Social Studies
Activity 1: Ocean Exploration Timeline
Essential Questions: How can technology help us explore the ocean? Why do we want to explore the ocean? Content Statement: Events can be arranged in order of occurrence using the conventions of B.C. and A.D. or B.C.E. and C.E. Activity: The ocean has been a mystery to humans for thousands of years. We will explore how our understanding and exploration of the ocean has changed from 5000 BCE to present day through the completion of a class timeline. Students will be split into six groups with an assigned period of time; 5000 BC – 1 BC, 1 AD – 1600, 1601 – 1800, 1801 – 1900, or 1901- Present. Using books and the internet, students will research their time period’s explorers, technology, and theories concerning the ocean. Students will create ten to fifteen events providing a paragraph of information and one visual. Each group will designate one event the ‘most important’ from that period and provide a paragraph explaining why they consider it the most important. At the end of the assignment all sections of the timeline will be attached to form a single ocean exploration timeline. Students will be able to list one event from each period of the timeline and arrange events according to the conventions of B.C.E and C.E. |
Activity 2: Ocean Economics
Essential Question: How do we use the ocean as a resource? Content Statements: When regions and/or countries specialize, global trade occurs. The interaction of supply and demand, influenced by competition, helps to determine price in a market. This interaction also determines the quantities of outputs produced and the quantities of inputs (human resources, natural resources and capital) used. Activity: All types of resource extraction have impacts on the environment and, frequently, on human cultures that live near the resources. In small groups students will conduct Internet research on one of the natural resources we obtain from the ocean. Some of the resources we obtain from the ocean include: - Minerals (salt, sand, gravel, and some manganese, copper, nickel, iron, and cobalt can be found in the deep sea) and crude oil - Food in the form of fish and shellfish—about 200 billion pounds are caught each year - Seaweed is found in many food and household products - Biomedical organisms with enormous potential for fighting disease Students will answer the following questions: Why is it important to extract this material? Do people need it? Where does this resource come from? How do land-locked countries obtain this resource? What are the environmental and cultural concerns, if any, concerning this resource? Who benefits, and who loses? Individually, students will create a T-chart describing the pros and cons of extracting the material they have studied. As a class, we will discuss how availability and location of a resource can lead to specialization as well as the specific need of land-locked countries to trade for resources. |
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