Slides from a 3-part, 1.5hr STEM workshop on ocean acidification, compiled in March, 2018. Includes workshop materials and instructions. Please use freely. Thanks to the NSF for funding our research, which enabled this workshop development and implementation.

1. ACID IN ACTION
Kim Cobb
@coralsncaves
Georgia Tech

2. Climate Change
Museum Artifact
#205
“A 6th grade
science
textbook in 2018,
Atlanta
Public Schools.”

3. 57F

4. 59F

5. today = 405 parts
per million
67F

6. my lab
Google Earth

7. Christmas Island
Fanning Island
Palmyra Island

8. Corals stressed by:
1) rising ocean temperatures
2) ocean acidification

15. from the Smithsonian:
http://ocean.si.edu/
ocean-acidification

16. Let’s put acid into action!

17. Break for acidification workshop (20min):
Materials:
1) coral fragments – these should work well, although
I handed out 5,000 yr fossil coral fragments for kids to keep
2) household vinegar in squirt bottles
To do:
-place coral onto table
-squirt vinegar onto coral piece, let it sit for a few minutes
-observe and share observations
-talk about the chemistry that is happening, relate to ocean
acidification

18. What’s next for the world’s coral reefs?

19. Hottest years
on record:
#1 2016
#2 2015
#3 2014
#4 2010
#5 2013
#6 2005
#7 2009
#8 1998
#9 2012
#10 2007
http://berkeleyearth.org/global-temperatures-2017/
Rising ocean temperatures are near-term threat

20. Things are happening
faster than we thought.
We have to reduce our
greenhouse gas emissions.

21. How can kids help?
1) conserve gas, electricity
2) don’t waste food
3) eat less beef
4) plant trees

22. Help nature
help us!

23. Trees Atlanta
March 2, 2018

24. “There are many ways of going
forward, but only one way of standing
still.”
--Franklin D. Roosevelt