Abstract
As the carbon dioxide concentration in the air is increasing, the oceans are changing: they are getting warmer (global warming) and more acidic (ocean acidification). These threats are very likely to have substantial impacts on marine ecosystems and on terrestrial species that depend on the oceans (e.g. human beings). To prevent the most dramatic consequences of such changes to the climate, citizens need to take collective actions. In that respect, education is a key factor to increase our awareness and understanding of climate change. Within the educational project Inquiry-to-Insight (I2I) we have developed, implemented, and tested Information Communication Technology (ICT) tools addressing the climate change issue with high school students.
One such tool that we have developed is an open access virtual animation and laboratory on ocean acidification (OA). This tool allows students to improve their background knowledge of OA and to become virtual scientists, conducting and analysing research on the effect of ocean acidity on a key and well known marine organism: sea urchin. Our results from a pilot study in two high schools in Sweden and California indicate that the OA I2I activities in particular, and other I2I tools in general, increase students’ awareness and understanding of OA.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Boykoff MT, Boykoff JM (2004) Balance as bias: global warming and the US prestige press. Glob Environ Change 14:125–136
Caldeira K, Wickett ME (2003) Oceanography: anthropogenic carbon and ocean pH. Nature 425:365
Caldeira K, Wickett ME (2005) Ocean model prediction of chemistry changes from carbon dioxide emission to the atmosphere and ocean. Geophys Res Lett 110
Cole M (2006) The fifth dimension: an after-school program built on diversity. Russell Sage Foundation, New York
Doney SC, Fabry VJ, Feely RA, Kleypas JA (2009) Ocean acidification: the other CO2 problem. Annu Rev Mater Sci 1:169–192
Hart P (2007) In denial on climate change. Extra! http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=3418
Hines PJ, Jasny BR, Mervis J (2009) Adding a T to the Three R’s. Introduction to special issue, Science 323:53
Jones RE, Dunlap RE (1992) The social base of the environmental concern: have they changed over time? Rural Sociol 57:28–47
Lawless JG, Rock BN (1998) Student scientist partnership and data quality. J Sci Educ Technol 7:5–13
Lubell M, Zahran S, Vedlitz A (2007) Collective action and citizen responses to global warming. Polit Behav 2:391–413
Mohai P (1985) Public concern and elite involvement in environmental conservation issues. Soc Sci Q 66:820–838
Myndigheten för skolutvekling (2007) Internationell forskningsöversikt kring IT i skolan. Liber Distribution, Stockholm
Ruttiman J (2006) Sick seas. Nature 442:978–980
Sabine CL, Feely RA, Gruber N, Key RM, Lee K et al (2004) The oceanic sink for anthropogenic CO2. Science 305:367–71
Savitz J, Harrould-Kolieb E (2008) The oceans’ acid test: can our reefs be saved? Front Ecol Environ 6:515
Singer SR, Hilton ML, Schweingruber HA (eds) (2005) America’s Lab Report: Investigations in High School Science. Committee on High School Science
Skolverket (1995) Naturvetenskaplig begreppsförståelse i gymnasieskolan
Smith MK, Wood WB, Adams WK, Wieman C, Knight JK, Guild N, Su TT (2009) Why peer discussion improves student performance on in-class concept questions. Science 323:122–124
Zucker AA, Light D (2009) Laptops program for students. Science 323:82–85
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2011 Springer Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Fauville, G. et al. (2011). Virtual Ocean Acidification Laboratory as an Efficient Educational Tool to Address Climate Change Issues. In: Leal Filho, W. (eds) The Economic, Social and Political Elements of Climate Change. Climate Change Management. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-14776-0_49
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-14776-0_49
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-14775-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-14776-0
eBook Packages: Business and EconomicsEconomics and Finance (R0)