Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Entering the Twilight Zone

For Teachers 5th - 6th
Students describe major features of cold-seep communities and the process of chemosynthesis as it relates to organisms in each habitat.  In this deep-sea habitats lesson, students study the categorization of ocean habitats...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Surviving Extremes

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students examine the potential health dangers of mountain climbing in high altitudes and deep-sea diving. They write a health and safety column for a fictional magazine about extreme outdoor sports that explains the risks involved in...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Journey To the Unkown

For Teachers 4th - 7th
Learners 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...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Oil Floats, Right?

For Teachers 5th - 6th
Learners examine the properties in oil in water. In this mixture lesson, students read about the Lophelia II 2010: Cold Seeps and Deep Reef Expedition and look at images of deep sea ecosystems. They experiment or participate in...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Finding the Way

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Learners identify and research navigational tools used in deep sea explorations. They are introduced to a compass, the Global Positioning System and sonar technology and then describe their uses in underwater exploration.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

A Vacation Expedition: Universal Design and Differentiated Instruction Lesson

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students plan a vacation to either a mountain, deep-sea location, rainforest or to the moon. In this vacation planning instructional activity, students research information about the location of their choice. They watch video clips on...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Oceans Socratic Questioning

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students participate in a whole class discussion of ocean-floor structures and plate tectonics. They respond to prompts in a structured sequence that lead them to conclusions about the role of plate tectonics in the creation of sea-floor...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Friend, Foe, or . . .

For Teachers 5th - 6th
As a result of this instructional activity, upper elementary ocean explorers will be able to describe several interrelationships: symbiosis, mutualism, commensalism, and parasitism. They learn that the biological richness is increased...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Design a Reef!

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Here is an ambitious, but highly valuable undertaking: set up a miniature coral reef in your classroom. Young marine scientists research coral reef ecosystems and ensure all vital factors are included in their functioning model. The...
Lesson Plan
NOAA

Wet Maps

For Teachers 5th - 6th
How do oceanographers make maps under water? Junior explorers discover the technologies and processes involved in creating bathymetric maps in part three of a five-part series designed for fifth- and sixth-grade pupils. The...
Lesson Plan
NOAA

Invent a Robot!

For Teachers 5th - 6th Standards
Wait til your class gets their hands on this! Aspiring engineers design a working robotic arm in the fifth and final installment in a series of ocean exploration lessons. Pupils learn about the use of underwater robots in ocean...
Lesson Plan
Polar Trec

Sea Ice Impact

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
The arctic seas contain currents that are both warm (with high salinity) and cold (relatively fresh water) that circulate throughout the year. Through discussion, a lab, and a web quest, participants explore the impacts of melting and...
Activity
PBS

Reading Adventure Pack: Oceans

For Parents 1st Standards
Flotsam by David Wiesner and The Magic School Bus on the Ocean Floor by Joanna Cole, illustrated by Bruce Degen, begin a reading adventure pack focusing on oceans. With story listening and thoughtful discussion, scholars complete several...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Architects of Seamount Ecosystems

For Teachers 7th - 8th
Students, in groups, research one of the families of habitat-forming deep-sea corals. They prepare a report that includes information about the coral family, as well as how its existence affects other species, including humans.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Exploring Explorations-Ocean Exploration

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Learners learn about Earth's deep ocean discoveries and their benefits. In this ocean exploration lesson, students review previous explorations of the Earth's deep oceans and learn about the discoveries of the past.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

This Old Tubeworm

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students plot data to construct and interpret a graph about vestimentiferans at cold-seep sites in the Gulf of Mexico. In this deep sea lesson, students plot data provided for the growth of tubeworms. They use the graphs to determine...
Lesson Plan
NOAA

Watch the Screen!

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Can a sponge cure cancer? Life science pupils visit the drugstore under the sea in the fifth lesson of six. Working groups research the topic then get hands-on experience by testing the inhibiting effects of several plant extracts...
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
Curated OER

Forests of the Deep

For Teachers 5th - 6th
Students identify three ways in which seamounts are important to biological communities. They also discover how deep-sea corals are important to the seamounts. They finally explain why scientients are worried about the future of ecosystems.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Density Dynamics

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students set up working models demonstrating lake turnover and the formation of deep water masses in the oceans.
Lesson Plan
NOAA

Journey to the Unknown

For Teachers 5th - 6th
Go where no one has gone before. Learners experience what it is like to be a scientist exploring new territory. Using audio and a scripted text, pupils take a trip in the depths of the ocean. They follow their trip with a hands-on...
Lesson Plan
NOAA

Animals of the Fire Ice

For Teachers 5th - 6th Standards
When the sun's rays can't reach the producers in a food web, where does all the energy come from? Extreme environments call for extreme food sources. Young scientists investigate creatures that appear to get their energy from methane...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Survivors on the Ocean Ridge

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students discover the uniqueness of deep sea hydrothermal vent organisms through an exploration of the NOAA Galapagos Rift Expedition. They study the genetics and evolution of a shrimp species that lives near the vents then they...
Lesson Plan
Ocean Explorer

Looking for Clues

For Teachers 5th - 6th
Upper graders become "shipwreck detectives" by studying the debris field from a shipwreck in the Aegean Sea which took place in the 700s.  A website is accessed that gives specific information about the debris field, and pairs of...

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