Day 1 School Activity

During the great extinction event 255 million years ago the temperature of the surface of the world’s oceans rose to 40 degrees Celsius. The current average temperature of the ocean surface waters is about 17 degrees Celsius (62.6 degrees Fahrenheit).

• Put ice in pot of cold water and ensure temperature of water is below 17 degrees Celsius.
• Heat up water gently until it is 17 degrees – pour water into a container or flask.
• Place more cold water in pot and heat it up to 40 degrees Celsius.
• Feel and compare the temperature of the water at
  • 17 degrees
  • 40 degrees
• Discuss how the temperature of the water may contribute to the extinction of life in the ocean. (i.e. these temperatures are either directly lethal or cause food chain collapses because consumers out pace autotrophs.

Advanced School Activity

Exercise 1 - Building a comprehensive timeline of Earth’s History

It is recommended that at least 3 of the following (ideally all) topics be investigated, and plotted on a timeline extending from our planet’s origin to present. Devise a way to present this incredible wealth of knowledge in a manner that facilitates improved understanding of the inter-relationships between these topics. For example, it may be useful to prepare a presentation animation that is scaled accurately with respect to time (eg. showing the fact that homo sapiens residence on this planet is a fleeting moment in the planet's history), and possibly another presentation where the time axis emphasize the events that took place in the region where the Youth Ambassadors are running;

Topics:

• The major time periods of our planet’s past (what are the key features of these periods?)
• Energy output of the sun
• Proto-planetary and asteroid collisions
• Paleogeography (eg. plate tectonics)
• Composition and Temperature of the Atmosphere (eg. formation, oxygen, greenhouse gases)
• Salinity, pH, and temperature of the Oceans
• Periods of species proliferation versus periods of species extinction (Suggestion - organize fauna species by their Phylogenic tree classifications, using grouping such as bacteria, reptiles, dinosaurs, mammals; repeat for flora, separate conifers from flowering plants)