Sea to Space | Under Pressure Module Outline

UPR.A | How Much Pressure Can We Take?

Up, up and away…..to great views, fast travel and popping ears – yikes! What makes your ears pop when you take off and land on a plane, and what happens when you dive underwater? Sit back, watch a vid and enjoy learning a little!

 

UPR.B | Airborne and Feeling It

Grab your chewing gum and get ready to yawn, because it’s time to learn about pressure. We’ll take a look at the highs and lows of pressure, and what it takes to handle it.

 

UPR.C | How High is High?

Why do you have to wait at base camp before climbing Mount Everest? Why is Denver called the Mile High City, and what does that mean to people living there? Time to find out!

 

UPR.D | 10 Fathoms Down

Is life really better down where it’s wetter? Or is the pressure too much to handle? Understanding how pressure works is essential to astronauts in training, divers, mountain climbers, submariners….and you too!

 

UPR.E | Under Pressure…No Stress!

You think your exams put a lot of pressure on you? Try having 100 feet of water trying to squish you! Imagine being under all that pressure without even an air tank…

 

UPR.F | Down, Down, Down We Go

People have been deep diving for years, trying to dive deeper and deeper, to explore the depths (in submarines) or freediving, to experience the ocean as naturally as possible – would you?

 

UPR.G | What’s Up…and Down?

Do you have any idea where  to find the ISS or how deep the weirdest creatures in the ocean live? Check out our map to see what’s up…..and what’s waaaaaaaaaay down!

 

UPR.H |  Lesson Quizzes, Games & Bonus Questions

Okay, get ready for that pressure to kick in…. not really – we know you’ve got this! Time for a review though, so you’ll know what you might want to look over again.

 

UPR.I | Dive Deeper

Feel free to get cozy with these links to more information on the subject – there’s a lot to explore, so have fun!

 



Young Scientist Spotlight:
HANNAH HERBST

10 Fun Facts: The Hab

1. Aquarius is the the world’s only permanent undersea research station.

2. Most missions last about two or three weeks.

3. Fabien Cousteau, grandson of Jacques Cousteau, beat his grandfather’s record month-long underwater expedition by spending 31 days on the Aquarius Reef Base in 2014.

4. The lab is used by NASA, the US Navy, and researchers and educators from around the globe for training and research.

5. The internet connection is better in the Hab than at many places above the water.

6. You have to swim underneath the facility in order to enter it.

7. Crew members are called aquanauts (NOT aquaNUTS!)

8. In 1994, a crew of scientists and divers had to evacuate Aquarius and climb up a rescue line to the surface in 15-foot seas after one of the habitat’s generators caught fire.

9. Aquarius was featured in the comic strip Sherman’s Lagoon in 2012.

10. The Hab was originally built in Texas.

10 Fun Facts: Coral

1. Reefs usually grow up on the east shore of land masses.

2. Parts of a coral reef can be harvested to make medications to treat cancers and other illnesses.

3. A coral reef isn’t a single organism; it’s actually a community of life that lives and thrives in one location.

4. Only about one percent of the world’s oceans contain coral reefs. That’s about the size of France.

5. Coral reefs are the largest biological structures on earth.

6. Corals are related to jellyfish and anemones.

7. There are over 2,500 species of corals. About 1,000 are the hard corals that build coral reefs.

8. Reefs grow where there are stronger wave patterns and currents to deliver food and nutrients.

9. The Great Barrier Reef is 500,000 years old.

10. Most coral reefs grow just about two centimeters per year.

10. Most coral reefs grow just about two centimeters per year.

10 Fun Facts: Invasive Species

1. To be considered invasive, a species must adapt to a new area easily. It must reproduce quickly. It must harm property, the economy, or the native plants and animals of the region.

2. Some invasive species are introduced accidentally, but others are brought deliberately.

3. Ship ballast water transports between 3,000 and 7,000 foreign species daily around the globe.

4. The total loss to the world economy as a result of invasive non-native species has been estimated at 5% of annual production

5. Invasive species have contributed to 40% of the animal extinctions that have occurred in the last 400 years.

6. Rodents are some of the worst invasive species.

7. There are an estimated 50,000 wild ring-necked parakeets in parks across London and southeast England.

8. Black and Norway rats annually consume stored grains and destroy other property valued over $19 billion.

9. Northern Pacific seastars reproduce very quickly. In one area where they were introduced, their population reached an estimated 12 million seastars in just two years.

10. Starlings were introduced to New York in the late 1800s, as part of an attempt to bring animals that were mentioned in Shakespeare‘s work to America.

Alert: Cuteness Overload!

Cutest animal in the ocean? Keep your Sea Otter. Forget the Dumbo Octopus. Axolotl? Close, but no cigar.

The winner of the Cutest Sea Animal prize is the Leaf Sheep Slug.

Yes, a slug. This tiny (5mm) animal, found near the Philippines, Indonesia, and Japan, looks like a cartoon sheep covered in bright green leaves with pinkish purple tips.

Bonus: it’s one of the only animals that can perform photosynthesis, thanks to all the algae it eats.

Beat that.