Exploring Our Fluid Earth
Teaching Science as Inquiry
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Matter
Water is the most common substance on earth, and it can be used as a model for other types of matter.
Table of Contents:
Ocean Literacy Principles:
OLP 1: The earth has one big ocean with many features
Representative Image:
Topic List:
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Representative Image:
This introduction to matter gives an overview of the concepts and activities explored in this unit and describes how these investigations build an understanding of ocean literacy. -
Representative Image:
Matter is anything that takes up space and can be weighed. There are many different types of matter and many ways to describe and classify matter.Activities:Special Features: -
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There are four common states of matter. Changes between states can be physical changes or chemical changes. Chemical changes are reflected in a change in a substance’s chemical composition.Activities: -
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Chemical compounds can be formed through many types of chemical reactions. Decomposition, breaks the bonds between compounds to form simpler compounds or their elemental components.
Table of Contents
- Physical
- World Ocean
- Introduction to the World Ocean
- Ocean Basins and Continents
- Map Distortion
- Locating Points on a Globe
- Weird Science: Polar Circles and Tropical Circles
- Weird Science: The Prime Meridian and Time Zones
- Compare-Contrast-Connect: Converting Decimal Degrees
- Activity: Locating Points on a Globe
- Activity: Mapping the Globe
- Activity: Pacific Scavenger Hunt
- Further Investigations: Locating Points on a Globe
- Density Effects
- Introduction to Density
- Density, Temperature, and Salinity
- Weird Science: Macroscopic Changes in Liquid Water Volume
- Compare-Contrast-Connect: Human Density
- Practices of Science: Making Simulated Seawater
- Activity: Density Bags
- Voice of the Sea: Submarines and Ocean Circulation
- Weird Science: Floating Aircraft Carriers
- Further Investigations: Density, Temperature, and Salinity
- Ocean Temperature Profiles
- Measuring Salinity
- Density Driven Currents
- Circulation in Marginal Seas and Estuaries
- Atmospheric Effects
- Introduction to Atmospheric Effects
- Wind Formation
- Wind Systems
- Ocean Surface Currents
- Question Set: Wind Generated Currents
- Weird Science: Marine Debris and Oceanic Gyres
- Weird Science: From Observation to Inference to Testable Hypothesis
- Compare-Contrast-Connect: Biogeography
- Activity: Current Observation Methods
- Activity: Build a Drifter
- Further Investigations: Ocean Surface Currents
- Effect of Surface Currents
- Climate and Atmosphere
- Waves
- Introduction to Waves
- Wave and Wave Properties
- Compare-Contrast-Connect: The Origin and Diversity of Surf Crafts
- Compare-Contrast-Connect: Estimating Wave Height
- Activity: Watching Waves
- Weird Science: Communicating Wave Sizes—Local Scale
- Question Set: Waves and Wave Properties
- Activity: Make Your Own Wave
- Activity: Standing Waves
- Further Investigations: Waves and Wave Properties
- Sea States
- Wave Energy and Wave Changes with Depth
- Coastal Interactions
- Tides
- Ocean Floor
- Introduction to the Ocean Floor
- Layers of Earth
- Change Over Time
- Continental Movement by Plate Tectonics
- Voice of the Sea: Volcanoes
- Activity: Modeling Plate Spreading
- Activity: Earth’s Plates
- Compare-Contrast-Connect: Volcanoes
- Activity: Continental Movement over Long Time Scales
- Practices of Science: Opinion, Hypothesis & Theory
- Question Set: Ocean Floor and Volcanoes
- Further Investigations: Continental Movement by Plate Tectonics
- Seafloor Features and Mapping the Seafloor
- The Oceanic Crust and Seafloor
- Navigation and Transportation
- Introduction to Navigation and Transportation
- Wayfinding and Navigation
- Voice of the Sea: Tara Oceans Expeditions
- Weird Science: Animal Migration
- Traditional Ways of Knowing: Polynesian Stick Charts
- Activity: Floating Magnetic Compass
- Activity: Determine Your Latitude
- Traditional Ways of Knowing: Estimating Latitude
- Voice of the Sea: Traditional Voyaging
- Activity: Navigating with Nautical Charts
- Question Set: Wayfinding and Navigation
- Further Investigations: Wayfinding and Navigation
- Transportation and Ship Design
- Ocean Depths
- World Ocean
- Biological
- What is Alive
- Introduction to What is Alive?
