Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Big Fleas Have Little Fleas

For Teachers 6th - 8th
A benthic habitat hosts a vast collection of organisms and its structure influences the biodiversity. Middle-school marine biology explorers will discuss how corals impact structure, and therefore diversity, on the ocean floor. They draw...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

What's for Dinner?

For Teachers 7th - 10th
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...
Lesson Plan
NOAA

Biological Oceanographic Investigations – Signals from the Deep

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
The Deepwater Horizon oil spill directly impacted an area of the Gulf of Mexico the size of Oklahoma. A marine biology lesson looks at the impact of an oil spill on the deeper parts of the ocean. Scholars download actual data collected...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Changing Planet: Fading Corals

For Teachers 6th - 9th
Show the six-minute video, "Changing Planet: Fading Corals," and then demonstrate how calcium carbonate forms a precipitate in the presence of carbon dioxide. Separate your scientists into small groups to gather information about coral...
Lesson Plan
California Academy of Science

Academy Seafood Market and Fishery

For Teachers 3rd - 7th
What fishing method is the most sustainable? Find out through a fun, but meaningful game in which your little fishermen use different techniques to see what they catch. After the fishing activity is over, there are several discussion...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Ocean Planet: Sea Secrets

For Teachers 6th - 10th
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...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Gifts from the Sea

For Teachers K - 3rd
Students discover the oceanic food chain.  In this healthy eating lesson, student investigate the fish we eat and the food the fish eat.  Students discover what ocean animals eat seaweed and what everyday foods we eat that also...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Ocean Life Food Web

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Students construct a food web representative of the Gulf of California. They use pictures to depict all of the organisms in the appropriate level of the web (producer, primary consumer, etc.)
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Ocean/Beach Center

For Teachers K - 2nd
Students examine different types of ocean life. They classify sea shells and role play in the ocean center. They color and write about their experience in the ocean center and share their experiences with their classmates.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Ocean Collage

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Students re-create an image from a marine life scene. They are given a single square of the entire picture to focus on. When all squares are completed, the picture is assembled.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Marine Food Webs

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Students examine how food webs illustrate the ways in which organisms depend on each other for energy and nutrients, and make food webs showing the feeding relationships among organisms encountered in the Gal??pagos coastal waters.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Ocean Creature Classification

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students develop their own system for classifying a group of objects or organisms using observed similarities and differences. They investigate the process of scientific classification, and explain how marine organisms are classified by...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Secrets of the Ocean Realm - In the School "Mountain in the Sea"

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students learn how cold and warm water behave in the marine environment due to convection currents. Students also conduct an experiment to demonstrate the formation of a convection current.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Journey to the Unknown

For Teachers 5th - 6th
Learners explore the ocean depths. In this scenario based lesson plan, students pretend they are on a submarine in an unknown part of the ocean. By using clues the class discusses and determines where they are in the ocean. They follow...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Water Layering and Circulation

For Teachers 5th - 7th
Students examine relationships and interactions between different types of water. They experiment with colored water of different temperature and salinity and discuss how the results relate to real ocean currents.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Art/Ocean Scene

For Teachers 4th - 12th
Learners draw and color an ocean scene based on the paintings of Wyland. In this ocean art lesson plan, students view slides of seascapes before they complete their project using oil pastels.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Oceanography: Understanding the Relationship Among Ocean Food Chains

For Teachers 4th
Fourth graders explore relationships among organisms involved in ocean food chains to investigate interdependence of the organisms.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Ocean Observation

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Learners describe the different methods used by MBARI researchers to study the ocean.  In this ocean lesson students research the Internet and use the information they find to write in their journal. 
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Ocean Careers Investigation

For Teachers 6th - 10th
Students gather information about different careers of the Ocean Adventures expedition team.  In this career studies instructional activity students work in groups, read an interview with an Ocean Adventurer, and see the importance...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

A WebQuest about Ocean

For Teachers 5th
Fifth graders explore the realm of an ocean through an ocean WebQuest. The Problem Based Learning Theory is used within this lesson. They complete several activities on the different concepts of oceans. Students are challenged to solve...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Ocean Grazers Conclusion

For Teachers 3rd - 6th
Students research an ocean species. In this science lesson, students create a research presentation as a conclusion to the ocean grazers unit. Students present their projects to the class and complete a self-reflection paper.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Helping Right Whales - Right Now

For Teachers 4th - 5th
In this whales worksheet, young scholars answer eight questions referring to the right whales found in the Atlantic Ocean. Students read a map to answer three questions and five questions are multiple choice.
Lesson Plan
Discovery Education

Physical Oceanography and Meteorology, Navy Search and Rescue Operation

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
It's an ocean rescue mission! Groups must find a pilot downed off the coast of the Chesapeake Bay. Rescuers must determine the distance needed to travel as well as the heading to get to the pilot's last known position. Taking...
Lesson Plan
NOAA

Fishy Deep-sea Designs!

For Teachers 7th - 9th Standards
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....