American Museum of Natural History
Create a Coral Reef
Scholars create a diorama to showcase a vibrant coral reef. Six steps walk pupils through setting up the diorama box, crafting four different types of marine life, and putting it all together.
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Coral Reef Community
Students explore the coral reef. In this food chain lesson, students study the plants and animals of the coral reef and how they each play a role in that ecosystem. They participate in a class play to demonstrate the types of animals in...
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The Changing Coral Reef
Young scholars record changes in the composition of a coral reef. In this Coral Reef lesson, students recognize the needs of Coral Reef species to survive. Young scholars chart changes in population over time. Students write an essay...
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How Diverse is That?
Compare various types of biological diversity in a coral reef and calculate a numeric indicator that describes the diversity found in coral communities. Your class can work in groups to look at the abundance and distribution data of...
NOAA
Community Ecology and Sampling
Seamounts in the Coral and Tasman Seas are home to more than 850 different species. Groups explore hydrothermal vents, researching the organisms found there and their energy source. They also learn about seamounts, exploring their unique...
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The Changing Coral Reef Community Game
Students examine organisms that inhabit the coral reefs and their living requirements. In this coral reef lesson students chart population changes and play a game.
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Rainforests of the Sea
In this ecology worksheet, students read and study about coral reefs using online resources to complete 8 short answer questions. They watch a video related to the topic.
NOAA
History's Thermometers
How is sea coral like a thermometer? Part three of a six-part series from NOAA describes how oceanographers can use coral growth to estimate water temperature over time. Life science pupils manipulate data to determine the age of corals...
Curated OER
Make an Edible Coral Reef
Students create an edible coral reef out of food and candy. In this Science lesson plan, students explore what a coral reef is and the coral reef's importance to the ecosystem. Additionally, students discover the different parts of a...
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Friend, Foe, or . . .
As a result of this instructional activity, upper elementary ocean explorers will be able to describe several interrelationships: symbiosis, mutualism, commensalism, and parasitism. They learn that the biological richness is increased...
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Build a Reef
Students build a coral reef, then discover organisms that make up the ecosystem.
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Science: Coral Reef Food Pyramid
Young scholars construct numbers pyramids using fictional data from a coral reef. they tally the numbers of carnivores, herbivores, and producers. Students next build a pyramid shape in which they put their numbers of producers,...
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Dinnertime On The Reef
Students identify the main parts of a coral reef. They describe a coral reef food chain.
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Animal Classification
Students list characteristics and features of animals found in their community. They then group the animals according to how they are similar and different and create names for each group. They then create a chart of their...
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Fish Are Animals Too
Pupils create posters that show how a shark is a major predator in kelp forests and coral reefs after studying the food webs for these ecosystems. They determine that fish are important animals in the ocean's web of life.
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KWL Chart and Background Article
Students discuss an ecosystem. In this coral reef lesson, students fill in their own KWL chart and contribute ideas to a whole class KWL chart. They read an article as a class to spark ideas for facts they can add to the "K" part of the...
Ocean Explorer
Easy as Pi
Seamounts are large, extinct volcanoes that rise up from the bottom of the ocean floor. They are a relatively new landform in the scientific community, and this lesson invites students to learn about the amazing diversity of life found...
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Let's go to the Video Tape!
Using actual data from a deep-sea video survey, high school marine biologists consider the biodiversity, compare species richness between two communities, and learn to calculate the diversity index. The lesson plan is all-inclusive,...
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Coral Reef Community Drama: Scene Description
Students are organized into groups and are assigned puppets according to what sea creature their group represents. In this reef lesson, students identify sea creatures according to their place in the food chain then discuss how these...
NOAA
Invertebrates
Crabs and lobsters ... yum! The 18th installment of a 23-part NOAA Enrichment in Marine sciences and Oceanography (NEMO) program focuses on invertebrate marine life. After the lecture slideshow, learners conduct an activity to sample...
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Interrelationships Within the Marine Community
Fourth graders create an electronic story showing the interrelationship of species within the marine environment. They utilize the educational software, 'Destination Ocean' during this engaging lesson.
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Sense-sational
Students investigate the five senses. They participate in the lesson plan for one week with each day devoted to one sense being sight, taste, sound, smell, and touch. They also cover the concept of being part of a global community where...
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Soil Layers
Ninth graders identify the different layers of soil. In this earth science lesson, 9th graders explain how limestone layers are formed. They identify the different parts of the coral colony.
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Depending On Each Other. Communities And Ecosystems
Seventh graders investigate how the ecosystems of the world has influence upon the immediate and nonimmediate environments. The interelationships of food webs is discussed. The class researches one type of ecosystem for a class project...