Rivanna Regional Stormwater Education Partnership
Invisible Passengers
How does water pollution affect the organisms living in the water? Use three science experiments to examine how erosion and other pollutants can affect water quality. Each experiment focuses on a different aspect of pollution and...
NOAA
What Killed the Seeds?
Can a coral cure cancer? Take seventh and eighth grade science sleuths to the underwater drugstore for an investigation into emerging pharmaceutical research. The fifth installment in a series of six has classmates research the wealth of...
NOAA
I Can't Breathe!
The Gulf of Mexico dead zone, an area of low oxygen that kills marine life, costs the United States $82 million every year. Young scientists research anoxic ocean environments then come up with a hypothesis for the cause of the Gulf of...
Curated OER
Importance of Marine Protected Areas: an Overfishing Simulation
Students simulate overfishing by conducting a guided experiment in the classroom. In this ecology lesson, students discuss the environmental consequences of overfishing. They research additional information about the issue and share...
Curated OER
Construct a Buoyant Scuba Diver
Groups of young oceanographers get to use action figures to experiment with the property of buoyancy! This memorable lesson plan provides detailed background information, a link to the laboratory worksheet, and thorough instruction...
NOAA
Ocean Layers I
How is it possible for ocean water to have layers? The sixth installment of a 23-part NOAA Enrichment in Marine sciences and Oceanography (NEMO) program investigates factors that cause different water densities to occur. Experiments...
Curated OER
What Does it Take to be a Survivor? Part One
Students explore marine animal adaptation. In this introductory ocean life biology lesson, students access prior knowledge by participating in a whole class "thought swap." Students form two lines, respond to a prompt from the teacher...
Curated OER
Digging up the Dirt on Soil Microbes
Learners are introduced to the idea of soil as a habitat for many different organisms. They are introduced to the links between the biological adaptations of an organism and the physical demands of its habitat. Pupils are introduced to...
Curated OER
Sand Explorations
Young scholars experiment with different samples of sand from Maui leeward and windward beaches. They create a sand map to suggest at least one contributing factor for the formation of each beach sample. They test the samples to...
California Academy of Science
A Day inthe Life of a San Francisco Native Animal
Although the lesson is specifically about the San Francisco Bay area, it's good enough to be adapted to any local region. Children research what the landscape in San Francisco was like prior to settlement, they consider the types of...
Curated OER
Dolphins
Students explore sea life. In this cross curriculum fine arts, science, and P.E. "dolphins" lesson, students sing songs and play games about dolphins, perform water experiments, create mosaics, and use their five senses to explore sand...
Curated OER
Phytoplankton and Ocean Color
Fifth graders identify function of phytoplankton in the biospere by conducting experiments and simulations and reading for information. They detect the presence of phytoplankton in bodies of water by examining ocean in satellite images...
Curated OER
The Art and Science of Impressionist Color
Discover Impressionist painting as students investigate the 19th century combinations of colors characteristically used. Students experiment with their own paintings, utilizing primary and secondary colors.
University of Waikato
Ocean Acidification and Eggshells
Eggshells and seashells have a lot in common. Learners use the similarities to conduct an experiment that models the effect of ocean acidification on marine animals. Using varying levels of acidic liquids, pupils make observations on the...
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Bacterial Quorum Sensing
The marine bacteria vibrio harveyi helps with DNA repair in humans. Understanding how to manipulate and genetically mutate this bacteria fascinates researchers. Young scientists observe two different mutations, predict the resulting...
NOAA
Journey to the Unknown
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...
Curated OER
Changing Planet: Ocean Acidification - the Chemistry is Less than Basic!
A video and laboratory investigation are highlights to this lesson on acidification of ocean water due to increased atmospheric carbon dioxide. Using bromothymol blue (BTB) as an indicator, pupils analyze the amount of carbon dioxide...
Curated OER
Chilean Sea Bass
Introduce your mini-marine biologists to using databases. Tables of how many Chilean Sea Bass were caught and number of hours spent fishing are examined. Using the data, individuals calculate the "Catch per Unit of Effort" for each year....
Curated OER
A Climate Conundrum
After viewing a video and reading an article about the threatened turtles and tortises in The Amazon River area, collaborative groups create a poster or presentation about how we can help them. Several links to other related lesson plans...
Curated OER
Something Fishy Going On
Students create a video animation of how Swimmy gathered his fish friends together to form a great big fish that would frighten the predator tuna away. In art class each child create a small red fish which gets displayed in the ocean...
Curated OER
Investigating the Effect of Salinity on the Density and Stability of Water
Water with varying amounts of dissolved salt are dyed and then used to compare densities. The objective is to discover the effect of salinity, and therefore density, on ocean water on the stability of the ocean. Many branches of science...
Curated OER
The Wild Dolphin Project
Inspire young marine biologists to study animals in the wild with this assignment. Pupils view an eight-minute video and read an article in the New York Times about Denise Herzing's 25-year long study of dolphins in their own...
Curated OER
Towers of the Lost City
Middle school marine scientists compare the pH change in distilled and saltwater as acetic acid is added one drop at a time. Then they compare the pH change in both when sodium hydroxide is added. This experiment demonstrates the...
Curated OER
Coasts
Young scholars explain the different types of marine coasts and where they are located in the United States and its territories. They explain and identify some of the life forms that inhabit different marine coastal regions.