- Properties of Life
- Evolution by Natural Selection
- Weird Science: Species Flocks
- Activity: Modeling Evolution
- Practices of Science: Communication & Collaboration in the Scientific Community
- Weird Science: Deadly Flu
- Activity: Simulate Natural Selection
- Compare-Contrast-Connect: Natural and Sexual Selection
- Compare-Contrast-Connect: Marsupial Mammals versus Placental Mammals
- Practices of Science: Common Misconceptions on Evolution
- Further Investigations: Evolution by Natural Selection
- Classification of Life
- Aquatic Plants and Algae
- Introduction to Algae and Aquatic Plants
- What Are Aquatic Plants and Algae
- Structure and Function
- Weird Science: Penicillin and the Cell Wall
- Practices of Science: Microscope Use
- Weird Science: Kleptoplasty
- Activity: Identifying Cells and Cell Parts Using a Microscope
- Activity: Structure of Algae with Comparisons to Vascular Plants
- Further Investigations: Where are photosynthetic autotrophs found in your life?
- Evidence of Common Ancestry and Diversity
- Energy Acquisition
- Adaptations
- Growth, Development, and Reproduction
- Behavior
- Invertebrates
- Fish
- Amphibians Reptiles and Birds
- Mammals
- Marine Microbes
- What is Alive
- Chemical
- Matter
- Chemistry and Seawater
- Introduction to Chemistry and Seawater
- The Salty Sea
- The Nature and Organization of Elements
- Atoms, Molecules, and Compounds
- Elemental Abundance
- Ionic Compounds
- Question Set: Using The Periodic Table to Predict Ion Formation
- Question Set: Ions in Seawater
- Question Set: Ionic Compounds
- Question Set: Salts are Ionic Compounds
- Weird Science: Salt Fortification and Additives
- Compare-Contrast-Connect: The Role of Salt in Human History
- Further Investigations: Ionic Compounds
- Covalent Compounds
- Properties of Water
- Chemicals as Tracers of Water Movement
- Energy and the Water Cycle
- Introduction to Energy and the Water Cycle
- Phases of Matter
- Ice
- Salinity and Ice Formation
- Liquid and Gaseous Water
- The Water Cycle
- Activity: Simulate the Water Cycle
- Question Set: Still
- Question Set: Evaporation and Humidity
- Compare-Contrast-Connect: Water Droplets
- Weird Science: Objects in Air
- Climate Connection: Storm Clouds
- Question Set: Condensation and Precipitation
- Compare-Contrast-Connect: Water Needs and Water Use
- Compare-Contrast-Connect: Sea Surface Salinity
- Question Set: Water Cycle
- Question Set: Sublimation and Deposition
- Further Investigations: Water Cycle
- Specific Heat
- Biogeochemical Cycles
- Seafloor Chemistry
- Building Blocks of Life
- SEA Curriculum
- OPIHI Curriculum
- Standards Alignment
- Ocean Literacy Principles (OLP)
- Introduction to Ocean Literacy Principles (OLP)
- OLP 1: The Earth has one big ocean with many features
- OLP 2: The ocean and life in the ocean shape the features of the Earth
- OLP 3: The ocean is a major influence on weather and climate
- OLP 4: The ocean makes Earth habitable
- OLP 5: The ocean supports a great diversity of life and ecosystems
- OLP 6: The ocean and humans are inextricably interconnected
- OLP 7: The ocean is largely unexplored
- Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)
- Introduction to NGSS
- Science and Engineering Practices
- Asking Questions and Defining Problems
- Developing and Using Models
- Planning and Carrying Out Investigations
- Analyzing and Interpreting Data
- Using Mathematics and Computational Thinking
- Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions
- Engaging in Argument from Evidence
- Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating Information
- Crosscutting Concepts
- Disciplinary Core Ideas (DCI)
- Physical Science Performance Expectations
- Life Science Performance Expectations
- Earth and Space Sciences Performance Expectations
- Engineering, Technology, and the Application of Science Performance Expectations
- Ocean Literacy Principles (OLP)
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Exploring Our Fluid Earth, a product of the Curriculum Research & Development Group (CRDG), College of Education. © University of Hawai‘i, 2021. This document may be freely reproduced and distributed for non-profit educational purposes.