Lesson Plan
NOAA

Turning the Tide on Trash: A Learning Guide on Marine Debris

For Teachers 1st - 12th
The lessons in this learning guide are designed to increase youngsters' awareness of the impacts of marine debris and to teach them about pollution prevention techniques. This fabulous, 30-page packet is chock full of important...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Marine Debris

For Teachers 3rd - 6th
Now is the time to educate tomorrow's citizens to care for the planet, and here is a lesson to help facilitate the process. Collect some marine debris and bring it into class. Have your class separate it into types and then test each...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Marine Debris

For Teachers 3rd - 6th
Students perform experiments to examine if debris float, or blow in the wind. The effects of these characteristics on the marine debris are then discussed. They determine how a material can influence what becomes marine debris.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Endangered Marine Turtles

For Teachers 2nd - 8th
Students work in groups and experience what it is like to be a hatchling marine turtle by playing a board game.  In this endangered marine turtles lesson, students research the threats to marine turtle hatchlings. Students then...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Marine Critters and Communities

For Teachers 1st - 6th
Students touch, see, smell, and hear marine animals that live in a marina. In this marine animals lesson plan, students take field trip to a marine environment after studying the animals.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Effects of Oil Spills on Environment and Marine Life

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students explore oceanography by conducting an environmental experiment in class. In this oil spill instructional activity, students discuss the human need for oil and what is at stake when we drill for oil in our oceans. Students read a...
Lesson Plan
Science Matters

Blubber Gloves: It’s All About Insulation

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Instill the concept of adaptation with the help of Blubber Gloves—ziplock bags, shortening, and duct tape. Scholars discuss how animals and plants keep warm in polar regions, record their predictions, and try on their Blubber Gloves to...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Impact of Fishing

For Teachers 2nd - 4th
Students explore the concept of fishing as it relates to oceans and how some fishing practices can damage the health of the marine ecosystems. In this instructional activity on the impact of fishing, students research the many places in...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Marine Habitats of Galveston Island

For Teachers 2nd - 5th
Four lessons introduce elementary ecologists to salt marsh and sandy beach habitats. In the first activity, they place shells and other materials in vinegar to determine if they contain calcium carbonate. In the second activity, they...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Seaside Science

For Teachers 3rd - 12th
Students research sea life using laptop computers. In this sea life lesson, students participate in a field trip to the beach and enter observations into their laptop computers. Students classify shells and sea life.
Lesson Plan
Sea World

Seaworld Science Activity

For Teachers K - 4th
A fun collection of activities about marine life would be a great addition to your elementary science unit. From cute penguins to scary sharks, the unit features crafts, experiments, and basic research projects that will teach your...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Aquatic Ecosystems

For Teachers K - 7th
Students study the diversity of marine life and their habitats.  For this aquatic ecosystems lesson students complete a lab activity and experiment. 
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

What Does it Take to be a Survivor? Part One

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students explore marine animal adaptation. In this introductory ocean life biology lesson, students access prior knowledge by participating in a whole class "thought swap." Students form two lines, respond to a prompt from the teacher...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Digging up the Dirt on Soil Microbes

For Teachers K - 8th
Students are introduced to the idea of soil as a habitat for many different organisms. They are introduced to the links between the biological adaptations of an organism and the physical demands of its habitat. Pupils are introduced to...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Exploring Marine Objects

For Teachers 1st - 7th
Students identify the sources of water on Earth. In this life science lesson, students list the different plants and animals that live in the ocean. They explore marine objects in the lab and draw them.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Where Are All the Fish?

For Teachers 1st - 5th
Young scholars identify the problems that marine life is facing today. In this marine science instructional activity, students explain how Marine Protected Areas can help the ocean and the fish. They brainstorm ways to help in the...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Art and Science of Impressionist Color

For Teachers 1st - 4th
Discover Impressionist painting as students investigate the 19th century combinations of colors characteristically used. Students experiment with their own paintings, utilizing primary and secondary colors.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Marine Debris

For Teachers 3rd - 6th
Students will perform experiments to examine if debris will float, or blow in the wind. They discuss the effects of these characteristics on marine debris.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Out of the Deep

For Teachers 3rd - 4th
Students observe, describe, and record characteristics of ocean animals (mammals and fish) and sea shells. They conduct an experiment comparing and contrasting sugar water, salt water and fresh water and create a mural of coral reef...
Lesson Plan
California Academy of Science

Fish Prints

For Teachers 3rd - 5th Standards
What do a dead fish, conservation, and paint have in common? The answer is a great lesson plan about fish anatomy, fun print making techniques, and unsustainable fishing practices. The class will start by making fish prints with a...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

the Journey of the Pacific Salmon in the Open Ocean and Fishing

For Teachers 3rd
Third graders discuss salmon and their life cycle.  In this salmon life cycle instructional activity, 3rd graders recognize the difficulties researching the life cycle of salmon as they migrate.  Students conduct an experiment...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Marine Field Trip to Whytecliff Park

For Teachers K - 3rd
Pupils study the intertidal habitat, tidal pools and the organisms that live in them.  In this aquatic ecosystems instructional activity students take a field trip and experience first hand the local seashore environment. 
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Boston Harbor Cruise: A Shoreline Survey

For Teachers K - 6th
The students take a harbor cruise, photograph, and draw shore line features attending to evidence of human impact/consequences, and its cost on marine/land animal habitats vegetation, weather patterns, signs of erosion, and the water...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Stream Study

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students study the characteristics of a stream habitat. In this life science lesson plan, students use sieves, nets, and jars to collect aquatic organisms. Students also measure the temperature of the stream and calculate the speed of...