Biology

Ocean Tracks Interface

This program is developing and classroom testing a Web interface and data analysis tools that engage students in scientific investigations using data from the Tagging of Pacific Predators (TOPP) Program, NOAA’s Drifter Program, and the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis.

Ocean Tracks: High School Learning Modules

Ocean Tracks: Investigating Marine Migrations in a Changing Ocean has piloted several models of curriculum supports to guide student work with data regarding the movements of marine animals and relate these movements to physical oceanographic measurements such as sea surface temperature, chlorophyll, currents and human impacts....

Zoom In! Science

Zoom In! is a free, Web-based platform that helps high school students build their data literacy through “deep dives” into real-world biology and Earth science problems using authentic data sets.  Each Zoom In blended learning module is a multi-day, standards-aligned science inquiry. Students use Zoom In digital supports as they read and analyze data to answer a scientific question, debate their interpretations, take notes and write a culminating argument supported by evidence.

Resources for Educators Using Data in the Classroom

EDC's Oceans of Data Institute (ODI) has compiled a list of data activities, lessons, and resources for the classroom, sorted by grade level:

Where Science Meets Science Fiction

I’ve spent a lot of time recently thinking about how we can better teach science using data. I believe that 21st Century science is increasingly data-intensive, and that in order to teach science as it is actually being practiced, it should be possible to identify datasets and data stories relevant to most, if not all, topics in modern science to use in the classroom.

A Framework for Success in Big Data

Big data continues to revolutionize almost every discipline. But a key question—how universities can prepare students, researchers and staff with the skills appropriate for success in big data—is largely left unresolved.

Ocean Tracks: College Edition Modules

These modules were developed to engage undergraduate students with authentic scientific data through investigations that mirror those currently being conducted by scientists studying the broad-scale effects of climate and human activities on top predators in ocean ecosystems. Using the Ocean Tracks interactive map and data analysis tools, students will explore and quantify patterns in the migratory tracks of marine animals in the northern Pacific Ocean and relate these behaviors to fluctuations and trends in physical oceanographic variables.

Ocean Tracks: Immersing students in complex data

“Data drives discovery, decision-making, and innovation. … However, our current education systems have not been equipped to produce either the workforce or the citizenry with the skills, knowledge and judgment to make wise use of the data streams that our technologies are delivering.” A Call for Action for Promote Data Literacy Workshop for Building Global Data Literacy, October 2015

Inspiring Future Marine and Data Scientists Through the Lure of Ocean Tracks

The Oceans of Data Institute (ODI) at the Education Development Center (EDC), Inc.; Stanford University; and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography have been collaborating, with the support of three National Science Foundation grants over the past 5 years, to bring large scientific data sets into secondary and postsecondary classrooms.

Harvesting a Sea of Data

"Harvesting a Sea of Data", featured in the Summer2015 issue of NSTA's The Science Teacher, addresses the fundamental challenge in getting big data into K-12 education: how to build a good interface. The article discusses the work of Ocean Tracks, an innovative program that gives students access to authentic data to investigate marine migrations.

 

 

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