Scholastic
Study Jams! The Ocean Floor
Under the sea, the geography is as varied as it is on land! Young oceanographers find out about continental shelves, abyssal plains, seamounts, trenches, and mid-ocean ridges by viewing and reading the eight high-quality slides. Then...
Curated OER
Ocean Floor Model
Students construct a simulated model of the ocean floor in a shoe box. They determine that the floor of the ocean is composed of hills, plains, ridges, trenches, and sea mounts. They draw out a plan for their ocean floor which includes...
Curated OER
The Ocean Floor
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...
Curated OER
Ocean Planet: Sea Secrets
Students identify ocean features and draw a profile using data points on a map. Through discussion and research, they discover the importance of oceanography and plot a profile of the ocean floor in search for a vessel full of precious...
Curated OER
The Seafloor
In this seafloor worksheet, students describe the different structures found on the seafloor. This worksheet has 6 short answer and 6 matching questions.
Curated OER
Deep Blue Sea
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...
Curated OER
The Oceans, Waves, Tides & Currents
Your introductory lesson to oceanography can be outlined with this apropos presentation. It touches on the physical features of the ocean floor, waves, tides, and currents. One small issue is that some of the graphics are not of the...
NOAA
Into the Deep
Take young scientists into the depths of the world's ocean with the second lesson of this three-part earth science series. After first drawing pictures representing how they imagine the bottom of the ocean to appear, students...
Curated OER
The Unseen Ocean Floor
Students build ocean floor structures, then map and model an unfamiliar ocean floor. They are introduced to bathymetry and sea floor features, and discover one of the most widely usd methods for studying the ocean.
Polar Trec
Mini-Ocean Bathymetric Mapping Research Cruise
Middle or high schoolers transform into oceanographers in a week-long simulation. To begin, each group follows directions to create a model of the ocean floor with specified features. Next, the groups prepare to set sail on a research...
Curated OER
Mapping the Ocean Floor
Students construct and interpret a line graph of ocean floor depth and a bar graph comparing the height/depth of several well-known natural and man-made objects and places. In addition, they calculate the depth of two points using sonar...
Curated OER
Bathymetry
Learners study the topography of the ocean floor and the geological processes of how it is formed. They summarize what bathymetry, describe how islands are formed and illustrate a bathymetric model of the sea floor.
Curated OER
Earth: The Water Planet
Students elicit data on the water cycle, ocean topography, and island formation in this six lesson unit. The ocean floor and the properties of water are examined through a variety of discussions and hands-on experiments.
Curated OER
Graphing: Ocean Floor
Students graph the ocean floor using given data. For this earth science lesson, students label different oceanic features on the map. They answer questions at the end of the lab.
University of California
University of California, Santa Barbara/abyssal Hills
This article, published in Nature magazine, gives a detailed account of the abyssal plain feature called abyssal hills.
Science Struck
Science Struck: Interesting Facts About the Abyssal Zone
The Abyssal Zone lies deep in the ocean in the pelagic layer between 4,000 to 6,000 m or 13,000 to 19,500 ft. Learn about some of the unique life forms that call this zone their home, how they have adapted to the extreme pressure and...
Other
Whitman College: Deep Sea Pages
Descriptions and pictures of creatures that live at abyssal depths and on the abyssal plains of the world ocean. Link to other sites.
The Wild Classroom
The Wild Classroom: Biomes of the World: The Deep Sea Biome
Learn all about the abyssal ocean ecosystem. Find out about plants, animals, adaptations, and conservation efforts.
University of California
Ucmp: Glossary of Natural History
A glossary of useful terms, including "abyssal plain" and related terms.
ClassFlow
Class Flow: The Ocean Floor
[Free Registration/Login Required] This flipchart is about the geography of the ocean floor. It contains information about the continental shelf, continental slope, abyssal plain, and other ocean floor features. The flipchart contains...
Institute of Marine Science
Forsea: If I Can't See It, How Do I Know It's There?
A diagram showing features of the seafloor and a laboratory experiment involving a model of the seafloor highlight this site. This is a good resource for teachers as well.
NOAA
Noaa: Submersibles
Learn more about the technology that's involved in oceanography. This resource contains descriptions and pictures of thirteen different submersibles and remotely operated vehicles.
US Geological Survey
Usgs: Bathymetry of the Marshall Islands
This map details the area around the Marshall Island seamounts. Seamounts are one of many features that are found in conjunction with abyssal plains.
US Navy
Office of Naval Reasearch: Ocean Floor
A comprehensive site that provides information on the characteristics of the ocean floor, continental margin and rise, deep ocean basin, and the mid-ocean ridge. A quick quiz follows at the end of this site.