Volume 2: How Do We Explore?
NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer: Education Materials Collection
NOTICE: These collection pages are being retained for reference purposes only and they are no longer being updated or maintained.
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Full Book | Book Preface | Introduction | Telepresence | Multibeam Sonar | Water Column Investigations | Underwater Robots | Resources & Standards
Volume 2 of the NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer Education Materials Collection – How Do We Explore? begins with an introductory section that sets the stage for the exploration strategy of the Okeanos Explorer. The book is divided into sections based on the modern exploration tools used aboard the ship: telepresence, multibeam sonar, water column investigations, and underwater robots.
Some of these lessons were adapted from lessons previously developed for other expeditions supported by NOAA Ocean Exploration, while others were created specifically for this collection.
These lessons support the Ocean Literacy Essential Principles and Fundamental Concepts , and, while this collection was designed prior to the development of the Next Generation Science Standards, connections are provided here:
- Okeanos Explorer Education Materials Collection, Volume 2: How Do We Explore? Next Generation Science Standards Performance Expectations
Educators who use the Okeanos Explorer Education Materials Collection should regularly check the website for the latest information about new education offerings and professional development opportunities.
Book Version
Access the entire How Do We Explore? book (pdf, 8.5 Mb) (2nd Edition, 2014)
PDF files of Individual Lessons
**Any updated versions are not reflected in the full Book Version (above).
Introduction
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How Do We Explore? Introduction
This section includes: Table of Contents, An Introduction from the NOAA Ocean Exploration and an Overview of the Collection.
Section 1: Introduction to Volume 2: How Do We Explore?
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Introduction
Introduction to Ships of Exploration and Their Strategy for Ocean Exploration**
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Lesson 1: To Explore Strange New Worlds
(Grades 5-12)
Focus: Strategies for exploring unknown areas on Earth
Students explain how the exploration strategy used aboard NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer determines the structure and function of the ship’s exploration technologies; how science, engineering, and technology influenced exploration strategies of the Lewis and Clark and HMS Challenger expeditions; how fractal geometry can be used to model patterns in natural systems; and how fractal geometric models can be used to explain how scale influences requirements for ocean exploration technologies.
Section 2: Telepresence
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Introduction to Telepresence** | Introducción a la telepresencia
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Lesson 2. A Day in the Life of an Ocean Explorer
(Grades 5-12)
Focus: Telepresence and communications for ocean exploration
Students understand how telepresence technologies increase the pace, efficiency, and scope of ocean exploration and how the basic properties of simple waves contribute to processes of obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information in ocean exploration.
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Introduction to Sonar and Multibeam Mapping** | Introducción al sonar multihaz
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Lesson 3: Wet Maps**
(Grades 5-6)
Focus: Bathymetric mapping
Students analyze and interpret data to explain how multibeam sonar is used to identify patterns of ocean floor structures, contruct three-dimensional maps, and understand how multibeam sonar technology extends the measurement and exploration capacity of modern ocean exploration. Addendum: Blank Wet Maps Graph, pg 62
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Lesson 4: Mapping the Deep-ocean Floor
(Grades 7-8)
Focus: Bathymetric mapping
Students analyze and interpret data from the Okeanos Explorer to explain how multibeam sonar is used to identify patterns of ocean floor structures and how multibeam sonar technology extends the measurement and exploration capacity of modern ocean exploration.
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Watching in 3-D Activity Package
(Grades 9-12)
Focus: Multibeam sonar/Bathymetric Mapping
Students will learn how multibeam sonar is used to explore and study the shape and composition of the ocean floor and how to analyze and interpret maps of a variety of seafloor features using multibeam sonar data.
Hands-on activity: Manipulate and analyze seafloor features using authentic mapping software
This activity package provides: An overview of multibeam sonar, specific case studies with a variety of multibeam sonar 3D image files, guides for student exploration, and step-by-step usage tool guides for the Ocean Exploration Digital Atlas (a searchable, interactive expedition data map) and a free version of Fledermaus, a powerful 3D interactive mapping data visualization software used by ocean explorers.
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Introduction to Water Column Investigations** | Introducción a las investigaciones sobre la columna de agua
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Lesson 6: What’s a CTD?
(Grades 5-6)
Focus: Measuring physical properties of seawater for ocean exploration
Students explain how a CTD is used aboard the Okeanos Explorer to reveal patterns that help ocean explorers answer questions about the natural world and analyze and interpret data from the Okeanos Explorer to make inferences about relationships between density, salinity, temperature, and pressure in seawater.
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Lesson 7: The Oceanographic Yo-yo**
(Grades 7-8)
Focus: Ocean chemistry and hydrothermal vents
Students analyze and interpret data from the Okeanos Explorer to make inferences about the possible presence of hydrothermal vents and explain how interaction with hydrothermal vents affects chemical and physical properties of seawater.
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Lesson 8: A Quest for Anomalies
(Grades 9-12)
Focus: Use of CTD data in ocean exploration
Students explain how properties of redox potential and optical backscatter are related to deep-sea ecosystems and geologic features and analyze and interpret data from the Okeanos Explorer to detect potential anomalies.
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Introduction to Remotely Operated Vehicles and Autonomous Underwater Vehicles** | Introducción a los robots submarinos
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Lesson 9: Invent a Robot!**
(Grades 5-6)
Focus: Engineering Design
Students explain how underwater robots are used in scientific exploration to gather data and help answer questions about the natural world and design and optimize potential solutions for an ocean exploration problem.
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Lesson 10: What Little Herc Saw
(Grades 7-8)
Focus: Use of robotics for ocean exploration
Students explain how robotic vehicle technology is used to extend the exploration capacity of scientific investigations aboard the Okeanos Explorer, discuss how information from underwater robots about the variety of biological and geological conditions in marine ecosystems is relevant to the concept of biodiversity, and analyze and interpret video data from the Okeanos Explorer’s underwater robot to make inferences about environmental interactions of organisms in deep-sea ecosystems.
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Lesson 11: Through Robot Eyes
(Grades 9-12)
Focus: Image analysis
Students explain how robotic vehicle technology is used to extend the exploration capacity of scientific investigations aboard the Okeanos Explorer, use mathematics and computational thinking to show how lasers may be used in scientific investigations to calibrate images for size and distance measurements, and analyze and interpret video data from the Okeanos Explorer’s underwater robot to make inferences about environmental interactions of organisms in deep-sea ecosystems.
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Resources
This section provides lists of resources and links associated with each topic area.
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Standards Correlation Matrix
This matrix provides correlation of all How Do We Explore? lessons to the Ocean Literacy Essential Principles and Fundamental Concepts .
Ocean Literacy Essential Principles Correlations for revised lessons**
Addendum: How Do We Explore matrix illustrating lesson support for the Next Generation Science Standards
Section 3: Multibeam Sonar
Section 4: Water Column Investigations
Section 5: Underwater Robots
Resources and Standards
For More Information
For more information, please contact the NOAA Ocean Exploration Education Team at: oceanexeducation@noaa.gov.