Centers for Ocean Sciences
Ocean and Great Lakes Literacy: Principle 7
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to take your class on an underwater adventure. The final installment in a seven-part series involving salt and freshwater bodies takes junior oceanographers below the surface in...
NOAA
Journey to the Unknown
What's it like to be a deep-sea explorer? Tap into the imaginations of your fifth and sixth graders with a vivid instructional activity, the second part of a six-part adventure. Learners close their eyes and submerge themselves in an...
Curated OER
I, Robot, Can Do That!
Assign groups of middle school oceanographers to research one of the following underwater robots; ABE, Herculues, ROPOS, RCV-150, Tiburon, or general purpose ROVs. An included handout guides them through information to be gathered. Each...
NOAA
Calling All Explorers
Let's get moving! The second installment of a 2-part series of six adventures helps learners take part in individual explorations by sea and by land. After navigating the waters in an informative WebQuest, groups create and hide their...
NOAA
Exploring Potential Human Impacts
Arctic sea ice reflects 80 percent of sunlight, striking it back into space; with sea ice melting, the world's oceans become warmer, which furthers global warming. These activities explore how humans are impacting ecosystems around the...
NOAA
I Can't Breathe!
The Gulf of Mexico dead zone, an area of low oxygen that kills marine life, costs the United States $82 million every year. Young scientists research anoxic ocean environments then come up with a hypothesis for the cause of the Gulf of...
Curated OER
Ocean Expedition with Jacques Cousteau
Learners role play that they are on an ocean voyage with Jacques Cousteau as they study plant, and animal species and adaptation. They write a five page journal, create artwork of the expedition.
Curated OER
Lewis and Clark Expedition
Ninth graders examine the goals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition and identify the present day cities, towns, rivers, and regions that are on the route of the expedition. They complete an online WebQuest, recreating the route of the...
Curated OER
Exploration Within the Lewis and Clark Expedition
Students explore with Lewis and Clark. In this research skills lesson, students analyze primary and secondary source links to study the accomplishments of the Lewis and Clark expedition. Students use their findings to create...
NOAA
Fishy Deep-sea Designs!
Oceans represent more than 80 percent of all habitats, yet we know less about them than most other habitats on the planet. The instructor introduces the epipelagic, mesopelagic, bathypelagic, twilight, and midnight zones in the ocean....
Curated OER
2005 Submarine Ring of Fire Expedition: Unexplored
Students compare and contrast submarine volcanoes at convergent and divergent plate boundaries, infer kinds of living organisms that may be found around hydrothermal vents, and describe ways in which scientists may prepare to explore...
NOAA
Deep-Sea Ecosystems – Entering the Twilight Zone
Imagine an ecosystem without any light or oxygen, where living things convert carbon dioxide into food. This ecosystem is thriving and might just be the largest ecosystem on our planet, yet we know very little about it. The lesson...
NOAA
What's the Big Deal?
Who knew that a possible answer to Earth's energy resource problems was lurking deep beneath the ocean's surface? Part four of a six-part series introduces Earth Science pupils to methane hydrate, a waste product of methanogens. After...
Curated OER
Ocean Careers Exploration
Learners will work together in groups to gather information about careers in oceanography. They discover the need to have a diverse group of people on a team and then share their information with the class. Web links and materials are...
NOAA
Come on Down!
What do we do when a dive is too dangerous for humans to accomplish? Send in the robots! Middle school scientists get acquainted with several different models of submersible robots in the second lesson of six from NOAA. Lab groups then...
Curated OER
Design a Reef!
Young scholars explore coral reef ecosystems. In this ecosystems science instructional activity, students research coral reef ecosystems to determine the major functions the participating organisms must perform. Young...
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
I, Robot, Can Do That!
Students describe underwater robots. In this robot lesson, students describe and contrast three types of underwater robots used for scientific exploration. This lesson includes several activities, a handout, background data, and multiple...
Curated OER
Hudson Canyon Expedition; Fishy Deep Sea Designs!
Students explore the physical location of deep water habitats along the Hudson Shelf Valley and in Hudson Canyon. They study the basic characteristics of the mesopelagic and bathypelagic zones with regard to depth, temperature, pres
Curated OER
Adventures of Lewis and Clark Lewis and Clark Journal
Eighth graders experience the Lewis and Clark expedition. In this Corps of Discovery lesson, 8th graders research details regarding the expedition in order to complete a classroom project that requires them to create journals that might...
Curated OER
What's for Dinner?
View a video presentation comparing chemosynthesis to photosynthesis. Review the findings of the 2004 Ring of Fire Expedition that studied biological communities around the hydrothermal vents of the Mariana Arc. In...
Curated OER
A Differentiated Way through Think Dots
Learners examine reasons that led people to explore, identify "West" as defined following Revolutionary War, explain importance of finding natural resources, develop time line of dates and events leading up to Lewis and Clark Expedition,...
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...