Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Ocean Acidification
Human impacts on the environment can sometimes be difficult to measure, especially under water! An activity centered on ocean acidification gives science scholars the opportunity to examine the effects of carbon dioxide on marine life....
Curated OER
Entering the Twilight Zone
Students describe major features of cold-seep communities and the process of chemosynthesis as it relates to organisms in each habitat. In this deep-sea habitats instructional activity, students study the categorization of ocean...
Curated OER
Mapping The Ocean Floor
Young scholars explore and analyze the bottom structure of underwater habitats. They describe and explain what can't see through the collection and correlation of accurate data. Learners assess that technology is utilized as a tool for...
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
Exploring Deep Ocean Habitats: Alien Invasion
Students compare and contrast "alien species" and "invasive species."Students explain positive and negative impacts associated with introduction of non-native species, and give a specific example of species that produce t
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....
American Museum of Natural History
They Glow!
Would you believe marine animals can make their own light? An online resource describes the process of bioluminescence and how animals in the ocean use it to survive. The lesson features a catchy tune that describes the behavior of ocean...
American Museum of Natural History
They Glow!
Let there be light! An interactive online lesson describes the process of bioluminescence and how ocean species use it to their advantage. The lesson highlights several specific species as well as provides vocabulary support with...
Curated OER
Habitats
Second graders identify characteristics of various habitats. In this habitats lesson, 2nd graders read Where the Forest Meets the Sea and Swimmy to identify the settings of different habitats. Students construct murals of different...
Curated OER
A World in a Grain of Sand
Students go exploring Britain's beaches. For this geography lesson, students visit selected websites to learn about specific beach habitats and the history of cleaning those beaches.
Curated OER
Design a Reef!
Middle schoolers explore coral reef ecosystems. In this ecosystems science lesson plan, students research coral reef ecosystems to determine the major functions the participating organisms must perform. Middle schoolers construct a...
University of Waikato
Build a Marine Food Web
Dive into a lesson on marine ecosystem interactions. Individuals learn about and devise a marine food web. The resource provides organism cards and pupils use article resources to discover interactions before modeling them in a food web.
Channel Islands Film
Restoration Channel Islands Debate
Introduce learners to the debate format with an activity that uses the National Park Service's controversial Channel Islands restoration program as a topic. Class members learn how to generate provocative debate questions, how to prepare...
Curated OER
Animals of the Lost City
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...
Curated OER
The Dead Zone in the Gulf of Mexico
Learners explore hypoxic (low oxygen) conditions in the Gulf of Mexico. For this ocean habitat lesson, students hypothesis, design and implement an experiment to explain the existence of the "Dead Zone" in the Gulf of Mexico.
Curated OER
Dive and Discover the Ocean
Third graders investigate the three zones of the ocean and the plants and animals that live in each zone. Projects produced are shared with classmates in a share circle where the unique features of the animal and zone selected are...
NOAA
Deep-Sea Ecosystems – Life is Weird!
A pool of brine in the deep sea can be up to four times as salty as the surrounding sea water. The deep sea ecosystem relies on chemosynthesis and the organisms that live there are often strange to us. The lesson plan focuses on...
NOAA
Importance of Deep-Sea Ecosystems – How Diverse is That?
When judging diversity of an ecosystem, both species evenness and species richness must contribute. After a discussion of diversity and a guided example using the Shannon-Weaver function, scholars use the same function on two other...
Curated OER
Entering The Twilight Zone
In this lesson sixth grade young scholars get into groups and research a given ocean habitat. The major features of cold-seep communities are the objective but plenty information is given about other habitats which could be assigned to...
Curated OER
Mapping the Ocean Floor
Students study the bottom structure of underwater habitats and how they can be mapped.
Curated OER
Entering the Twilight Zone
Students describe major features of cold seep communities and list organisms that are found in these communities. For this water habitat lesson students examine trophic levels, describe the process of chemosynthesis and list the...
Curated OER
No Escape
Via four student handouts, marine biology learners examine the topography and circulation cell of the Fieberilng guyot. Then they examine the number of individual hydroids counted at each depth. Pupils use the information to relate water...
Curated OER
Sea Connections
Students, after locating different marine habitats on a globe, play a card game about ecosystems, food webs and organisms.
Curated OER
Coral Reef Choreographic ProjectTo
Students enhance their understanding of how animals function in a habitat.Students are scattered individually and in small groups. About half of students make coral shapes in small groups. The other half of students move like animals in...