Swirling and churning, the waters of the North Atlantic play a vital role in Earth's climate! Discover the many factors that produce circulation using a multimedia lesson from PBS's Weather and Climate series for high schoolers. Scholars...

Is your current lesson plan for salt and freshwater literacy leaving you high and dry? If so, dive into part one of a seven-part series that explores the physical features of Earth's salt and freshwater sources. Junior hydrologists...

There's nothing better than a cool breeze blowing in from the ocean. Scholars explore how water affects change in temperature using a hands-on experiment on climate. They use measurement tools to compare the continental and oceanic...

Students demonstrate the scientific method by conducting an ice cube melting experiment. They make predictions and observations, and conclude what factors make ice melt more slowly or quickly than normal.

How is it possible for ocean water to have layers? The sixth installment of a 23-part NOAA Enrichment in Marine sciences and Oceanography (NEMO) program investigates factors that cause different water densities to occur. Experiments...

An educational lesson allows young chemists to test the solubility of different types of salt at various temperatures. Groups create a graph using data from unsaturated, saturated, and supersaturated solutions.

The instructions for demonstrating ocean turnover are provided in this resource. You could set this up for your earth science class as part of a lecture on convection currents or as an explanation of how ocean currents form. An animation...

How can organisms light up in water? Bioluminescence is light produced in a chemical reaction that can occur in an organism's body. First, learners determine what happens to light/color as you move into the deep ocean. In groups, they...

How much does the sun heat up a lake or ocean? Scholars use a cup and a strong lamp to investigate the heat transfer and thermal layers in the ocean to come up with the answer. They collect data and graph it in order to better understand...

How does chemistry help deep-sea explorers? Part four of a five-part series of lessons from aboard the Okeanos Explorer introduces middle school scientists to technologies used in ocean exploration. Groups work together to analyze data...

What is reflectivity, and what does it have to do with the Earth's climate? As reflectivity is measured by albedo, scientists can gather information on Earth's energy balances that relate to global warming or climate change. Budding...

Students design and conduct an experiment to determine the effect of salinity and temperature changes in the movement of ocean currents. In this earth science lesson, students record observations and collect data. They share their...

Students relate heart rate and development to environmental conditions through experiment. In cooperative groups, students record the heart rate in developing zebra fish. Groups create a standard curve to predict the temperature at...

Students use satellite data to see the correlation between sea temperature and sunlight in the Gulf of Maine.  In this phytoplankton instructional activity students use Excel to analyze data. 

Oceanography enthusiasts are given a series of thought experiments to consider in order to relate the solubility of gases and solids to underwater volcanoes. It is not particularly engaging to perform these thought experiments. Choose...

Students determine how water and wind affect ocean currents. In this science investigation lesson plan, students follow the provided steps to enable them to consider how explorers may have used ocean currents to their advantage.

With this simple inquiry exercise, young scientists observe the effects of melting ice on the water level. Set up an easy experiment with floating ice cubes in a dish of water, then have your pupils make and record their observations of...

Introduce your earth science enthusiasts to the earth's energy budget. Teach them using an informative set of slides that include illuminating lecturer's notes, relevant vocabulary, embedded animations, colorful satellite maps, and a...

How much does your class know about the relationship between climate change and carbon dioxide? Science scholars explore the nature of greenhouse gases and rising ocean temperature through demonstrations, research, and experiments. The...

With global temperatures on the rise faster than ever recorded, the effects of a heating planet could be devastating. Allow learners to discover just what the world is in store for if the warming continues through a series of videos, a...

One of the key objectives of Europe's Copernicus Earth program is to monitor the temperatures of the oceans and seas on Earth. Young scholars learn the effects of different heat capacities through two experiments. These experiments...

How do astronauts know how to live and work in a weightless environment? It doesn't come naturally! Junior physicists conduct experiments to examine the link between buoyancy and microgravity. Each activity illustrates a different aspect...

Students work in groups with copies of the three photo images provided with the lesson. They make observations about mussels and clams. Students discuss reasons scientists use a representative sample of a population rather than the...

Students discover the geography of Earth by analyzing water currents.  In this oceanography lesson, students create visual references on a map of the globe where and why major ocean currents are moving water.  Students conduct...