How does the Southern Ocean help protect our planet?

Suitable for 14 to 19-year-olds (secondary and high schools, and college), this article and accompanying activity sheet can be used in the classroom or shared with students online.

This resource links to KS4 and KS5 Chemistry, Biology, Geology and Environmental Sciences.

It can also be used as a careers resource and links to Gatsby Benchmarks:
Gatsby Benchmark 2: Learning from career and labour market information
Gatsby Benchmark 4: Linking curriculum learning to careers

• What impact is climate change having on our oceans and the vital role they play in absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere? This teaching resource explains the work of Associate Professor Julie Trotter and Professor Malcolm McCulloch from The University of Western Australia, and Dr Paolo Montagna from the Institute of Polar Sciences in Bologna, Italy, who are investigating the complex interactions between the Southern Ocean and global climate.
• This resource also contains interviews with Julie, Malcolm and Paolo. If you or your students have a question for them, you can submit it online – go to the article using the Futurum link below and scroll to the bottom of the page. The team will reply!
• The activity sheet provides ‘talking points’ (based on Bloom’s Taxonomy) to prompt students to reflect on the team’s research, and tasks them to write a blog from on-board RV Falkor.

This resource was first published on Futurum Careers, a free online resource and magazine aimed at encouraging 14-19-year-olds worldwide to pursue careers in science, tech, engineering, maths, medicine (STEM) and social sciences, humanities and the arts for people and the economy (SHAPE).

If you like these free resources – or have suggestions for improvements –, please let us know and leave us some feedback. Thank you!