Description
inquiryHub® is a research-practice partnership that designs, tests, and implements tools and strategies that support teachers in promoting equity and justice in STEM education. Part of a full-year high school chemistry curriculum, inquiryHub® Oysters is open access and available through Google Drive™. This NGSS-aligned unit is phenomenon-based and takes a storyline approach to support students engaging in 3-dimensional learning.
In this unit on ocean acidification, students investigate what is happening to oysters along the West Coast of the United States. They develop models of the changing dynamic equilibrium between the atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations and the carbonic acid concentrations within the ocean, resulting from increased anthropogenic CO2 emissions. Students ultimately explain how this changing equilibrium is affecting shellfish in the world’s oceans and design a solution to preclude any further push toward lower ocean pH levels.
Kit includes sufficient materials for 30 students working in groups of 4 (or less).