Centers for Ocean Sciences
Ocean and Great Lakes Literacy: Principle 7
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to take your class on an underwater adventure. The final installment in a seven-part series involving salt and freshwater bodies takes junior oceanographers below the surface in...
American Museum of Natural History
They Glow!
Would you believe marine animals can make their own light? An online resource describes the process of bioluminescence and how animals in the ocean use it to survive. The lesson features a catchy tune that describes the behavior of ocean...
Curated OER
Ocean Observations
Students examine a coastal ocean. In this physical science/earth science lesson plan, students generate a list of questions about how researchers study the ocean. In addition, students investigate, through research on the computer, to...
Curated OER
What Lives in the Open Ocean and Where Do They Live?
Students explore oceanography by participating in a flash card activity. In this ocean inhabitant activity, students define a list of ocean related vocabulary terms and answer ocean geography study questions. Students utilize organism...
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...
Alabama Learning Exchange
The Ocean Floor
Learners explore the ocean in this earth science lesson. They use the Internet to gather information on parts of the ocean including the beach, ocean floor, continental shelf, trenches, and the animals that inhabit these parts.
Curated OER
Ocean Observation
Students describe the different methods used by MBARI researchers to study the ocean. In this ocean lesson students research the Internet and use the information they find to write in their journal.
Curated OER
Critters in the Classroom
Students investigate with sea urchins. In this ocean habitat lesson, students observe sea urchins and other ocean grazers. Students work with lab equipment to examine the anatomy of these creatures.
Curated OER
Surface Air Temperature Trends of the Caribbean
Learners use real satellite data to determine the changes in near-surface air temperature at different times of the year over the Caribbean Sea. They discover how Earth's tilt causes seasonal differences in incoming solar energy. They...
Columbus City Schools
Making Waves
Learning about waves can have its ups and downs, but a demo-packed tool kit has the class "standing" for more! Learners gain experience with several different wave types, organizing observations and data, and wave...
Curated OER
Microscopic Water Life
Students use a light microscope to observe the organisms living in a sample of ocean or fresh water. Students create a drawing of the organisms that they observe. Students then discuss the different body plans of the organisms and the...
Curated OER
Caribbean Cruisers
Middle schoolers expand knowledge of Caribbean life. They utilize various research tools including the internet. Students explore scientific concepts related to the ocean. The lessons within this unit are centralized around novels.
Curated OER
Octopus Lesson Plan
Children explore the life of an octopus. They listen to a story, answer prediction questions and share their prior knowledge of animals. Students observe the defense mechanism of the octopus. They create an imaginary defense mechanism...
Curated OER
Remote Sensing
Students research the Earth's ocean systems. They examine the impact of global warming on the oceans and the world as a whole.
Curated OER
Lost Liners Scavenger Hunt
Young scholars practice research skills by scouring Internet for facts and information about the lost ocean liners Titanic, Lusitania, and Empress of Ireland.
Curated OER
Solar System Search
Students research topics related to space and the planets using the Internet. They explore various websites, construct scale models of the solar system, and create a travel brochure using HyperStudio computer software.
Curated OER
Under the Blood-Red Sun
Fifth graders explore U.S. history by reading an award winning book about World War II. In this Japanese internment camp lesson, 5th graders read the book Under the Blood-Red Sun and discuss the entrapment of Japanese-Americans on our...
Curated OER
Spineless - YES... Helpless - NO!
Students distinguish between invertebrate and vertebrate organisms while examining the zoological classes of a number of invertebrates. They illustrate a food web of these organisms and investigate the impact of humans on the oceanic...
Curated OER
Mystery Mollusc
Students investigate the different regions of our oceans by researching the Internet. For this oceanography lesson, students discover the different jobs related to ocean research and examine their roles by reading related...
Curated OER
Polar Day: Arctic Clean Up
Students explore the concept of pollution. In this environmental stewardship lesson, students examine primary sources to research the complexity of pollution and its effect on the Arctic.
Curated OER
Under The Sea
Second graders study how a tsunami is formed by underwater events such as earthquakes, volcanoes or landslides. They discuss what they knew about living and non-living things in the ocean.
Curated OER
Uncharted Territory
Students examine what were preconceived perceptions of the areas Lewis and Clark explored. They compare and contrast past and modern maps of North America. They accurately place route and site information on the map.
Curated OER
What is Climate?
Students explore the differences between climate and weather. In this introductory instructional activity of a climate unit, students discuss the vocabulary and concepts associated with weather and climate. They build their information...
Curated OER
Sea Surface Temperature Trends of the Gulf Stream
Young scholars use authentic satellite data to produce plots and graphs of sea surface temperature as they explore the seasonal changes of the Gulf Stream.