Students graph and analyze the data to illustrate an ecological principle known as Van't Hoffs Rule. The analytical prompts also involve calculating rates and extrapolating the data based on the trends. Students consider wind speed, wind direction and air temperature versus time, over a three consecutive day period. The investigation leads students into an analysis of the diurnal patterns at their own school, and prompts a discussion of the physical mechanisms and science behind these patterns. A map of the world shows the surface salinity in parts per thousand.
Students create a color code for salinity values.
The analytical prompts are simple, and begin a process of global oceanic mechanisms. This is the first of a three part series of investigations of major ocean processes using salinity as an example. A cross section of the Atlantic running north to south, from 65N to 75S, and running from the surface to a depth of 5,000 meters shows the salinty structure of the ocean. In this investigation students create a color code for salinity values and colorize the cross section. The analytical prompts lead students to a discovery of the major ocean water masses and the physical mechanisms behind the vertical and horizontal structure of the sea.