site to get background information and an overview of ENSO.
• Students will complete the investigation, Ocean Variations During an El Niño.
• Play the first minutes of the Discover Live radio program.

 

Explore: The focus of this activity is for students to use the information and concepts learned during the oceanography lessons as a basis for understanding the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomena. They will study the way energy moves between the hydrosphere and atmosphere during normal times as compared to an El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) event (either El Niño or La Niña) and the effect this has on the Earth's other systems and spheres. They will investigate how an ENSO event begins, follow it through its life-cycle, and learn how scientists use remote sensing and in-situ data to study the ENSO phenomena.

 

Most teams will conduct a laboratory investigation based on their research topic. The research teams and their assignments are as follows:

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• Team 1:What is Normal? This group is responsible for presenting the "normal" conditions of the atmosphere and the ocean, as these conditions relate to El Niño. They will research and explain:
  • the Earth's general wind systems with a focus on the trade winds and the equatorial low pressure.
  • convection as a method of transporting heat
  • energy flow in the evaporation/condensation of water
  • the normal western build-up of water in the Pacific Ocean.
  • a review of ocean temperatures at depth
  • an explanation of what the trade winds do which triggered the beginning of recent ENSO events, and
  • conduct either investigation, El Niño Pudding or investigation, Kitchen El Niño
• Team 2: The Effect of El Niño on productivity. This group will look at how El Niño has historically affected the fishing industry as well as its affect on various agriculture products. This group will:
  • conduct the investigation, What Happens to Fish Populations During El Niño?
  • investigate the world-wide effect that recent El Niños have had on agriculture production and the fishing industry. Students should be encouraged use the provided resources as a starting point but to seek out additional resources in the school's media center and web sites including those of appropriate government agencies, such as the Department of Agriculture, in countries affected by El Niño.
  • conduct a case study on the effect of an ENSO event on life on the Galapagos Islands.
• Team 3: The westward intensification. Under normal conditions, the Trade Winds, blow from west to east causing a buildup of ocean water on the western side of the Pacific. When an El Niño occurs, the Trades either lessen in severity or reverse direction allowing the buildup of water on the western edge of the Pacific to "slosh" eastward. This marks the beginning of an ENSO event. This group will
  • conduct the investigations, How Level Is Sea Level? and Sea Surface Topography
  • use TOPEX/Poseidon data and derived maps to observe and identify changes in sea level based on the season, ocean basin topography, and surface winds and water density.

  interpret a TOPEX/Poseidon image to construct a 3D map of the ocean's topographic contours.

• Team 4: Looking for ENSO, Analyzing Ocean Temperatures. As the waters slosh eastward, they alter the "normal" temperatures of the ocean to a great depth. They also cut off normal upwelling which occurs along the coast of Peru. The changing temperature of the sea surface is monitored by satellite and by buoys in the ocean. This group will:
  • analyze satellite images of sea surface temperature, sea surface topography, and wind data from an El Niño period and compare and contrast these data with non-El Niño conditions
  • use data derived from the PMEL/TAO buoys in the Pacific Ocean to analyze the effect an ENSO event has on the temperature of water in the Pacific Ocean.
  • research and explain current Pacific Ocean conditions
• Team 5: The Return of El Niño. Is there a pattern to ENSO events? Only relatively recently have scientists recognized the dramatic effect an ENSO event has on global systems. In order to determine if there is a recognizable pattern to these events, this group will
  • conduct the investigation, So When Is The Next El Niño Coming?
  • analyze historical data to determine if there is a trend to ENSO occurrences.
• Team 6: The Effect of El Niño on Global Weather. Scientists recognize that an ENSO event has global implications on weather, and possibly climate. While research is continuing in this area, we do know that a single event CAN NOT be explained by El Niño, in spite of what is reported in the popular news. Scientists are analyzing data looking for long-term trends in weather changes which occur during ENSO events. This group will:
  • research and explain the affects of past ENSO events on weather patterns in various parts of the world.
• Team 7: The Way We Study an ENSO event. Both NASA's Earth Science community and NOAA's scientists and meteorologists, along with numerous other scientific organizations are collecting and analyzing data about ENSO events. This group will research and explain:
  • how the NASA's TOPEX/Poseidon mission data are used to study ENSO.
  • what the NOAA / PMEL / TAO mission is, and how the data are used to study the ENSO.
• Team 8: What are El Niño and La Niña? El Niño and La Niña are oceanographic phenomena which have global implications on weather and living things. This group will:
  • describe and define El Niño
  • describe and define La Niña
• Team 9: The Effect of El Niño on humans. From the fishermen in Peru to the flood victims in Africa ENSO events have an affect on humans. This group will:
  • research the various diseases which are thought to be "enhanced" by ENSO
  • determine the financial affect that ENSO has on various industries
• Team 10: So you'd like to be an oceanographer? Oceanographers study many different aspects of the ocean from the water conditions to the affects on ocean life. this group will:
  • do a case study on many different oceanographers.

