Related: OLP#2: The ocean and life in the ocean shape the features of the Earth.

LESSON PLANS AND ACTIVITIES

Click on a lesson plan or activity name to learn more about it

  • Potential role of Arctic methane deposits in climate change

    / NOAA

    In this activity, students will be able to identify the natural processes that produce methane, describe where methane deposits are located in the Arctic region, explain how warmer climates may affect Arctic methane deposits, explain how the release of large volumes of methane might affect Earth’s climate, and describe how methane releases may have contributed to mass extinction events in Earth’s geologic history.

    For more information:
    http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov

    Grades: 9-12

  • Where Have All the Glaciers Gone?

    / NOAA

    Students will describe how climate change is affecting sea ice, vegetation, and glaciers in the Arctic region, explain how changes in the Arctic climate can produce global impacts, and will be able to provide three examples of such impacts. Students will also explain how a given impact resulting from climate change may be considered ‘positive’ as well as ‘negative’, and will be able to provide at least one example of each.
    Hands-on activity: Make a photocube showing changes in glaciers.

    For more information:
    http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov

    Grades: 6-8

  • Understanding Sea Level Using Real Data

    / NOAA Ocean Data Education (NODE) Project

    Five lessons at increasing levels of sophistication incorporate real data from NOAA to help students understand how sea level is measured and monitored. For more information: http://www.dataintheclassroom.org.

    Grades: 6-8

  • Secrets of the Sediments

    / Deep Earth Academy/ Consortium for Ocean Leadership

    In this activity, students graph and analyze data from sediments collected off the coast of Santa Barbara, California to determine whether this information can be used to study historical climate change. For more information, www.deepearthacademy.org

    Grades: 6-8, 9-12

  • Wanted: Dead and Well-Preserved. . .Mohawk Guy and his Band of Neogene Planktic Foraminifer Friends

    / Deep Earth Academy/Constortium for Ocean Leadership

    Students use foram “bio cards” to read and interpret authentic scientific data and build a graphic representation to unlock ancient history stored within sediment cores from the western equatorial Pacific. For more information: www.deepearthacademy.org

    Grades: 6-8, 9-12

  • It’s Not Just the Core that Tells the Hole Story: An introduction to Downhole Logging Technology

    / Deep Earth Academy/Consotrium for Ocean leadership

    Students read about “down-hole logging” technology, in which instruments are lowered from the drilling ship into the hole after cores have been removed to measure physical properties that reveal more about sea floor sediments and rocks. They then examine sample logs to note patterns and interpret the data. For more information: www.deepearthacademy.org

    Grades: 6-8, 9-12

  • It’s Sedimentary, My Dear Watson

    / Deep Earth Academy/Consortium for Ocean Leadership

    In this introductory activity, students analyze core sample data to identify sediment composition on the ocean floor. They use Google Earth to make their own qualitative observations that help them determine the types of sediments that make up the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. For more information, www.deepearthacademy.org

    Grades: 6-8

  • Wave Size and Depth

    Southeast Coastal Ocean Observing Regional Association /

    Students investigate the relationship between the size of the wave and depth to which the effects of its energy can be observed. For more information: http://secoora.org and http://secoora.org/classroom/virtual_wave/wave_size_depth .

    Grades: 6-8

  • Loop Current of the Gulf of Mexico

    / COSEE-Central Gulf of Mexico

    This activity can be used for the study of currents with special attention on the Loop current of the Gulf of Mexico.

    For more information: http://cosee-central-gom.org.

    Grades: 6-8

  • Teaching Physical Science Through Oceanography

    / COSEE-Ocean Systems

    This supplement was developed for university level students, but can be adapted for middle and high school students. This supplement to Oceanography magazine focuses on educational approaches to help engage students in learning and offers a collection of hands-on/minds-on activities for teaching physical concepts that are fundamental in oceanography. These key concepts include density, pressure, buoyancy, heat and temperature, and gravity waves.

    For more information: http://cosee.umaine.edu .

    Grades: 9-12

  • Learning Ocean Science Through Ocean Exploration

    / NOAA Ocean Explorer

    A curriculum for teachers of Grades 6-12 that takes lesson plans that were developed for NOAA Voyages of Discovery and the Ocean Explorer Web Site and presents them in a comprehensive scope and sequence through subject area categories that cut across individual expeditions.

    For more information: http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov.

    Grades: 6-8, 9-12