Argo and the Australian Curriculum: Science
Argo can be incorporated into classroom learning in many areas of the Australian Science Curriculum. How the Argo program fits into the Science curriculum is highlighted in the table below under the main curriculum headings: “Science Understanding” and “Science as a Human Endeavour”. Argo is not only directly relevant to the Earth and Space Sciences through its measurement of the global oceans but also to the Biological Sciences by explaining the ecosystem and environment in which humans, plants and animals live. Argo is also a fun, interesting and practical way to illustrate how real-world scientific data is used by scientists and the community, what scientific research is, the significance of this research and how it is applied to help us understand the oceans and climate.
Colour-coded links between Argo and the national science curriculum are highlighted in the table below.
*Link to Argo development and equipment
*Link to Argo research – physical conditions of oceans
*Link to Argo research – significance of findings/why we research oceans
Science inquiry skills
Science Inquiry Skills may be applied at a range of year levels for many possible experimental topics. For example: salinity testing from a range of water samples; temperature testing from a range of local sites; use of real Argo data for analysis. Argo floats can be tracked using Google Earth and classrooms can ‘adopt’ a float and follow its progress in the oceans. For information about how to add an Argo layer to Google earth visit: http://www.argo.ucsd.edu/Argo_GE.html
Sustainability cross-curriculum priority
Argo research allows shared information across a range of local and global communities to better understand oceans and global ecosystem processes. This contributes significantly to the ability to protect the oceans and global systems. Argo data helps build an understanding of the biosphere as a dynamic system providing conditions that sustain life on earth. Argo is a significant contributor to scientific understanding and science inquiry processes and a strong example of a technology that can help students appreciate how people forecast change and plan the actions necessary to shape a more sustainable future.