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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Ocean Currents and Sea Surface Temperature

For Teachers 8th - 12th
Students use satellite data to explore sea surface temperature. They explore the relationship between the rotation of the Earth, the path of ocean current and air pressure centers. After studying maps of sea surface temperature and ocean...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Ocean Currents

For Teachers 4th
Fourth graders work in groups to research ocean currents and create posters with their findings. They locate the patterns and names of major ocean currents and identify them on a map. Students also use red pencil to show ocean currents...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Ocean Currents

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Students determine how water and wind affect ocean currents. In this science investigation lesson, students follow the provided steps to enable them to consider how explorers may have used ocean currents to their advantage.
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Lesson Plan
Centers for Ocean Sciences

Ocean and Great Lakes Literacy: Principle 1

For Teachers 3rd - 12th Standards
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...
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Worksheet
Curated OER

Oceanography Worksheet #1

For Students 6th - 9th
If you are teaching physical oceanography to middle school earth scientists, here is a terrific multiple choice worksheet. Learners look at a diagram of a landscape created by glacial sediment deposition and the resulting ocean floor....
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Lesson Plan
NOAA

A Day in the Life of an Ocean Explorer

For Teachers 5th - 12th Standards
What's life like aboard an ocean exploration vessel? Junior oceanographers examine the important role of communication in ocean research in lesson two of a five-part series from NOAA. The materials introduce the class to life on board...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Changing Planet: The Case of the Leaky Gyre

For Teachers 7th - 10th
The fascinating video "Changing Planet: Fresh Water in the Arctic," introduces your oceanographers to the world's gyres. They learn that melting sea ice is making the gyres larger, and that the changes could, in turn, contribute even...
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Activity
2
2
Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Ocean Acidification

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
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....
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Driving Currents

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students conduct a variety of investigations to see how water, heat, and salinity affect the flow of the world's ocean currents,as well as, explore many factors that affect the flow of the world's ocean currents. They also describe in...
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Lesson Plan
1
1
NOAA

Ocean Layers I

For Teachers 9th - 12th
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...
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Lesson Plan
1
1
Consortium for Ocean Science Exploration and Engagement (COSEE)

Ocean Acidification: Whats and Hows

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Open this lesson by demonstrating the production of acidic carbon dioxide gas by activated yeast. Emerging ecologists then experiment with seashells to discover the effect of ocean acidification on shelled marine organisms. They measure...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

SURFACE CURRENTS

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students identify five major ocean currents and identify the correlation between ocean circulation and prevailing winds.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Currently Warm

For Teachers 7th
Seventh graders investigate how ocean currents affect climate. In this earth science lesson plan, 7th graders draw and label the current in their assigned ocean. They discuss how currents from the poles differ from the equator.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Water Layering and Circulation

For Teachers 5th - 7th
Students examine relationships and interactions between different types of water. They experiment with colored water of different temperature and salinity and discuss how the results relate to real ocean currents.
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Lesson Plan
NOAA

Mapping the Deep-Ocean Floor

For Teachers 7th - 8th
How do you create a map of the ocean floor without getting wet? Middle school oceanographers discover the process of bathymetric mapping in the third installment in a five-part series of lessons designed for seventh and eighth graders....
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Deep Ocean Currents

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students observe the interactions of different temperatures of water using colored ice and a thermometer and then compare the results with global ocean current solar heating. They identify where floating ice would be found in the ocean,...
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Unit Plan
Curated OER

The Motions of the Oceans

For Teachers 6th
Students examine the topics of ocean waves, currents, and tides. They locate and label ocean currents on a world map, conduct experiments, analyze key vocabulary, view demonstrations and record the data, and complete handouts.
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Lesson Plan
PBS

Ocean Circulation in the North Atlantic

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
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...
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Lesson Plan
NOAA

Climographs

For Teachers 6th - 8th
In the second lesson plan of a five-part series, young climatologists use provided temperature and precipitation data to create climographs of three different cities. They then analyze these climographs to develop a general understanding...
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Lesson Plan
Discovery Education

Physical Oceanography and Meteorology, Navy Search and Rescue Operation

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
It's an ocean rescue mission! Groups must find a pilot downed off the coast of the Chesapeake Bay. Rescuers must determine the distance needed to travel as well as the heading to get to the pilot's last known position. Taking into...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Sand Travels

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students examine how sand is formed by erosion and that it can be moved by streams, rivers, and ocean currents in this unit of lessons. They study waves and currents, and structures that change how sand moves by creating story charts,...
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Unit Plan
University of Southern California

What Is The Ocean?

For Students 4th - 8th
Go on a tour of the ocean through the lens of a scientist. Learners read maps of the ocean floor, study tide behavior, examine wave motion, and analyze components of soil. Each lesson incorporates a hands-on component.
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Activity
Climate Research Facility

Ocean Currents

For Teachers 6th - 9th Standards
Young scientists investigate the effects of heating a beaker of ice water by dropping dye into the water and observing how the color circulates.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Estuarine Currents

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Learners experiment observing a demonstration on models of density-driven currents which are typically found in an estuarine system of water flow. They compare/contrast water temperature and salinity to the formations of estuarine currents.

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