Ocean Currents, Part VII: Explorers and Ocean Currents
Now we get a chance to look at actual routes explorers took in terms of what we have learned about ocean currents.
Sam traced the routes of Magellan's first trip around the world (1519-1522)...
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| Source: Ocean Currents, Catherine Halversen, Kevin Beals, Craig Strang, Lawrence Hall of Science |
and then laid this tracing over surface and...
deep currents maps to see how the trip probably was affected by currents.
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| Source: Ocean Currents, Catherine Halversen, Kevin Beals, Craig Strang, Lawrence Hall of Science |
deep currents maps to see how the trip probably was affected by currents.
The green arrows represent where surface currents crossed Magellan's route. The blue arrows represent where deep currents crossed Magellan's route. Did he use the currents to his benefit or did he have to fight the currents at any point? What about places with little current?
He went over Magellan's route, coloring it purple where it went with the currents and orange where it did not get the current's help. Sometimes he even went against the current.
We then did the same thing with Captain Cook's second trip around the world (1772-1775).
He went over Magellan's route, coloring it purple where it went with the currents and orange where it did not get the current's help. Sometimes he even went against the current.
He immediately saw that Captain Cook's route almost always followed the currents. We noted that it was over three hundred years between the two trip and supposed that perhaps they had learned much more about how to take advantage of the currents over that period of time.
Sources:
GEMS: Ocean Currents
Grades 5-8
7 Activities
Students gain fascinating insights into our ocean planet through these innovative activities. They learn how wind, temperature, salinity, and density set water into motion, and they make an “in-depth” investigation of the key physical science concept of density. They model how pollution dumped in one location can spread throughout the ocean. Learning is placed in a real-world context as students predict and analyze routes taken by shipwrecked sailors, the 1990 Nike shoe spill, the raft Kon Tiki, and other voyages. In “Message in a Bottle,” students create stories to show what they've learned over the course of the unit.
Grades 5-8
7 Activities
Students gain fascinating insights into our ocean planet through these innovative activities. They learn how wind, temperature, salinity, and density set water into motion, and they make an “in-depth” investigation of the key physical science concept of density. They model how pollution dumped in one location can spread throughout the ocean. Learning is placed in a real-world context as students predict and analyze routes taken by shipwrecked sailors, the 1990 Nike shoe spill, the raft Kon Tiki, and other voyages. In “Message in a Bottle,” students create stories to show what they've learned over the course of the unit.
