Curated OER
Changing Planet: The Case of the Leaky Gyre
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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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...
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Message in a Bottle - A Satellite Journey through the Gulf Stream
The Gulf Stream has historically provided humans with a faster trade route because of its swift-moving waters. It continues to be a source of information and fascination for oceanographers today. As your class views this collection of...
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Ocean Currents Quiz
In this ocean worksheet, students complete a 13 question multiple choice on-line interactive quiz about ocean currents. Prior knowledge is assumed.
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Oceans: Water, Water Everywhere. . . but Only on the Earth!
It's not long, but it's thorough! This PowerPoint takes 4th - 8th grade earth scientists deeper into the oceans. They learn about tide and current activity and the forces that drive them. They also discover how wind and the rotation of...
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Wind Circulation, Surface Currents and Climate
High schoolers describe connections between wind patterns, surface currents, and ocean climate zones. In small groups, they color the ocean climate zones in four different shades of blue. Students then answer questions like what four...
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You Are What You Eat: Plastics and Marine Life
Students study the different types of plastics and see which ones sink or remain buoyant. In this ocean environmental instructional activity students complete several handouts, and view a film on PBS.
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Iron Fertilization - Pumping Iron
The theory that adding iron to ocean water may increase phytoplankton ability to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere is examined. The Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute is monitoring conditions off the California coast to...
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Major Ocean Surface Currents
Students investigate wind driven surface currents and prevailing winds by playing a card game. The cards are sorted by north or south and Atlantic or Pacific. They then predict where the two currents are found and what their...
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What's in that Cake?
Young scholars discover the methods scientists use to investigate Oceanic habitats. For this oceanography lesson, students utilize the Internet to identify deep sea submersibles and how they help scientists study the Charleston Bump....
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El Niño ~ The Return of El Niño
El Niño sure creates a stir when it comes around! Why not stir up your earth science class with this data analysis activity that examines the temperature and precipitation over the 2002-2003 water year. A tracking chart is provided...
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Debris Dilemmas
Learners examine debris, what it is, where it comes from and where they go. In this debris lesson students view a video, answer questions and discuss what they learned.
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Vocab-u-lous! Build a Fabulous Vocab
In this vocabulary worksheet, students decipher which word would complete the sentence best. All words begin with the letter "G."
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Tides and Currents
Students research and describe how currents are formed. In groups, they relate specific terms to the formation of currents and locate different currents on a world map. They also examine tides, how they are formed and how they are...
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What is Climate?
Students explore the differences between climate and weather. In this introductory lesson of a climate unit, students discuss the vocabulary and concepts associated with weather and climate. They build their information base for the...