Curated OER
Submersible Designer
Students work in groups to design, build, and test a submersible prototype. In this engineering lesson, students learn about the importance and design of submersible vessels and apply their knowledge by building one of their own. They...
Curated OER
Come On Down!
Begin with an introduction to famous deep-sea submersibles. Learners work in groups to gather information on different vessels and then share with the class. Each group then uses water displacement to help calculate the density of...
Curated OER
Blowing Ballast
Oceanographers participate in a memorable hands on experience about buoyancy. They build a model of a submersible using a plastic bottle and a balloon. Afterward, they answer assessment questions. An answer key and some terrific...
NOAA
Come on Down!
What do we do when a dive is too dangerous for humans to accomplish? Send in the robots! Middle school scientists get acquainted with several different models of submersible robots in the second lesson of six from NOAA. Lab groups then...
Curated OER
Life on the Ocean Floor
Why would water 2700 meters deep suddenly become warmer? Explore this and other ocean floor discoveries through this reading response worksheet. Scholars read information about the organisms discovered by Alvin, a deep-sea submersible....
Curated OER
Descending to the Challenge: Developing Documentaries About the Deep Ocean
The video clip that comprises the warm up is not available, but the related article from The New York Times and the movie trailer for Aliens of the Deep are, leaving enough material to make this a fascinating instructional activity on...
Curated OER
Journey To the Unkown
Students explore the ocean rift habitat off the Galapagos through an audio expedition, Internet research on deep sea animals, an explorer game and simulation of the exploration of the deep sea bottom. They focus on the actual NOAA...
American Museum of Natural History
Journey to Deep Sea Vents
Take a deep dive into oceanography. The online interactive allows for learners to board a submersible to dive to the bottom of the ocean to investigate sea vents. On the way down, individuals see different marine life at different...
Curated OER
What Do You SUBpose?
Submarines are the fous of this math and science activity. In it, learners explore the world of submarines: how they work, and what they are used for. They engage in hands-on activities, watch video clips, and work in cooperative groups...
Curated OER
What on Earth is That and How Can I Get One?
Students examine how we use submersibles. In this technology based lesson, students examine various technologies used by submersibles in ocean exploration.
Curated OER
Beneath the Sea
Students build a model of a submersible that will allow them to explore ballasts and how they operate. In this hands on instructional activity students participate in an activity that shows them how to control buoyancy.
Curated OER
Unsafe Waters
Students investigate deep sea explorations and the challenges that can occur. In this deep-sea exploration lesson students work in groups and create a deep sea exploration mural.Â
Curated OER
What's in that Cake?
Young scholars discover the methods scientists use to investigate Oceanic habitats. Â For this oceanography lesson, students utilize the Internet to identify deep sea submersibles and how they help scientists study the Charleston Bump....
Curated OER
Galapagos Rift Expedition Come On Down!
Students research the development and implementation of a research vessel/vehicle used for deep ocean exploration. In this oceanography lesson, students calculate the density of objects by determining the mass and volume.
Curated OER
Math: Seifert Surface
Students use wire to make knots and submerse them in pans of detergent to observe how the soap film clings to the wire. They discover this film is called the Seifert Surface. After drawing pictures of the surface, they discuss what...
Curated OER
Tools of the Trade
Young scholars construct functional replicas of oceanographic tools and demonstrate and explain their use.
Curated OER
Ocean Careers Exploration
Learners will work together in groups to gather information about careers in oceanography. They discover the need to have a diverse group of people on a team and then share their information with the class. Web links and materials are...
NOAA
Lost City Chemistry Detectives
In 1977, scientists discovered hot springs in the middle of deep, cold ocean waters near the Galapagos Islands. Scholars research the chemical reactions that explain what scientists found at the Lost City. A discussion connects many...
Curated OER
Teaching Justice: Schooling and the Four Waves of U.S. Immigration
U.S. immigration is the focus of a unit on social justice. Over the course of a school year, young historians read a variety of texts to learn about four waves of immigration that have occurred over time in the U.S. An emphasis on...
NOAA
Mapping the Ocean Floor: Bathymetry
Bathymetry is not a measure of the depths of bathtubs! Through the three lessons, scholars explore two different types of maps and how they are made. The resource focuses on topographic and bathymetric maps and teaching the techniques...
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...
NOAA
Ocean Zones
How can organisms light up in water? Bioluminescence is light produced in a chemical reaction that can occur in an organism's body. First, learners determine what happens to light/color as you move into the deep ocean. In groups, they...
Curated OER
I, Robot, Can Do That!
Assign groups of middle school oceanographers to research one of the following underwater robots; ABE, Herculues, ROPOS, RCV-150, Tiburon, or general purpose ROVs. An included handout guides them through information to be gathered. Each...
Curated OER
Animals of the Lost City
Begin with a demonstration of exothermic reactions and discussion of chemosynthesis. Your aspiring oceanographers research vent communities and then craft a mural of a vent community. This is a terrific method of introducing learners to...