Polar Trec
Sea Ice Impact
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...
Curated OER
The Sound of Calm
Students examine the relationships that exist between ocean currents, wind and climate. Using those relationships, they discuss how they affect the oceans. They create their own music to represent the sounds of the ocean and share them...
Curated OER
Where Have All the Glaciers Gone?
Students examine how climate change is affecting sea ice, vegetation and glaciers in the Arctic region.
Curated OER
Geographic Effects on Precipitation, Water Vapor and Temperature
Students investigate the factors affecting climate using Live Access Server. In this geography lesson, students graph atmospheric data using Excel spreadsheet. They compare and contrast temperature, precipitation and water vapor of two...
Curated OER
Coral Bleaching: Making Our Oceans Whiter
Students study coral reefs and the controversy over coral bleaching. They role-play a debate over the issue and come up with a compromise to protect the reefs and the economies that depend on them.
Curated OER
How Temperature Affects Density
Students examine the effects of temperature and density in ocean currents. In this density activity, students explain how coastal climates are impacted by ocean currents. They investigate how the ocean currents are affected by...
Curated OER
Currently Warm
Seventh graders investigate how ocean currents affect climate. In this earth science instructional activity, 7th graders draw and label the current in their assigned ocean. They discuss how currents from the poles differ from the equator.
Curated OER
Oceans Socratic Questioning
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...
Curated OER
Temperature Changes: Atmosphere & Ocean
Students observe temperature differences of water and air in sunlight and darkness. They determine that the sun warms the Earth's surface, which controls global currents and climate, keeping the earth habitable. They discover water and...
NOAA
Technology I
Isn't technology great? The 12th installment of a 23-part NOAA Enrichment in Marine sciences and Oceanography (NEMO) program introduces technology that marine scientists use. Pupils take part in an activity using conductivity,...
Curated OER
Sampling the Ocean Floor
Students sample goodies from an unseen ocean floor and try to accurately describe their composition. This simulation helps students explain the limitations of sampling and the problem of obtaining representative samples of sea floor...
Curated OER
Curricular Correlations
Here is a terrific way to teach your oceanographers about the effects that the ocean have on the weather and climate found throughout the world. In it, pupils engage in a science experiment designed to emulate how the ocean affects...
Curated OER
Temperature of the Pacific Ocean
Young scientists demonstrate how the Earth's temperature has varied gradually in the past. They attempt to answer four questions which all pertain to how the Pacific Ocean's temperature has evolved over time. Internet research, and a...
Curated OER
Latent Heat and Clouds
Students explore latent heat and how it relates to clouds in the atmosphere. For this earth science lesson students investigate how clouds are formed. Students examine clouds and the water cycle.
Curated OER
Rising Air
Students investigate the concept of rising air in the formation of clouds and precipitation. In this rising air instructional activity, students conduct an experiment with hot and cold water that shows how warm water rises due to thermal...
Curated OER
CURRENT AND CLIMATE
Students study currents and how they have been used to plot courses for travel. They examine the ocean currents in both the Atlantic and Pacific and discuss their effect on local weather.
Polar Trec
Where is the World's Water?
Scholars discover the amount of the Earth's water in various locations such as the ocean, ice, the atmosphere, etc. They then make a model of the how much water those percentages represent. Finally, analysis questions bring the concepts...
NOAA
History's Thermometers
How is sea coral like a thermometer? Part three of a six-part series from NOAA describes how oceanographers can use coral growth to estimate water temperature over time. Life science pupils manipulate data to determine the age of corals...
NOAA
El Niño
El Nino, La Nina ... and the Santa Maria? The 11th installment of a 23-part NOAA Enrichment in Marine sciences and Oceanography (NEMO) program explains the mechanism of El Nino/Southern Oscillation. Pupils use previous data to determine...
Curated OER
Coral Bleaching in the Caribbean
Young scholars practice analyzing images, maps and graphs from Internet-based educational resources. They explore the correlation between sea surface temperature and coral bleaching. Students comprehend that coral reefs are collections...
NOAA
The Biogeochemical Cycle
The biogeochemical cycle ... no physics? The fourth installment of a 23-part NOAA Enrichment in Marine sciences and Oceanography (NEMO) program introduces the biogeochemical cycle by having pupils simulate movement between Earth's...
Curated OER
Plankton / Phytoplankton
Students discuss the importance of plankton in the ocean ecosystem. For this biology lesson, students identify the different types plankton by observing them under the microscope. They explain how plankton population affect global climate.
Curated OER
Water Cycle: Mobius Strip
Students describe the water cycle and create a Mobius strip model. They determine that the weathering of rocks continually adds sodium to the Earth's rivers and subsequently to the oceans. They discuss the fact that the water on Earth...
Curated OER
Frozen Out
Students investigate how climate changes affect top predators in Arctic marine ecosystems. Students complete a worksheet and write a report based on their responses to a scientific paper.