It's About Time
How Do Plate Tectonics and Ocean Currents Affect Global Climate?
What do plate tectonics and ocean currents have to do with global climate? This fourth installment in a six-part series focuses on how plate tectonics and ocean currents affect global climate, both now and in the past, outlines an...
NOAA
Currents
Learn how ocean currents are vital to humans and marine life. The eighth installment of a 23-part NOAA Enrichment in Marine sciences and Oceanography (NEMO) program, focuses on ocean currents and how they affect global climate. The...
NOAA
Currents
A deep ocean current circles the globe at a force that is greater than 16 times all the world's rivers combined. Groups analyze the effects of submarine topography on deep ocean current speed. They then determine how this speed affects...
Curated OER
Factors Affecting Ocean Currents
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...
Curated OER
Rubber Duckies and Ocean Currents
Students explore marine life by conducting a rubber duck experiment. In this water currents lesson plan, students practice identifying latitude and longitude coordinates on a map and define the currents of major oceans. Students discuss...
Curated OER
Round and Round
Learners interpret data from a three-dimensional array of current monitors to determine an overall pattern of water circulation. They hypothesize what effect an observed water circulation pattern might have on seamount fauna. A very...
Science 4 Inquiry
Fluid Streams Affecting Weather
The jet stream can reach speeds of up to 250 miles per hour. Scholars learn about the jet stream and ocean currents as they rotate through stations. They answer questions leading them to understand the impact these fluid streams have on...
Curated OER
Ocean Currents
Students examine ocean currents. In this investigative lesson, students examine ocean currents and the relationship between the ocean, our atmosphere, and the weather. They will create a model of an ocean current.
Centers for Ocean Sciences
Ocean and Great Lakes Literacy: Principle 1
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...
Curated OER
Oceanography Worksheet #1
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....
NOAA
A Day in the Life of an Ocean Explorer
What's life like aboard an ocean exploration vessel? Junior oceanographers examine the important role of communication in ocean research in lesson plan two of a five-part series from NOAA. The materials introduce the class to life on...
NOAA
Ocean Layers I
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...
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....
NOAA
Mapping the Deep-Ocean Floor
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....
Curated OER
Currently Warm
Seventh graders investigate how ocean currents affect climate. In this earth science lesson, 7th graders draw and label the current in their assigned ocean. They discuss how currents from the poles differ from the equator.
University of Southern California
What Is The Ocean?
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.
Curated OER
Estuarine Currents
Students 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.
Curated OER
The Coastal Ocean: Estuaries and Continental Shelves
Amazing high-quality satellite imagery, photos, informational graphs, and detailed diagrams comprise this presentation on the movement of estuaries and the continental shelf. Data used as an example is from The Chesapeake Bay and because...
Curated OER
Longshore Current
Learners are posted at the beginning and end of a 10-meter long line parallel to the ocean and are instructed to look straight ahead towards the water. The student at the beginning of the line uses a stopwatch, goes to the water's edge...
NOAA
Ocean Exploration
Sea explorers and scientists have found that because of temperatures being two to three degrees Celsius at the bottom of the ocean, most animals are lethargic in order to conserve energy. In this web quest, pairs of learners read about...
Curated OER
Ocean Currents
In this ocean currents learning exercise, students will use maps of the Atlantic Ocean currents and the Pacific Ocean currents to complete 6 short answer questions.
Curated OER
Currents and Climate
In this ocean currents worksheet, students will compare two different currents found in the Atlantic Ocean to determine how currents affect the climate in these regions. This worksheet has 3 short answer questions.
Curated OER
Where Did They Come From?
Give science learners nine questions about the biogeography of hydrothermal vents and turn them loose to research this fascinating habitat. Working in cooperative groups, they prepare a report that addresses each of the questions. A...
Curated OER
Regents High School Examination: Physical Setting Earth Science 2006
Test your class on earth science with this extensive resource. This test, created by The University of the State of New York Regents, is made up of 50 multiple choice questions and 32 short answer questions that cover the branches of...