Investigation

Session 1

ENGAGE:

(60 mins.)

1. Ask students: How we might study science in places we can’t see? Students might have some ideas and might even come up with sending robots and probes technology to outer space and to the deep sea.

2. PowerPoint presentation: Introduction to Submersibles
   - Show students the pictures of robots past and present that have served this purpose explaining that you are going to focus on the variety of  ways that scientists have used technology to explore and collect data from the ocean, including some currently being used like the sea gliders that are currently being used to study the CO2 levels in the ocean.
   
   -  Explain that an ROV used in Kachemak Bay to survey rockfish populations has been named “Buttercup.” To do the surveys, people fly the ROV along lines called transects. The robot calculates the number of fish its camera “sees” in a certain-sized area, then uses that calculation of density (no. of animals/unit of area) to estimate how many fish would be in a rockfish population over a larger area of rockfish habitat.
   
   -  Buttercup also had a moment of fame when it helped out a NOAA ship rescue a very expensive piece of equipment. You could pause the presentation and have students read the newspaper story or read it to them. Discuss how this ROV was able to retrieve a very expensive piece of equipment with the mechanical ingenuity of a local fisherman and the skilled ROV technician.
   
   - Continue the PowerPoint presentation and then allow students to do their Internet search and share their findings. 

Extension: If you have the ability to print out some images along with their information, these would make a great display for this unit. 

Session 2

EXPLORE:  Transect Activity

(40 mins.)

1. After you have laid out your one-meter-wide sections on the gym floor, divide the students into pairs and ask each pair to choose a number between 1 and 21. Each pair will need to get a scooter board and a meter stick and then go to that number on one end of the floor to begin what will be their transect.
   
   
2. To move along the transect, one student will sit on his or her knees on the scooter board and hold the meter stick in the middle so that the meter stick is sticking out half-way on each side of the scooter board. The other student will gently and slowly push the student on the scooter board down the transect line as if that student is Buttercup looking for rockfish. Buttercup can only count a fish if it sees more than half the fish, so if a student sees less than half the fish, he or she may not count it. The pair counts fish along their transect. When they reach the end of the transect, they reverse roles, go in the opposite direction, and repeat the count. If they get different numbers on the counts, they will average the two numbers. 

3. After all students have completed the counts on their transects, they return to the classroom with their population survey data.

 EXPLAIN:

(20 minutes)

1. Students compile their counts and divide by a multiple of 13 so total fish total (dividend), is divided by the total number of transects. (If you had 10 pairs of students then the divisor would be 130). The quotient is the density of the fish measured by the transect method.

2. Students multiply the density of fish they just calculated by the area of the gym the fish that represents the survey areas (i.e., 21 meters by 13 meters or 273 square meters). The result is the estimated number of fish in the entire area based on their transects run by “Buttercup.” (Or your students in this case!) Ask students to consider why more transects would provide a more accurate estimate of the abundance of rockfish. Ask them to imagine how many would be needed for an area as large as Kachemak Bay or a local bay or inlet.

EXTENSION:

Show the PowerPoint presentation Buttercup’s Great Adventure. (See Resources section.)

Session 3, 4, and possibly 5

EXPLORE

(60 min. sessions)

1. Give students at least two one-hour practice sessions at the fish tote testing tank. Students work in teams of 3-4 students, build their ROVs. They use three motors and fasten pipe insulation to the PVC pipe to make their ROVs neutrally buoyant and as balanced as possible. They test the buoyancy in the tank.
   
   
2. Explain to students that during upcoming sessions at the pool. They will be assigned a mission and they will design their ROVs to accomplish that mission.
   
   Idea-List for Possible Underwater Missions at the Pool
   (No longer than 5 minutes each)
   1. The Flying Mission:  Using swimming pool lane boundaries, students ‘fly” the ROV down the length of the pool, cross under the lane boundary, come up the length of the pool the other direction, and return to the starting point. This is the easiest of the missions. They must keep their ROVs within the boundaries during a timed trial. (You can decide what's a reasonable amount of time for the trial.)The Hula Hoop Mission: 
   
   Attach a hula-hoop with a zip tie to a brick or a weighted item they have at the swimming pool. Students fly the ROV through a hula hoop forwards and then turn the R-O-V around and fly it back through it. Another variation is for students to fly the ROV backward through the hula-hoop. A parent or student volunteer is needed to help with setting up the course and occasionally freeing angled ROV and filming underwater.
   
