Learning With Duct Tape and Zip Ties: Designing, Deploying and Analyzing Data From Simple Ocean Moorings in an Introductory Ocean Sciences Course

Students in an introductory level ocean science course at a 2-year college in Washington State are tasked with designing, deploying, recovering and analyzing data from simple pier-deployed moorings. The activity is spread across the academic term. This presentation will feature a description of the activity, and observations and insights gained over five separate iterations of the activity in five separate classes since 2013. Moorings are designed and built by students early in the academic quarter using simple, inexpensive materials, and then equipped with multiple Onset HOBO temperature sensors prior to deployment. Typically four moorings are constructed and deployed along a depth gradient from shore, using a public pier as a deployment platform. After ~1 month the moorings are recovered, data are stored to Excel spreadsheets, and made available to students via a course website. As a culminating assignment students are tasked with asking one question that can be addressed using these data, and writing a simple research paper that describes their effort to answer that question using the data collected. Learning outcomes associated with this activity will also be assessed and reported in this presentation, based on pre- and post- course survey answers. Preliminary evidence suggests that students report increases in their comfort with science, and interest in STEM careers based in part on this activity.