Rutgers Ocean Days 2013 was a HUGE success! Thank you to all the students for your hard work preparing and participating, to all the teachers for making this happen for your students, and to all the Rutgers scientists who participated and worked so hard to make the events happen.
** To see photos from the three days of events visit the appropriate flickr page:
- Rutgers Ocean Days – Elementary School
- Rutgers Ocean Days – Middle School
- Rutgers Ocean Days- High School.
** To read press coverage about the events visit:
Rutgers Ocean Days 2013 Competition Winners:
Tuesday, April 9th – Grades 3-5 (“Fish & Adaptations”)
- How do scientists tag & track fish populations? (Lincoln School, Poster)
- How do living things affect each other? (MLK Elementary School, Poster)
Wednesday, April 10th – Grades 6-8 (“Fish & Climate Change”)
- Anxious Anglers (Homeschool group, Film)
- Impact of Climate Change on Fish Biomass (Cambridge School, Poster)
- How does the increase in temperature due to global warming affect the migration pattern of the Southern Elephant Seal? (Paterson Talented & Gifted Academy, Poster)
Thursday, April 11th – Grades 9-12 (“Climate Change & the Ocean”)
- Swimming in acid (East Orange STEM Academy, Poster)
- The effect of acid rain on algae (JFK High STEM Academy, Poster)
— Rutgers Ocean Days 2013 – Original Webpage —
Rutgers Ocean Days 2013 – Our Changing Ocean
Interested in downloading the Rutgers Ocean Days 2013 Flyer to share with your colleagues? Click here.
Event Dates: ** All programs are at capacity. ** All events are from 10a.m. to 2p.m. in the Cook Campus Center (59 Biel Road New Brunswick, NJ 08901)
Tuesday, April 9th – Grades 3-5 (“Fish & Adaptations”)
Wednesday, April 10th – Grades 6-8 (“Fish & Climate Change”)
Thursday, April 11th – Grades 9-12 (“Climate Change & the Ocean”)
What does this look like for you and your students? We have developed Rutgers Ocean Days to offer your students a variety of activities (classroom, day-of stations, and science presentation) that complement one another to expose your students to current marine science research, to answer a motivating question, and to address a range of NJ science content and practice standards in a fun and engaging way for your students. To learn about the motivating questions, activities we suggest to conduct in the classroom before the event, the draft agenda of the events, and the NJ science standards that are being addressed choose the appropriate grade band link below…
Elementary School Students (April 9th):
Motivating Questions: How are fish adapted to live in the ocean throughout the year? And how do scientists study fish adaptations?
Before Attending the Event:
- If possible, students should complete the following activities in classroom prior to attending the event:
- Fish Migration COOL Classroom unit Lessons 1, 3, & 6 (expected to take 3 45-minute class periods)
- Students come up with an investigation (science experiment or research project) about fish or migrations of ocean creatures and conduct the investigation.
- Some overarching questions to have your students consider when developing a focused scientific investigation are:
- What benefits do native animals and plants get from the ocean?
- What are the similarities and differences among the organisms that live in the ocean (e.g., what do they need to survive in the habitat?)?
- Some overarching questions to have your students consider when developing a focused scientific investigation are:
- Students make posters or videos about their investigations to present at Rutgers Ocean Day (see Student Presentations section below for more information and support materials).
Event Agenda: Draft Agenda
NJ Science Content and Practice Standards Addressed:
- 5.1.4.B.3 – Evidence is used to construct and defend arguments.
- 5.1.4.B.4 – Reasoning is used to support scientific conclusions.
- 5.1.4.D.1 – Science has unique norms for participation. These include adopting a critical stance, demonstrating a willingness to ask questions and seek help, and developing a sense of trust and skepticism.
- 5.3.4.A.1 – Living organisms: grow and develop in a predictable manner, interact with and cause changes in their environment.
- 5.3.4.B.1 – Almost all energy (food) and matter can be traced to the Sun.
- 5.3.4.C.1 – Organisms can only survive in environments in which their needs are met. Within ecosystems, organisms interact with and are dependent on their physical and living environment.
Middle School Students (April 10th):
Motivating Questions: What factors influence when and where fish live in the ocean? How do scientists study the movement patterns of fish and these factors? Are fish movement patterns or the factors that influence them changing over time?
