Curated OER
What's A Water Column Profile?
Students investigate water column data. For this earth science and seawater lesson, students determine how temperature, salinity, and density have an impact on sea water by viewing and analyzing data obtained from a number of websites....
Curated OER
To Fish or Not to Fish?
Students demonstrate the decision-making process for marine reserves designations. In this role-playing instructional activity students analyze maps and data relating to a proposed reserve. They formulate the best decisions based on...
Curated OER
Saved by a Shark
Students explore the marine ecosystem and the importance of sharks. In this shark lesson, students look at photos of the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary and discuss the animals that live there. They discuss which animals...
NOAA
The Biogeochemical Cycle
The biogeochemical cycle ... no physics? The fourth installment of a 23-part NOAA Enrichment in Marine sciences and Oceanography (NEMO) program introduces the biogeochemical cycle by having pupils simulate movement between Earth's...
NOAA
Coastal Dynamics
Life's a beach! The 16th installment of a 23-part NOAA Enrichment in Marine sciences and Oceanography (NEMO) program first examines different types of coasts and how they form. An activity then has learners investigate the shoreline...
NOAA
Plate Tectonics II
Mid-ocean ridges, rift valleys, island arcs, mountain ranges, earthquakes, volcanoes ... there are so many features associated with plate tectonics. The 14th installment of a 23-part NOAA Enrichment in Marine sciences and Oceanography...
Curated OER
Fish and Zooplankton Through Remote Sensing
Ecology aces examine sea surface temperature maps and relate temperatures to concentration in fish and zooplankton populations. Take your class to a computer lab and provide experience with actual remote sensing data. Some of the links...
Channel Islands Film
Island Rotation: Lesson Plan 3
How far have California's Channel islands moved? What was the rate of this movement? Class members first examine data that shows the age of the Hawaiian island chain and the average speed of the Pacific Plate. They then watch West...
Curated OER
Seaworthy Presentations
First graders research ocean animals and plants on the web. In this ocean habitat instructional activity, 1st graders prepare a multimedia presentation. Students will work on their presentations in pairs and every group...
Curated OER
Animals of the Fire Ice
Students examine ocean life by identifying methane hydrates. In this ocean life lesson, students research organisms that live in the coldest, deepest parts of the ocean and live off methane hydrates. Students create a group...
Curated OER
Sea and Ice Salinity
Learners conduct an experiment. In this salinity lesson, students learn about sea ice, why it is important and how changing amounts can affect the sea. Learners conduct an experiment to find out the effects of salinity on the...
Curated OER
Fishing for Solutions
Young scholars investigate the many ecological and economic issues related to over fishing the world's marine resources. Working in committees, students research the related topics of equipment and fishing techniques.
Teach Engineering
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is one of several garbage patches around the world where garbage accumulates naturally. As part of a GIS unit that combines oceanography, environmental science, and life science, class members investigate...
Curated OER
Tides - The Ins and Outs of Tides
Get your junior oceanographers to generate tidal prediction graphs on an interactive website. They will feel like experts in the field, or shall we say, experts in the ocean! This is a brief, but worthwhile activity that could be used to...
Curated OER
Sea Water Mixing and Sinking
Students investigate the role of temperature and salinity in determining seawater density. They use a Temperature-Salinity Diagram to examine the effects of mixing on density.
Curated OER
Winter Wonderland - Winter Olympics and the Water Cycle
After a concise introduction to the water cycle, junior meteorologists access NOAA's average snowfall data. They choose a city to examine in terms of precipitation. Then they look at historical snowfall data and use it to predict snow...
NOAA
Biological Oceanographic Investigations – Signals from the Deep
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...
Curated OER
Conductivity - Pass the Buoy and Pepper, Please
Buoys around our coastlines are equipped with sensory devices which monitor temperature, salinity, and water pressure. Emerging earth scientists examine some of this data and relate salinity to the electrical conductivity of the surface...
Curated OER
Beans and Baleen
Predict whale populations using different beans as whales! Learners observe different types of beans in a dish knowing that each bean represents a different kind of whale. They then predict how many "whales" there are in a certain area....
Curated OER
Marine Food Webs
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.
Curated OER
Do Fish Clean the Ocean?
Students analyze a reading selection. In this ocean lesson, students read a story about the ocean, ocean animals and coral reefs. Students have the option to complete internet research on coral reefs. Students write in their journals...
Curated OER
Fisheries And Songs
Students view examples of songs that have the ocean and its life as their themes. After hearing and reading them, students write their own, having done research on the social and political issues of the ocean's environment.
Curated OER
The Magic School Bus Goes to Mussel Beach
Students participate in a hands-on activity where they explore tidal zones. They explore tides and marine life. This is an experiment that can be accomplished in class.
Curated OER
Ghostbusting in the Chesapeake
Ghost pots, fishing gear lost during crabbing expeditions, continue to trap crabs that are never collected. Increase your budding ecologists' awareness of human impact on the environment as well as conservation efforts using this...