Teaching with ocean drifters and Google Earth

Ocean drifters are floating platforms equipped with sensors and satellite communication technology that can transmit data on a nearly continuous basis. We use student-built ocean drifters as the focal point for incorporating ocean technology, real-time data collection, data sharing and data visualizations into curriculum. Using Google Earth we are able to visualize ocean processes by overlaying the drifter tracks with multiple layers of oceanographic time series data. A teaching moment emerges as students watch the path of their drifter; they want to learn about both the forces that cause currents and the currents´ relationship to other ocean parameters such as sea surface temperature. Google Earth time animations have become an important tool in teaching these types of interconnections between Earth processes because they show what traditional still images cannot: spatial and temporal relationships between parameters simultaneously.