Surface Current Teacher Resources

Students describe connections between wind patterns, surface currents, and ocean climate zones. In small groups, they color the ocean climate zones in four different shades of blue. Students then answer questions like what four...

Get lost at sea amid colorful ocean currents! Learners discover the patterns of movement and temperature in the North Atlantic's currents through a simulation, part of PBS's Weather and Climate series. The resource contains background...

Stimulate interest in ocean currents with a simulation. The first installment of a five-part middle school series teaches future oceanographers about the forces that interact to cause ocean currents. A simulation shows how wind and the...

Learners investigate surface ocean currents. In this oceanography lesson, students work in small groups to create models that demonstrate surface currents, the Coriolis Effect, and how surface currents move debris. This lesson includes a...

Students investigate wind driven surface currents and prevailing winds by playing a card game. The cards are sorted by north or south and Atlantic or Pacific. They then predict where the two currents are found and what their...

Students will determine the direction of Earth's rotation as viewed from the north and south if they were suspended out in space. They will model how the rotation of the Earth causes currents to be deflected in different directions for...

Students identify five major ocean currents and identify the correlation between ocean circulation and prevailing winds.

The Gulf Stream has historically provided humans with a faster trade route because of its swift-moving waters. It continues to be a source of information and fascination for oceanographers today. As your class views this collection of...

In this currents worksheet, students review the Coriolis effect, surface currents, and density currents. This worksheet has 8 short answer questions.

Young scholars observe how wind generates currents and the effect of islands and banks on currents. They determine ocean circulation affects climate and plant and animal populations on land and in the ocean and that surface currents...

Students compare and contrast the properties of salt water in the oceans/seas and freshwater elsewhere on the planet. They also analyze mixing caused by currents in the ocean, including the effects of warm and cold water as well as with...

In this ocean shoreline learning exercise, students will unscramble vocabulary words relating to tides, currents, beaches, and barrier islands.

Is your current lesson plan for salt and freshwater literacy leaving you high and dry? If so, dive into part one of a seven-part series that explores the physical features of Earth's salt and freshwater sources. Junior hydrologists...

Be shore to use this drifter resource. The third installment of a five-part series has learners using the NOAA's Adopt-a-Drifter website to track to movement of a drifter (buoy) in the ocean. Graphing the collected data on a map allows...

In the second lesson of a five-part series, young climatologists use provided temperature and precipitation data to create climographs of three different cities. They then analyze these climographs to develop a general understanding of...

A deep ocean current circles the globe at a force that is greater than 16 times all the world's rivers combined. Groups analyze the effects of submarine topography on deep ocean current speed. They then determine how this speed affects...

Learn how ocean currents are vital to humans and marine life. The eighth installment of a 23-part NOAA Enrichment in Marine sciences and Oceanography (NEMO) program, focuses on ocean currents and how they affect global climate. The...

Battle of the hemispheres? In the fourth installment of a five-part series, young oceanographers use the NOAA website to collect temperature data from drifters (buoys), one in the Northern Hemisphere and one in the Southern Hemisphere....

In this physical oceanography PowerPoint, viewers learn about ocean circulation, sea surface temperatures, and salinity. Relationships among these aspects are explained, as well as their impact on the atmosphere and climate. Each slide...

Young scholars are introduced to the forces that are responsible for generating waves in the ocean and how these forcesf differ from those that cause currents. They are able to explain how water molecules in a wave do not move in the...

A marine environment covers the majority of the earth but is arguably the least understood. Teach young scientists about the characteristics of oceans and ocean species using an interactive online lesson. The in-person or remote learning...

If you are teaching physical oceanography to middle school earth scientists, here is a terrific multiple choice worksheet. Learners look at a diagram of a landscape created by glacial sediment deposition and the resulting ocean floor....

The fascinating video "Changing Planet: Fresh Water in the Arctic," introduces your oceanographers to the world's gyres. They learn that melting sea ice is making the gyres larger, and that the changes could, in turn, contribute even...

El Niño sure creates a stir when it comes around! Why not stir up your earth science class with this data analysis activity that examines the temperature and precipitation over the 2002-2003 water year. A tracking chart is provided...