Voyager Lesson Plan
Introduction
Real-time, forecast, and historical data on winds, waves, currents, ocean temperature, and more are easy to access on PacIOOS Voyager, making it a powerful decision-making tool. Because large amounts of data can be overwhelming, PacIOOS and UH Maui College collaborated to develop and implement classroom activities using Voyager. In this lesson plan, students make decisions for ocean recreational activities with which they are familiar. This approach to education and outreach motivates students to delve deeper into the data generated and served by their local ocean observing system through decision-making that is relevant to students’ lives.Objectives
- Increase student comfort with real-time and forecast data sets.
- Expose students to a free data explorer: PacIOOS Voyager.
- Improve student decision-making related to ocean uses in the real-world.
Materials
- Desktop or tablet
- Internet connection
- PacIOOS Voyager
- Activity Handouts (see links below)
- 2-3 hours of time, depending on how many questions in the activity are used
Lesson Plan
- Join the Voyage and Explore the Data: Either in class, or as preparatory homework, have students explore PacIOOS Voyager. The “About PacIOOS Voyager Handout” serves as a guide to point out various functions and features. Start thinking about how this data may be useful for their lives.
- Classroom Activity: Students make hypothetical, but realistic, decisions with Voyager as they walk through the questions in the classroom activity.
Links and Handouts:
- Voyager Rack Card
- About PacIOOS Voyager Handout
- Classroom Activity using PacIOOS Voyager – Student Version
- A teacher version of the “Classroom Activity using PacIOOS Voyager” is available to all teachers. Please contact info@pacioos.org to receive this version. Mahalo!
User Tutorial
Here is a tutorial on how to use the interactive ocean data portal, Voyager. This video features an overview of the various map controls and available datasets.
Narrated by Jim Potemra, PacIOOS Data Management Lead.
Case Study
The following video provides a practical example on how the Voyager ocean data portal can be used to forecast ocean conditions for sailboat races off the south shore of Honolulu. Datasets featured include forecasted wave heights, tidal currents, and winds.
Narrated by Jim Potemra, PacIOOS Data Management Lead.
