This video is about scientific research that uses very old corals to help scientists answer important questions about changes in temperature, ocean currents, and other conditions.
Teaching Tips
Positives
Students will hear from two female scientists and see the cores removed from the corals.
Additional Prerequisites
Students should be familiar with coral reefs.
Differentiation
Coral reefs are important habitat and nurseries for marine life and are vital for many people that rely on them for ecotourism businesses or subsistence fishing. This could be discussed in social studies or economics classes.
Science classes could use this video to supplement other content on climate change, data collection, proxy temperature data, ecosystems, and biodiversity.
Other related resources include this video about corals, this lesson about ocean acidification, and this interactive resource about coral bleaching.
Scientist Notes
The resource explores the impact of climate change on coral reefs. It provides insights on experimentation and dating of corals to ascertain climate change impact over time. This is suitable to build students' forecasting skills.
Standards
Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)
ESS2: Earth's Systems
HS-ESS2-2 Analyze geoscience data to make the claim that one change to Earth’s surface can create feedbacks that cause changes to other Earth systems.
ESS3: Earth and Human Activity
MS-ESS3-3 Apply scientific principles to design a method for monitoring and minimizing a human impact on the environment.
College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Standards
Dimension 1: Developing Questions and Planning Inquiries
D1.5.6-8 Determine the kinds of sources that will be helpful in answering compelling and supporting questions, taking into consideration multiple points of views represented in the sources.
