PBS
Symbiotic Strategies: The Secret Lives of Sharks and Rays
Learners investigate the interaction in an oceanic ecosystem. For this symbiotic relationship lesson, high schoolers investigate how ecological relationships evolve over long periods of time in order to maintain balance and stability of...
Rainforest Alliance
Protecting the Critical Habitat of the Manatee and Loggerhead Turtle
Explore ocean habitats with a lesson that showcases the home of manatees and loggerhead turtles in Belize. Here, pupils compare and contrast the homes of ocean animals to those of humans, listen to an original short story about the...
Curated OER
Fisheries in the Open Ocean
Students explore fisheries in the open ocean. In this ocean environment lesson, students study the impact fisheries have on the ocean habitat. Students complete a WebQuest and summary project regarding fisheries.
Curated OER
Where Did They Come From?
Give science learners nine questions about the biogeography of hydrothermal vents and turn them loose to research this fascinating habitat. Working in cooperative groups, they prepare a report that addresses each of the questions. A...
NOAA
Deep-Sea Ecosystems – Entering the Twilight Zone
Imagine an ecosystem without any light or oxygen, where living things convert carbon dioxide into food. This ecosystem is thriving and might just be the largest ecosystem on our planet, yet we know very little about it. The instructional...
Curated OER
Life in the Crystal Palace
Marine biologists research sea ice communities. Assign some groups to construct paper models of sea ice communities in winter, and some to construct models of them in summer. The lesson is simplistic, but the Internet resources provided...
Curated OER
Rockpool Adaptations
In this rockpool adaptations worksheet, students study a rockpool habitat and compare it to their own habitat. Students use their senses to describe a rockpool habitat. They bring in items from home and items from a beach to make their...
Curated OER
A Piece of Cake: Ocean Communities
Students explain habitats. In this model based lesson students create a model to help describe a habitat that is typical of deep-water. Students will describe how organisms such as coral and sponges add to their habitat.
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 lesson, students define a list of ocean related vocabulary terms and answer ocean geography study questions. Students utilize organism...
Curated OER
Building an Underwater Habitat
Young scholars investigate underwater habitats. In this underwater habitat instructional activity, students study Aquarius and design their own underwater habitat that can sustain life. Young scholars work in groups and present their...
Curated OER
Creating a Pond Habitat
Young scholars create a pond habitat inside and outside their classroom. In this pond lesson plan, students create a habitat with animals, water, and plants in order to create a proper pond habitat.
Curated OER
What's in That Cake?
Cooperative groups research trip logs from deep-sea expeditions and explore characteristics of deepwater habitats. Using a cake as the ocean floor, they work together to decorate it as a model of such habitats. They also prepare a...
Curated OER
Impacts to the Open Ocean
Students investigate how human beings impact ocean ecosystems. In this ocean ecosystem lesson, students explore how marine debris affects marine life. Internet resources are provided.
Curated OER
Entering the Twilight Zone
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 instructional activity, students study the categorization of ocean...
Curated OER
Entering The Twilight Zone
In this lesson sixth grade young scholars get into groups and research a given ocean habitat. The major features of cold-seep communities are the objective but plenty information is given about other habitats which could be assigned to...
Curated OER
Map that Habitat
Students participate in an activity that replicates the creation of sea floor bathymetry by taking a simplified form of soundings in the classroom. They discuss sea floor mapping technologies, sonar, soundings, and remote sensing,...
Curated OER
Survival in the Open Ocean
Students examine how scientists conduct pelagic research and identify pelagic predators as they study the open-ocean ecosystem. They discuss and conduct small group research of this environment in order to produce a presentation.
Curated OER
'O'opu Life Cycle
Students investigate the life cycle of the 'o'opu also known as Hawaiian gobies. In this amphidromous living lesson, students discuss the reproductive cycle, create props and an obstacle course to demonstrate the importance of the...
Curated OER
Marine & Aquatic Habitats Activities - Creatures in the Coral
Students describe unique adaptations of organisms that live in the coral reef habitat, read various books pertaining to coral reefs and ocean life, and construct a wheel demonstrating the relationships between certain coral reef...
Ocean Explorer
Easy as Pi
Seamounts are large, extinct volcanoes that rise up from the bottom of the ocean floor. They are a relatively new landform in the scientific community, and this lesson invites learners to learn about the amazing diversity of life found...
Georgia Aquarium
The Ocean's Nursery
Linear perspective, estuaries, and water ways converge in a science-inspired art project. The class uses what they've learned about eco-systems, estuaries, and the food chain to create scale models of a local marsh. While the lesson is...
NOAA
Deep-Sea Ecosystems – Cool Corals
Young oceanographers research deep sea corals that thrive on chemosynthesis. The lesson focuses on the biology of the animal, preferred habitat, associations, and interactions.
Curated OER
Entering the Twilight Zone
Students describe major features of cold seep communities and list organisms that are found in these communities. For this water habitat lesson students examine trophic levels, describe the process of chemosynthesis and list the...
Curated OER
Chewin' in the Chesapeake
Students examine a web page on food webs and select a habitat to research. For this research lesson students identify the organisms found in the food web and present their findings to the class.