Virginia Department of Education
Freshwater Food Chains
What's in the water? Encourage your class to further explore this question and learn about pond ecosystems, food chains, and food webs as they complete this hands-on activity. They view the environment from a new perspective after...
NOAA
Understanding Food Chains and Food Webs
Jump into an exploration of marine ecosystems with the first lesson in this four-part series. After first learning about crustaceans, mollusks, and other forms of sea life, young marine biologists view a PowerPoint presentation that...
NOAA
Seafood and Human Health
Whether your young biologists realize it or not, humans play a significant role in marine ecosystems. To help them understand this fact children first create graphical representations that show homo sapiens' place in marine food chains,...
NOAA
Marine Ecosystems
Be at the top of the food chain when it comes to understanding marine ecosystems. The 21st installment of a 23-part NOAA Enrichment in Marine sciences and Oceanography (NEMO) program investigates marine ecosystems, ocean zones, and food...
Curated OER
Marine Food Web
Students investigate the effects of the food chain on all animals by creating a food web. In this seafood lesson, students discuss energy flow and research a specific marine organism of their choice. Students create a food web in their...
Curated OER
Long Island Beach Life
Have your class learn about marine life through this resource. This comprehensive instructional activity has learners discuss marine life, learn key vocabulary, discuss environmental concerns, and play games related to migration and...
Curated OER
Food Chains and Food Webs
Fourth graders study intertidal organisms and their role in the food web. In this food web activity, 4th graders read the book The Sea That Feeds Us and discuss food webs. Students study pictures of intertidal creatures and discuss their...
NOAA
An Ocean of Energy
Young biologists trace the path of the sun's energy through marine ecosystems in the second part of this four-lesson series. Building on prior knowledge about producers, consumers, and decomposers students are introduced to the concept...
Curated OER
Marine Life Research and Persuasive Conservation Pamphlet
Tenth graders examine conservation and research a type of fish that is under environmental stress. In this conservation lesson students create a pamphlet about the conservation of a marine organism.
Curated OER
Plankton in the Air
Here is a lab activity adequate for use with any full lesson on environmental factors that shape animal adaptations or marine animal characteristics. Pupils will discuss the role plankton plays in the environment and filter-feeding...
Curated OER
What Lives in Water?
Students learn about a variety of sea creatures. They look at sea creatures pictures and identify the creatures by name and by their unique characteristics. Phonemic Awareness skills are reinforced using the beginning sounds of the...
Curated OER
Shark Food
Students create a linking chain to demonstrate the food chain. In this food chain lesson, students use the Internet to research sharks, including what they eat, and create a chain link with a picture of a shark. They continue this...
Curated OER
Animals and Plants of BC's Rocky Shore: lesson 3
Students create a mural of the food chain of the animals and plants of BC's rocky shore. In this food chain lesson plan, students also play a food chain matching game.
ARKive
Dinner at the Reef
Fine dining can happen anywhere, even in the coral reefs. Budding environmentalists explore marine food chains, predator-prey relationships and the importance of a balanced ecosystem. These important concepts are facilitated through a...
Polar Trec
Arctic Smorgasbord!
Two blooms of phytoplankton, instead of just one, now occur in the Arctic due to declining sea ice, which will have widespread effects on the marine life and climate. In small groups, participants build an Arctic food web with given...
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...
Curated OER
Weave an Aquatic Food Web
Students explore organisms that are part of interconnected food webs. In this food web lesson, students choose an animal and research what the animal eats. Students begin with the food chain and branch out into the interconnected web...
Curated OER
Under the Sea Webquest
Fourth graders work in small groups to research a selected species of ocean creature. They conduct Internet research, complete a WebQuest and worksheet, and complete a group oral presentation that includes an illustration of the food...
Curated OER
Sharks: Scavenging Stomachs
Middle schoolers examine the role played by sharks in the marine food chain. They conduct a scavenger hunt collecting items that have actually been removed from the stomachs of sharks, and create a display that includes the items and...
Curated OER
Animals of the Fire Ice
Students examine ocean life by identifying methane hydrates. In this ocean life instructional activity, students research organisms that live in the coldest, deepest parts of the ocean and live off methane hydrates. Students create a...
Curated OER
Gifts from the Sea
Young scholars 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...
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
Plankton / Phytoplankton
Students discuss the importance of plankton in the ocean ecosystem. In this biology activity, students identify the different types plankton by observing them under the microscope. They explain how plankton population affect global climate.
Curated OER
Phytoplankton and Ocean Color
Fifth graders identify function of phytoplankton in the biospere by conducting experiments and simulations and reading for information. They detect the presence of phytoplankton in bodies of water by examining ocean in satellite images...