France
Sandrine Gayard
English/French
Project description
In this ESM2025 video project, the class focused on the role of the ocean in storing heat and carbon and regulating the climate system. Supported by an ESM2025 researcher (in oceanography) and simple guidance on video production, students investigated how ocean circulation and vertical motions transport heat, carbon, oxygen and nutrients, and why these processes need to be well represented in Earth system models. They worked together to produce a home-made video, designed for local stakeholders.
The video was presented at the département-level Forum EDD on Education for Sustainable Development in Aveyron, alongside other stands and workshops prepared by pupils, and was linked to a public conference-debate on water issues in Aveyron and Occitanie hosted at the Université Champollion in Rodez. It later contributed to the professional ESM2025 final results film.
Project goals
- Strengthen student understanding of the ocean’s role as Earth’s main heat and carbon reservoir and a key regulator of climate.
- Link classroom learning to cutting-edge research, using ESM2025 ocean topics to discuss how better representation of currents, upwelling and biogeochemistry improves our understanding of future ocean and climate changes.
- Build digital and teamwork skills through collaborative planning, filming and editing of a stakeholder-oriented video in the students’ own language.
- Engage local stakeholders (such as parents, local organisations or municipal actors) by sharing accessible explanations of how changes in ocean heat and carbon uptake affect climate and marine ecosystems.
- Feed into a European-level outcome, with the class project serving as raw material for the professionally produced ESM2025 final results video.