 

Explain: The scenario for this activity is that all students in the class make up a video production crew. Their assignment is to produce a one hour video documentary on El Niño. Students are organized into research/production teams and each team is responsible for contributing to the final video product.

 

Extend:

• Once the video is completed, you may want to hold a "premiere" viewing during an evening. Invite the student's parents to school to view the video. You could invite other staff members, administrators, and school system officials to the screening. Have the parents throw the students a reception following the premiere.
• Have students contact your local cable company and inquire about showing the documentary on the cable system's public access TV channel. If your school system has an education channel, you may want to see if they will air your student's work.

 

Evaluate:

• After initial presentation of the project's goals and student group selection, work with each team to develop a rubric for that team's assignment.
• At the beginning of each class period, have student teams note their expectations for the day in their production journal.
• At the end of each class period, have students individually summarize their accomplishments for that day, and a plan for the next science class period in their production journal. You may want to have students share their "journal" entries by sending them to each other via email.
• Students complete the "assessment" activity.

Materials/Resources Needed:

• Headphones for each student (optional but highly recommended) at each computer
• 10 or more (optimum) computers with internet capability
• Netscape 4.0 or higher for internet interfacing (Internet Explorer can NOT be used for accessing some web sites in this activity)
• RealAudio capability on each computer (optional but highly recommended). Presently available at no cost - http://www.real.com
• Adobe Acrobat Reader (free). Presently available through http://www.adobe.com

Implementation Notes:

Engage Activity Notes:

Three links for the engagement activity are provided.

1. local version is the activity only. This version of the activity will download from this web site so none of the activity's internal links will function. You may want to use this version of the activity if you are going to make printed copies or you are having problems with students using one of the other versions of the activity.
2. web version requires access to the internet. Clicking on this link will take you to a matrix of activities. Locate the title for this activity (Ocean Variations During an El Niño) and click on it. The links in this version of the activity should function properly. However, because images, movies, etc are going to download as needed via the internet, this version may be slower.
3. CD-ROM version will cause the computer to run for the activity from the TOPEX/Poseidon CD-ROM, Visit to an Ocean Planet, in the computer's CD-ROM drive. Ordering information for the CD can be found in the education section of the TOPEX/Poseidon web site at http://topex-www.jpl.nasa.gov/

The Primer is a short introduction to El Niño and is available in written and spoken (if your computer(s) have RealAudio capability (available at no cost - http://www.real.com ) versions in English, Español, Francais, Portugues, Russian and Chinese.

 

You may want to have each student group present a brief summary of their day's progress at the end of each class period. They should share with the class, the things they learned, and any problems or questions that arose as part of their research. Students can also start each day by stating what they hope to accomplish by the end of the day.

 

Team 10: Use this Team if you have another team of students that finishes their assignments before the rest of the class.

 

Explore Activity Notes: The Team numbers do not represent or imply a video production sequence. The students, as a class, decide the sequence of their presentation, however they must be able to state reasons for all sequence choices they make.

 

If your school has a media specialist or technology person who can assist with television production, you may want to involve them in the production aspect of the project. Students will need to learn how to use your school's video equipment. Video taping, camera work, editing, production, and post production may be things students will learn during this project. Video enhancements could be added during post production such as titles and credits, fades, or other special visual effects. Have students produce a video that appears as professional as possible given the limitations of your school's video equipment and the time you allow for production.

 

Involve ALL students in both the science content research and video production. Avoid having one group of students be "actors" and another be the production crew ("camera operators" or "director," etc.) and another group serve only as science researchers. Arrange all students into research teams and have them write and produce their own video segment which they will edit and cut together with other segments to form a single documentary video. You may want to have student "experts" in various research and production techniques teach other students how to accomplish those techniques.

 

Students begin on web page URL: http://education.gsfc.nasa.gov/ESSSProject/NewLessons/hydrosphere/ENSO/activity.html

Web Sites for Teacher Background Information:

ENSO Presentation

ENSO Primer ( http://nsipp.gsfc.nasa.gov/enso/primer/englishwelcome.html )

NOAA / PMEL / TAO Home Page ( http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/toga-tao/home.html )

NOAA / PMEL / TAO: What is an El Niño? ( http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/toga-tao/el-nino-story.html )

NOAA / PMEL / TAO: What is La Niña? ( http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/toga-tao/la-nina-story.html )

El Niño: Online Meteorology Guide ( http://ww2010.atmos.uiuc.edu/(Gh)/guides/mtr/eln/home.rxml )

 

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