Curated OER
Maintaining Body Heat
Students observe and compare heat loss in different objects with surface-to-volume ratios. They transfer this comparison to the physical characteristics of animals in their environment. They focus on how whales maintain their body heat.
Curated OER
Structure of Earth
Seventh graders study and make a model of the significant formations of the ocean floor. They examine images and illustration and apply their imagination while creating the model. They are challenged to complete further research as an...
Curated OER
Measurement of the Depth of the Ocean
Students comprehend the physical properties of pressure and Boyle's Law by designing a depth gauge. They construct a capillary depth gauge and calculate the calibrated depth marks of the capillary tube. They determine the margin of error...
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Icefish Blood Adaptations: Viscosity
Most fish freeze to death when the water is too cold, yet some fish live in the Southern Ocean where the water is often below freezing. Scholars use two models representing the blood from most fish versus the blood from Antarctic fish....
NOAA
A Quest for Anomalies
Sometimes scientists learn more from unexpected findings than from routine analysis! Junior oceanographers dive deep to explore hydrothermal vent communities in the fourth lesson in a series of five. Scholars examine data and look for...
Curated OER
Mystery of the Megaplume
Read through the extensive background information and then lead your geology or physical oceanography class through an investigation of actual temperature anomaly data from the Juan de Fuca ridge. They translate the data onto a plot,...
Curated OER
Loud or soft?
Send this cute activity home with kids, to increase family involvement. They'll consider what would happen if rice was bounced in a tambourine, and then they'll complete a sound activity by makings an instrument out of wax paper and a...
Curated OER
Oceanography
Fifth graders study the topography of the ocean floor. They determine its ever changing nature as they examine currents and trade winds. They write paragraph describing how the winds might affect land formations after the discussion of...
Curated OER
Yo-Yos, Tow-Yos and pH, Oh My!
Students explore how hydrothermal vents are formed and where they are located on the ocean floor. They study how scientists use CTDs to locate hydrothermal vents.
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Freshwater/Saltwater "Eggs-Periment"
Students explore water properties by conducting a class experiment. For this buoyancy lesson, students utilize freshwater, saltwater, plastic cups, hard boiled eggs and food coloring to experiment with the floating capabilities of salt...
Curated OER
Erosion: Slip Sliding Away
Fourth graders investigate the causes of erosion. Through several demonstrations including one using sugar cubes and warm water, they observe the effects of erosion. In groups, 4th graders conduct similar experiments and record their...
Curated OER
Pacific Salmon and Mountain Pine Beetle
Young scholars compare fish anatomy. In this teacher demonstrated dissection lesson, students compare fish anatomy to that of humans. They explore different fish and their unique properties. There are 4 distinct activities which can be...
Curated OER
Biocomplexity Lab Activity: Creating Salt Water
The lesson plan seeks to intorduce to students the properties of salt water and how to create salt water. Teacher gives backgound information about salt water to students. From that point, students dscuss what elements are in salt...
Curated OER
Activity #8 Simulation of Oil Spills
Pupils conduct an experiment to simulate an oil spill and identify the characteristics of oil in water. They evaluate the effectiveness of various cleanup methods. They discuss the how to clean up an oil spill, and what causes oil spills.
Curated OER
Salt Water Wedge
Learners conduct an experiment to observe the properties of both salt and freshwater. They explain why freshwater will stay at the surface while salt water will travel up a river bottom because of density. Students also research the...
Curated OER
Antarctica
Students explore why Antarctica is so important to the planet. They investigate the physical characteristics. Students create their own unique treaty of governance for Antarctica and discuss how laws are enforced in Antarctica.
Curated OER
Tsunami
Students explore tsunami through various hands-on activities. In this earth science lesson plan, students explain how they are formed. They create tsunami and earthquake models in the lab to observe how they are generated.
Curated OER
Jeopardy 8th Grade (Science)
There are so many topics touched upon in this Jeopardy-style science game, that it is difficult to classify! The categories include electricity, matter, ecology, earth and space, and scientific investigation. This would best be used at...
Curated OER
Estuaries, Estuarine Habitats, and Adaptations
Middle schoolers conduct research on estuaries. They design and construct an estuary, describe the physical characteristics of an estuary, and create a diagram illustrating an estuarine food web.
Curated OER
Locating Vent Fields Using CTD Data
Students describe the way hydrothermal vents work. Students work on locating vent regions through remote collection of data about water temperature and density. Comparing density and temperatures graphs, students search for indicators...
Curated OER
Tanker Spills
Young scholars predict the flow of an oil spill and depict it on a map. They explain the predicted route of the oil spill using knowledge of ocean currents in a short presentation to their peers.
Curated OER
This is Jeopardy: Fifth Grade Life Science Review
This PowerPoint provides a Jeopardy game board and science questions from a variety of topics including biomes, plants, life cycles, cells, and the water cycle.
Curated OER
It's not just pretty - it's a survival method!
First graders write explanations for why certain animals can only live in certain environments. In this animal survival lesson plan, 1st graders take pictures of animals and place them into the right environment after a instructional...
Curated OER
A Message in a Bottle
Students investigate the motion of water currents by mapping the possible movement of messages cast into the ocean in bottles.They accurately plot the appearance of bottles on a world map and illustrate the flow of an ocean current...