   2.  Retrievable Mission: Throw 4-6 ping pong balls into the pool to simulate an oil spill or a group of something that needs plucked from the ocean. Students fly the ROV to retrieve the ping pong balls and bring them to the side of the pool where they can retrieve them from the submersible. This can be done in several trips, as long as the time permits, (usually 3 -5 minutes)
   
   3. The Push Mission: This mission requires the submersible to push a ball has weights attached but which is as neutrally-buoyant as possible to the side of the pool where one of the team members can reach in and grab the ball, again within the time limit. 
   
   4.  The Hook Mission: The ROV must retrieve something lying at the bottom of the shallow end of the pool that must be hooked and brought to the side of the pool where a team member may grab it, within the time limit.
   
   The addition of underwater cameras to the ROVs is especially fun and useful if the students are going to be able to use the ROVs in the local environment. Even if there are only a couple of set-ups to share, it is really powerful to see how that transmits the image of the real world for observation and research back and especially from something that they built themselves. The next two missions require a camera:
   5.  The Secret Message Mission:  The ROV must dive down and read a message written on a mirror on the bottom of the pool. (This is down by flying the camera so it points at the message and it can be read topside by the pilot.)
   
   6.  The Fly-by-Night Mission: This mission is accomplished by only using the field of vision on the camera to capture another hook mission. It works best if the device to capture the hook is visible from the camera view. 

Session 5 or 6

EXPLORE: 

Practice sessions for missions with ROVs at a local pool

(60 mins.)

1. Each student teams takes their ROVs and extra supplies for adjusting designs and repairing ROVs along with charged batteries and one extra charged battery. Explain the missions at poolside and allow practice time. (Have parent volunteers go ahead of time and set up missions – students do not get into the pool. Parent volunteers stay to help in water as needed with getting ROVs unstuck or setting up missions again.

3. Explain “flying in three dimensions.” Everyone on the team takes turns piloting and making adjustments in design.

       It’s a bonus if you can work with agency personnel for this activity. Alaska Department of Fish and Game or NOAA personnel are ideal and it's even better if they have been involved earlier in the unit.  Extra expertise is extra exposure for your students!

Session 6 or 7

ELABORATE:

Carrying out the Missions
(2 – 3 hours, have at least 2 courses set-up so 2 teams can go at a time.)

Ask parent volunteers set up the mission ahead of time and stay in the pool for help when needed and for filming underwater. Have one parent take photos topside so you will have plenty of photos for a display after the unit. Use agency personnel and local experts as judges for this day if at possible.

Session 7 or 8: Plan a Project
(60 mins.)

After the de-brief of the mission (see below), students design a study, monitoring project or citizen science project using a submersible. The goal is to use it as a tool to monitor something that is useful to study to add to the knowledge base of science and something that is useful in understanding or solving a problem in the local environment. Students need to consider constraints on the operation of a submersible to cause as little disruption to a local marine or aquatic ecosystem as possible.

If possible, invite government agency personnel or local experts to talk to your class to get an idea of a need or a project that might be possible to do using student robots in your local area. (Or talk to them if they can’t get away - is there current research that is going on in the local area that can give the students ideas about what they can do using their technology as an exploration tool for learning?

Brainstorm and discuss with the class, come up with ideas. Describe what they could do with their robot to modify it for use or research task in the local environment. What would be an issue – for example is buoyancy affected by the salt in the ocean water? What adjustments might be necessary?

After a possible robot modification session in class, take the class to local environment with the robots. (Students may have come up with some ideas on what they could do with their robots and projects with the local environment, but if they haven’t yet, that is all right. Ideas may come later, but first, they may need more experience and exposure with this tool for this purpose.) If robots are outfitted with cameras or video cameras, plan on taking some pictures and or video footage in the local environment and analyze the images later. Can the students identify living organisms or other items in the local environment? What is the visibility like? Is there a difference between what the different robot’s encounters in the local environment? Is it different than the students see from the surface?

EXTENSION:

After any further student research extensions are explored, dismantle robots, return borrowed equipment, and make a photo display board of students involved in this project. This is an exciting opportunity to inspire others as well as encourage your students to continue this venture into the world of underwater technology and exploration.