Students investigate surface ocean currents. In this oceanography lesson, students work in small groups to create models that demonstrate surface currents, the Coriolis Effect, and how surface currents move debris. This lesson includes a...

Learn how ocean currents are vital to humans and marine life. The eighth installment of a 23-part NOAA Enrichment in Marine sciences and Oceanography (NEMO) program, focuses on ocean currents and how they affect global climate. The...

A deep ocean current circles the globe at a force that is greater than 16 times all the world's rivers combined. Groups analyze the effects of submarine topography on deep ocean current speed. They then determine how this speed affects...

The instructions for demonstrating ocean turnover are provided in this resource. You could set this up for your earth science class as part of a lecture on convection currents or as an explanation of how ocean currents form. An animation...

Students explore marine life by conducting a rubber duck experiment. For this water currents lesson, students practice identifying latitude and longitude coordinates on a map and define the currents of major oceans. Students discuss the...

Stimulate interest in ocean currents with a simulation. The first installment of a five-part middle school series teaches future oceanographers about the forces that interact to cause ocean currents. A simulation shows how wind and...

Students examine ocean currents. In this investigative lesson, students examine ocean currents and the relationship between the ocean, our atmosphere, and the weather. They will create a model of an ocean current.

Students describe the role of density in driving deep ocean currents and the density layers of the ocean. They determine that the ocean is one continuous body of water with global currents that interact, with water surrounding all...

Swirling and churning, the waters of the North Atlantic play a vital role in Earth's climate! Discover the many factors that produce circulation using a multimedia lesson from PBS's Weather and Climate series for high schoolers. Scholars...

Students use satellite data to explore sea surface temperature. They explore the relationship between the rotation of the Earth, the path of ocean current and air pressure centers. After studying maps of sea surface temperature and ocean...

High schoolers conduct a variety of investigations to see how water, heat, and salinity affect the flow of the world's ocean currents,as well as, explore many factors that affect the flow of the world's ocean currents. They also describe...

Is your current lesson plan for salt and freshwater literacy leaving you high and dry? If so, dive into part one of a seven-part series that explores the physical features of Earth's salt and freshwater sources. Junior hydrologists...

The fascinating video "Changing Planet: Fresh Water in the Arctic," introduces your oceanographers to the world's gyres. They learn that melting sea ice is making the gyres larger, and that the changes could, in turn, contribute even...

Students identify five major ocean currents and identify the correlation between ocean circulation and prevailing winds.

How do you create a map of the ocean floor without getting wet? Middle school oceanographers discover the process of bathymetric mapping in the third installment in a five-part series of lessons designed for seventh and eighth graders....

Students observe the interactions of different temperatures of water using colored ice and a thermometer and then compare the results with global ocean current solar heating. They identify where floating ice would be found in the ocean,...

In the second lesson of a five-part series, young climatologists use provided temperature and precipitation data to create climographs of three different cities. They then analyze these climographs to develop a general understanding...

Learners experiment observing a demonstration on models of density-driven currents which are typically found in an estuarine system of water flow. They compare/contrast water temperature and salinity to the formations of estuarine currents.

Be shore to use this drifter resource. The third installment of a five-part series has learners using the NOAA's Adopt-a-Drifter website to track to movement of a drifter (buoy) in the ocean. Graphing the collected data on a map allows...

Students are introduced to the forces that are responsible for generating waves in the ocean and how these forcesf differ from those that cause currents. They are able to explain how water molecules in a wave do not move in the direction...

Students discover the geography of Earth by analyzing water currents.  In this oceanography lesson, students create visual references on a map of the globe where and why major ocean currents are moving water.  Students conduct...

In this ocean in motion worksheet, students complete a crossword puzzle given 21 clues about waves, currents, the tides, winds, and surface water.

Students compare and contrast the properties of salt water in the oceans/seas and freshwater elsewhere on the planet. They also analyze mixing caused by currents in the ocean, including the effects of warm and cold water as well as with...

Students create their own ocean currents by using everyday items. They examine the constant pushing of molecules that makes us feel wind. They discuss how the water moves in the Southern Hemisphere.