Before Attending the Event:
- If possible, students should complete the following activities in classroom prior to attending the event:
- Fish Migration COOL Classroom unit (expected to take 6 45-minute class periods)
- Students come up with an investigation (science experiment or research project) about changes in movement with temperature, ocean animals, or climate change in the ocean and conduct the investigation.
- Some overarching questions to have your students consider when developing a focused scientific investigation are:
- How are/have ocean organisms responding to changes in the ocean (i.e., over the day, a week, a month, a year, a decade, a century)?
- How has/does the ocean and/or the organisms within the ocean change over time?
- Students make posters or videos about their investigations to present at Rutgers Ocean Day (see Student Presentations section below for more information and support materials).
Event Agenda: Draft Agenda
NJ Science Content and Practice Standards Addressed:
- 5.1.8.B.3 – Carefully collected evidence is used to construct and defend arguments.
- 5.1.8.B.4 – Scientific reasoning is used to support scientific conclusions.
- 5.1.8.D.1 – Science involves practicing productive social interactions with peers, such as partner talk, whole-group discussions, and small-group work.
- 5.3.6.B.1 – Plants are producers: they use energy from light to make food (sugar) from carbon dioxide and water. Plants are used as a source of food (energy) for other organisms.
- 5.3.6.B.2 – All animals, including humans, are consumers that meet their energy needs by eating other organisms or their products.
- 5.3.8.B.2 – All animals, including humans, are consumers that meet their energy needs by eating other organisms or their products.
- 5.3.6.C.1 – Various human activities have changed the capacity of the environment to support some life forms.
- 5.3.6.C.2 – The number of organisms and populations an ecosystem can support depends on the biotic resources available and on abiotic factors, such as quantities of light and water, range of temperatures, and soil composition.
High School Students (April 11th):
Motivating Questions: How is climate change affecting the world ocean? How do scientists study the influence of climate change on the ocean?
Before Attending the Event:
- If possible, students should complete the following activities in classroom prior to attending the event:
- Carbon Cycle game (expected to take 1 45 minute class period)
- Water masses experiment (expected to take 1 45 minute class period)
- Students come up with an investigation (science experiment or research project) about carbon cycle and climate change or the carbon cycle and the ocean and conduct the investigation.
- Some overarching questions to have your students consider when developing a focused scientific investigation are:
- How are/have ocean organisms responding to changes in the ocean (i.e., over the day, a week, a month, a year, a decade, a century)?
- How have you, or humans in general, impacted the ocean?
- How has/does the ocean and/or the organisms within the ocean change over time?
- Students make posters or videos about their investigations to present at Rutgers Ocean Day (see Student Presentations section below for more information and support materials).
Event Agenda: Draft Agenda
NJ Science Content and Practice Standards Addressed:
- 5.1.12.B.3 – Empirical evidence is used to construct and defend arguments.
- 5.1.12.B.4 – Scientific reasoning is used to evaluate and interpret data patterns and scientific conclusions.
- 5.1.12.D.1 – Science involves practicing productive social interactions with peers, such as partner talk, whole-group discussions, and small-group work.
- 5.3.12.B.1 – As matter cycles and energy flows through different levels of organization within living systems, and between living systems and the physical environment, chemical elements are recombined into different products.
- 5.3.12.B.4 – Plants have the capability to take energy from light to form sugar molecules containing carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen.
- 5.3.12.C.2 – Stability in an ecosystem can be disrupted by natural or human interactions.
- 5.4.12.C.1 – Soils are at the interface of the Earth systems, linking together the biosphere, geosphere, atmosphere, and hydrosphere.
- 5.4.12.F.2 – Climate is determined by energy transfer from the Sun at and news Earth’s surface…Human activities, such as the burning of fossil fuels, also affect the global climate.
- 5.4.12.G.3 – Movement of matter through Earth’s system is driven by Earth’s internal and external sources of energy and results in changes in the physical and chemical properties of matter.
- 5.4.12.G.4 – Natural and human activities impact the cycling of matter and the flow of energy through ecosystems.
- 5.4.12.G.5 – Human activities have changed Earth’s land, ocean, and atmosphere, as well as its populations of plant and animal species.
- 5.4.12.G.7 – Earth is a system in which chemical elements exist in fixed amounts and move through the solid Earth, oceans, atmosphere, and living things as part of geochemical cycles.