NOAA
Deep-Sea Ecosystems – Chemosynthesis for the Classroom
Photosynthesis was discovered in the 1770s, but chemosynthesis wasn't discovered until 1977. While many have performed an experiment to show how photosynthesis works, the activity allows pupils to observe chemosynthesis. Scholars set up...
NOAA
Chemosynthesis and Hydrothermal Vent Life
What's life like in a hydrothermal vent? Find out in part five of a 13-part series. Learners journey to one of the harshest environments on the planet, the hydrothermal vent, to learn about the creatures that survive the extreme...
Curated OER
Candy Chemosynthesis
Learners explain chemosynthesis and photosynthesis using candy. In this chemosynthesis instructional activity, students work cooperatively to create a visual explanation of the chemical equations of photosynthesis and chemosynthesis.
Curated OER
What's for Dinner?
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 collaborative groups,...
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
Chemosynthesis for the Classroom
Explorers set up Windogradsky columns with local mud so that they can culture microorganisms. After three and six weeks they make observations of the mud and the organisms growing in it. In this way they observe succession and relate...
Curated OER
This Life Stinks
Chemosynthetic communities of cold seep areas are considered in this lesson. Working in collaborative groups, marine biology or oceanography learners research and prepare a report about oxidation-reduction reactions involved with...
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
Hot Food
Students compare and contrast photosynthesis and chemosynthesis as processes that provide energy to biological communities. They investigate the energy content of hydrocarbons used in coral communities.
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...
Curated OER
What's in That Cake?
Cooperative groups research trip logs from deep-sea expeditions and explore characteristics of deepwater habitats. Using a cake as the ocean floor, they work together to decorate it as a model of such habitats. They also prepare a...
NOAA
Ocean Primary Production
A cold seep is an area on the ocean floor where hydrocarbons leak from the earth, creating entire unique biomes. Learners explore cold seeps, photosynthesis in the ocean, and its limitations due to loss of sunlight. They further explore...
Curated OER
2005 Submarine Ring of Fire Expedition: What's for Dinner?
Students compare and contrast photosynthesis and chemosynthesis as sources of primary production for biological communities, and describe sources of primary production observed in biological communities associated with volcanoes of the...
Curated OER
Life is Weird
Separate your science class into small groups and assign each a specific deep-sea organism to research. The class will learn about all of the organisms as each group presents their assigned animal. Following their presentations, you can...
Curated OER
Chemosynthesis in the Classroom
High schoolers observe the development of chemosynthesis in bacterial communities. In this bacteria lesson students explore that chemosynthesis is and how it is relevant to biological communities.
NOAA
Animals of the Fire Ice
When the sun's rays can't reach the producers in a food web, where does all the energy come from? Extreme environments call for extreme food sources. Young scientists investigate creatures that appear to get their energy from methane...
Curated OER
This Life Stinks!
Students explore the process of chemosynthesis and contrast this process with photosynthesis. They consider the relevance of chemosynthesis to biological communities in the vicinity of cold seeps.
Curated OER
Rock Eaters of the Gulf of Alaska
Students compare and contrast the processes of photosynthesis and chemosynthesis. They identify and describe sources of energy used by various organisms for chemosynthesis.
Curated OER
One Tough Worm
Students explain the process of chemosynthesis. They are able to explain the relevance of chemosynthesis to biological communities in the vicinity of cold seeps.
Curated OER
This Old Tubeworm
Students explain the process and significance of chemosynthesis. They develop their own graphic based on data of a biological community. They estimate the age of a given species as well.
Curated OER
Reduced Fare
Students discover the relationship between tectonic plate boundaries and the communities of life that thrive at such boundaries. In this biology lesson, students find that methane from oxidized carbon in sediments provides nutrients for...
NOAA
Deep-Sea Ecosystems – Cool Corals
Young oceanographers research deep sea corals that thrive on chemosynthesis. The lesson focuses on the biology of the animal, preferred habitat, associations, and interactions.
Curated OER
Monsters of the Deep
Students describe major features of cold seep communities, and list at least five organisms typical of these communities. They infer probable trophic relationships among organisms typical of cold-seep communities.
Curated OER
From the Gulf of Mexico to the Moons of Jupiter
Students compare deep ocean conditions to those found on the moons of Jupiter. In this Earth science lesson, students consider the possibilities and conditions needed to support simple life. Students examine the habitats and life found...