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Lesson Plan
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Montana State University

Sea Floor to Summit

For Teachers 4th - 8th Standards
Who knew that mountain formation could be so entertaining? Leanr how mountains form with a resource on Mount Everest. Activities to guide learning include a simulation, project, videos, coloring activities, and worksheets.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Deep Blue Sea

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Elementary schoolers identify the ocean floor in a geological sense. They create a presentation that highlights the key features of the ocean floor. This terrific lesson plan has excellent streaming video segments embedded in it, and the...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

A Model of the Sea-floor

For Teachers 5th - 9th
Students create a paper model to illustrate sea-floor spreading.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Ping!

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Using "mystery bathymetry" shoeboxes, young explorers simulate sonar action to map out the topography of an un-viewable landscape. This classic activity helps physical oceanography learners understand how sonar works. It would be...
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Interactive
American Museum of Natural History

Journey to Deep Sea Vents

For Students 6th - 12th
Take a deep dive into oceanography. The online interactive allows for learners to board a submersible to dive to the bottom of the ocean to investigate sea vents. On the way down, individuals see different marine life at different...
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Interactive
American Museum of Natural History

Dive Into Worlds Within the Sea

For Students 6th - 12th
Make connections between ocean organisms. Individuals explore three different ecosystems in the ocean. With an online interactive, they learn how different organisms depend upon each other. Learners first answer questions to connect...
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Interactive
American Museum of Natural History

Journey to the Bottom of the Sea

For Students 6th - 12th
Follow the path to the sea floor. Pupils play an online interactive board game to reach the bottom of the sea. Participants must match descriptions of creatures to a property of water dealing with oxygen, food, light, or density to move...
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eBook
CK-12 Foundation

CK-12 Earth Science Concepts for Middle School

For Students 6th - 8th
Explore a variety of science concepts in an interactive textbook created for middle school scholars. A lengthy table of contents takes readers to pages comprised of a subject overview, outline, and summary. Follow links further to find...
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Activity
Consortium for Ocean Leadership

Nannofossils Reveal Seafloor Spreading Truth

For Teachers 5th - 8th Standards
Spread the word about seafloor spreading! Junior geologists prove Albert Wegener right in an activity that combines data analysis and deep ocean exploration. Learners analyze and graph fossil sample data taken from sites along the...
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Interactive
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NOAA

Tides

For Students 6th - 12th
Sometimes low, sometimes high, but always in motion! Explore Earth's tidal system in the 10th interactive in a series of 13. Engaging life and earth science students alike, the versatile resource demonstrates cause and effect between...
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Interactive
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NOAA

Seamounts

For Students 6th - 12th
How do chains of islands form? Young oceanographers explore the mountains of the deep in the final installment in a 13-part series. The interactive compares types of seamounts based on their overall height and height under the water, as...
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Lesson Plan
NOAA

Into the Deep

For Teachers 4th - 7th Standards
Take young scientists into the depths of the world's ocean with the second activity of this three-part earth science series. After first drawing pictures representing how they imagine the bottom of the ocean to appear, students...
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PPT
Curated OER

Coasts and Reefs: Shallow Marine Processes

For Teachers 9th - Higher Ed
A more thorough presentation on coastal systems would be difficult to find! Detailed diagrams illuminate the offshore, shoreface, foreshore, and backshore zones of  beach. The sources and movement of sediments along the coastline are...
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PPT
Curated OER

Glacier Bay Pacific Halibut

For Teachers 9th - Higher Ed
The National Park Service has produced a high-quality presentation on the halibut population of Glacier Bay, Alaska. It takes the viewpoint of the marine biologists or rather, ichthyologists, who have been studying the adaptations,...
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Worksheet
Curated OER

Oceanography Worksheet #1

For Students 6th - 9th
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....
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Animals of the Lost City

For Teachers 5th - 6th
Begin with a demonstration of exothermic reactions and discussion of chemosynthesis. Your aspiring oceanographers research vent communities and then craft a mural of a vent community. This is a terrific method of introducing learners to...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Plate Tectonics Day 3 Sea Floor Spreading: Evidence for Continental Drift

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students are introduced to Sea Floor Spreading and how it provides evidence for Hess's and Deitz's theory of Continental Drift. They use paleomagnetic data to calculate the rate of Sea Floor Spreading.
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PPT
Curated OER

Earth Materials - Geology and Plate Tectonics

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Not going into depth on any one topic, this Earth science presentation skims the crust. It touches on the materials that construct the crust and then moves into plate tectonics. This is a useful and colorful note-taking guide for your...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Mystery of the Megaplume

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Read through the extensive background information and then lead your geology or physical oceanography class through an investigation of actual temperature anomaly data from the Juan de Fuca ridge. They translate the data onto a plot,...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Massif Mystery

For Teachers 9th - 12th
After reviewing plate tectonic theories and the discovery of both the Atlantis Massif and the Lost City hydrothermal vents, earth science learners complete a worksheet and participate in discussions about what the types of rock found...
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PPT
Curated OER

Science Jeopardy

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Water, currents, waves, salt marshes, and The Chesapeake Bay make up the categories for this Jeopardy-style game. In terms of functionality, it works well. However, it is unlikely that you focus on the Chesapeake Bay as part of your...
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Worksheet
Curated OER

The Ocean Floor

For Students 7th - 8th
Practice reading comprehension by approaching oceanography through 2 pages of informational text. The text compares the ocean floor to the Grand Canyon to gives students perspective, and gives a brief coverage of the earth's crust and...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Exploring The Depths!

For Teachers 5th
Fifth graders make a model of the ocean floor.  In this ocean characteristics lesson plan, 5th graders complete a KWL chart about the ocean floor, use the Ocean Depth Data Sheet to create a graph, and create a 3-D model of the ocean floor.
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Worksheet
Curated OER

Plate Tectonics-Notes

For Students 7th - 9th
In this plate tectonics worksheet, students complete a sheet of notes about the layer's of the Earth, plate tectonics, continental drift and sea floor spreading.