HR: 11:20h
AN: ED32A-05    [Abstracts]
TI: Teaching rapid climate change using examples from the geologic record - a discovery-based learning module for the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum
AU: * Thomas, D J
EM: dthomas@ocean.tamu.edu
AF: Department of Oceanography Texas A&M University, 3146 TAMU, College Station, TX 77843, United States
AU: Leckie, M
EM: mleckie@geo.umass.edu
AF: Department of Geosciences University of Massachusetts, 611 N. Pleasant St., Amherst, MA 01003, United States
AU: Peart, L
EM: lpeart@joiscience.org
AF: JOI Learning Joint Oceanographic Institutions, 1201 New York Avenue, NW, Suite 400, Washington, D.C., 20005, United States
AB: Science educators are increasingly incorporating aspects of climate change into undergraduate curricula. Teaching climate and climate change (particularly anthropogenic climate change) requires context from the geologic record. How has the Earth's climate varied in the past, and how does the magnitude or simulated magnitude of the current rate of climate change compare to events in the geologic record? We have created an inquiry-based learning module focused on the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), one of the most prominent and relevant examples of rapid global warming evident in the geologic record. The PETM occurred approximately 55 million years ago and was characterized by global warming, significant changes in the carbon and hydrologic cycles, and a myriad of biotic responses all of which are similar to the observed and/or predicted patterns of the current global warming trend. Our learning module is based on two types of primary data: the data collected during Ocean Drilling Program coring operations aboard the JOIDES Resolution, as well as "shore- based" analyses. The progression of the exercise allows students to experience the initial discovery of the signature of the PETM in deep-sea sediments and then compile data collected from 9 deep sea drill sites into a global picture to reconstruct the magnitude and scope of the event.
DE: 0805 Elementary and secondary education
DE: 0810 Post-secondary education
DE: 0820 Curriculum and laboratory design
DE: 0845 Instructional tools
DE: 4901 Abrupt/rapid climate change (1605)
SC: Education and Human Resources [ED]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting