Curated OER
Art: Coral Reef Ala Oil
Students investigate Australia's Great Barrier Reef and create oil paintings of it. After their research, they apply various painting techniques to depict air bubbles, sun's radiation, and color blending. For older students, the...
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Design a Reef!
Middle schoolers explore coral reef ecosystems. In this ecosystems science lesson plan, students research coral reef ecosystems to determine the major functions the participating organisms must perform. Middle schoolers construct a...
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Coral Reefs
Students examine the animals that live in a coral reef and how they adapt to their environment. In this coral lesson students write a short book on how animals inhabit the coral reefs.
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Who Has the Data? Monitoring Coral Reefs
High schoolers access data to characterize coral reefs. For this scientific research lesson, students access data and explain the need for such data when monitoring coral reefs. They will identify and explain three major threats to coral...
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The Coral Reef Ecosystem
Middle schoolers examine the coral reef ecosystem and learn how the living and non-living parts interact. In this coral reef lesson students view video on coral reefs then create a fictional ecosystem.
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Build a Reef
Students build a coral reef, then discover organisms that make up the ecosystem.
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Coral Reefs
Students research an inhabitant of a Caribbean coral reef using a list of common organisms that live on or near it. Students then write a description of their organism and draw a picture or a 3-D model of it. Eventually they all work...
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Treasures in Jeopardy
In small groups, middle schoolers research deep-sea coral reefs and design a poster to educate the public about their importance. They compare them to shallow-water reefs and consider the impact of bottom-trawl fishing. Many internet...
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Deep Sea Coral Biodiversity
Students research life forms of both tropical coral reefs and deep-sea coral reefs to discover the biodiversity of the ecosystems. They compare and contrast the diversity and adaptations of the two eco-systems, and draw a picture showing...
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Make an Edible Coral Reef
Students create an edible coral reef out of food and candy. In this Science lesson, students explore what a coral reef is and the coral reef's importance to the ecosystem. Additionally, students discover the different parts of a coral...
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Biological Relationships - Coral Reef Memory Game and Chain Game
Students familiarize themselves with the interconnectedness of species within an ecosystem, and to use this knowledge to evaluate how the removal or decimation of one species can have far reaching effects.
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Coral Reef Ecology
Students explore coral life cycles. In this coral ecosystems lesson plan, students view videos explaining the life cycle of coral, including examples of sexual and asexual reproduction. Students read a related article cooperatively in...
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Bermuda Reef Diorama
Students build a Bermuda coral reef to gain a better understanding of this ecosystem.
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Save A Reef!
Students identify the major threats to coral reefs and the ways that they benefit from humans. In this coral reef conservation lesson plan students create a public education program on coral reefs.
Aquarium of the Pacific
Ecosystem Comparison
Fifth graders examine plants and animals in two ecosystems and compare them. In this ecosystem survival lesson, 5th graders compare and contrast a coral reef and kelp forest ecosystem. Students investigate the abiotic and biotic factors...
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Exploring Life in the Coral Reef
Students study life forms in coral reefs. In this ocean life lesson plan, students study life in coral reefs as they create a coral reef sculpture.
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Sea Scape
Young scholars learn about and make models of coral reefs. In this reef ecosystem lesson plan, the class locates a number of coral reefs on a map. They learn how a coral reef is a balanced ecosystem that depends upon all of it's plant...
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A Reef of Your Own
Learners research and study the life and reproductive strategies of reef building corals. They examine how coral reefs can produce high levels of biological material when they are surviving in areas of low nutrition.
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Fish Are Animals Too
Students create posters that show how a shark is a major predator in kelp forests and coral reefs after studying the food webs for these ecosystems. They determine that fish are important animals in the ocean's web of life.
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Play Under the Sea
Students explore the hazards of ecosystems and utilize their writing skills to create a studenT book. Threats to the ecosystem of the coral reef are discussed and used as a model for the research of the group.
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Lesson #5: Symbiosis and Coral Anatomy
Fifth graders examine the basic structure of corals and the concept of symbiosis. They watch a Powerpoint Presentation, develop an original pair of organisms living symbiotically, and create an edible model of a coral polyp.
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Energy Flow in Ecosystems
Students, in groups, create a slide show about the ecosystem and answer critical thinking questions based on their research.
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What's So Special?
Young scholars study the biology and morphology of Lophelia corals. In this investigative lesson students explain how the coral contributes to communities, and create a poster.
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Into the Spectacular Sea
Students research coral reefs as dynamic ecosystems and the part that each organism plays within that ecosystem. They create a mural of a coral reef.