Curated OER
Sonar Mapping
Young scholars use a shoe box to create a seafloor model and use cardboard for layering inside of the shoe box to simulate the ocean floor. They probe the ocean floor to simulate sonar echoes. Finally, students graph their data to get...
Aurora Trust
Journey Under the Sea
Discover the interesting world of maritime archaeology and explorations under the sea with this nice set of worksheets, which cover such topics as search tools and techniques of underwater archaeology, carbon dating,...
Curated OER
Plate Tectonics: Sixth Grade Lesson Plans and Activities
Here is a set of pre-lab, lab, and post-lab lesson plans on plate tectonics. After completing the previous labs on volcanoes and earthquakes, sixth graders use the gained knowledge to explore plate boundaries and the movement of...
Curated OER
Mapping the Unknown
High schoolers explain how early maps of the ocean bottom were made. They describe and execute a method for producing a low-resolution map of a surface that cannot be seen or touched. Students analyze the data from a mapping activity and...
Curated OER
Creature From The Deep
Students become familiar with oceanography terms by writing an oceanography horror story.
Curated OER
Plate Tectonics Day 3 Sea Floor Spreading: Evidence for Continental Drift
Learners are introduced to Sea Floor Spreading and how it provides evidence for Hess's and Deitz's theory of Continental Drift. They use paleomagnetic data to calculate the rate of Sea Floor Spreading.
NOAA
Community Ecology and Sampling
Seamounts in the Coral and Tasman Seas are home to more than 850 different species. Groups explore hydrothermal vents, researching the organisms found there and their energy source. They also learn about seamounts, exploring their unique...
Curated OER
Top to Bottom
Marine science classes read about the 2005 North Atlantic Stepping Stones Expedition and review climate change. They use maps to locate the seamount chains. In collaborative groups, they research how climate change may be altering the...
Curated OER
Reading Maps of the East Pacific Rise
Pupils make qualitative and quantitative observations and use various maps to investigate the features of the East Pacific Rise The study actual bathymetric maps of the EPR region. They identify key features of the ridge and explore the...
Curated OER
Mapping Ancient Coastlines
Most of this lesson plan is spent working on the "Bathymetry Worksheet." It includes a graph of the changes in sea level over the past 150,000 years and a bathymetric map of changes in an imaginary coastline over time. Participants...
Curated OER
Mapping and Personifying Nations
Eleventh graders analyze the geography, actions, and relationships of countries involved in World War II. They create a map of Europe, Northern Africa, and the Pacific, and analyze and evaluate their self-made map of Europe and the...
Curated OER
Plate Tectonics: Kindergarten Lesson Plans and Activities
This unit focuses primarily on plate tectonics and plate boundaries surrounding continents. It contains pre- and post-lab sections that walk young geologists through plate movements in order to visualize what's going on inside Earth.
Curated OER
The Distance Between Us and Them: Sea Floor Spreading in the Atlantic Ocean
Learners examine how geologists determine rates of sea floor spreading between two tectonic plates. They apply mathematical concepts such as the calculation and use of velocities and conversion from one set of units to another.
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
Oceanography
Fifth graders study the topography of the ocean floor. They determine its ever changing nature as they examine currents and trade winds. They write paragraph describing how the winds might affect land formations after the discussion of...
Discovery Education
Sonar & Echolocation
A well-designed, comprehensive, and attractive slide show supports direct instruction on how sonar and echolocation work. Contained within the slides are links to interactive websites and instructions for using apps on a mobile device to...
Curated OER
Continents and Oceans on the Move
Students create an awareness of the vast percentage of water covering the earth. They relate similarities/differences between topographical maps and other maps of various time periods. Students examine how to use a topographical map.
Curated OER
United States Map- Land Elevation
Young scholars explore a physical map. In this map skills instructional activity, students discuss examples of elevation and investigate the symbols used to identify elevation on a map. Young scholars use the map to identify various land...
Curated OER
Round and Round
Learners interpret data from a three-dimensional array of current monitors to determine an overall pattern of water circulation. They hypothesize what effect an observed water circulation pattern might have on seamount fauna. A very...
Curated OER
Oceanography
Fourth graders define new vocabulary associated with oceanography. They locate and label the four oceans. They also identify features of the ocean floor.
Channel Islands Film
Island Rotation: Lesson Plan 1
How do scientists provide evidence to support the theories they put forth? What clues do they put together to create these theories? After watching West of the West's documentary Island Rotation class members engage in a series of...
Curated OER
If I Can't See It, How Do I Know It's There?
Students build a model ocean using a variety of materials representing the various levels of the ocean. They collect data about the ocean floor in a partner activity. They practice working with topographical mapping grids.
Curated OER
Seafloor Spreading
In this seafloor spreading worksheet, students find mistakes in statements that are descriptive of seafloor spreading. Students correct the given sentences to make a true statement.
Curated OER
TOPSY TURVY MAPS
Eighth graders use the data analyzer and motion detector to collect data and measure distances. They create topographic maps drawn to scale of a given setup and relate the concepts to the creation of historical ocean maps.