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LESSON PLANS AND ACTIVITIES

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

  • Now You See Me, Now You Don’t

    / NOAA Ocean Explorer

    Students will be able to explain light in terms of electromagnetic waves and explain the relationship between color and wavelength; compare and contrast color related to wavelength with color perceived by biological vision systems; explain how color and light may be important to deep-sea organisms, even under conditions of near-total darkness; and predict the perceived color of objects when illuminated by light of certain wavelengths.

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

    Grades: 6-8

  • Let’s Make a Tubeworm

    / NOAA Ocean Explorer

    Students will be able to describe the process of chemosynthesis in general terms; to contrast chemosynthesis and photosynthesis; describe major features of cold seep communities; and list at least five organisms typical of these communities. Students will be able to define symbiosis; describe two examples of symbiosis in cold seep communities; describe the anatomy of vestimentiferans; and explain how tubeworms obtain their food. For more information http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov.

    Grades: 3-5, 6-8

  • The Methane Circus

    / NOAA Ocean Explorer

    Students will describe the overall events that occurred during the Cambrian Explosion; explain how methane hydrates may contribute to global warming; and describe the reasoning behind hypotheses that link methane hydrates with the Cambrian explosion.

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

    Grades: 6-8

  • Molecular Explorations

    / NOAA Ocean Service

    Students will be able to explain and carry out a simple process for separating DNA from tissue samples and complex mixtures. Students will also be able to explain the process of restriction enzyme analysis.

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

    Grades: 9-12

  • Mapping the Ocean Floor

    Stefanie Frump / COSEE-Central Gulf of Mexico

    After an introduction in which students try to identify hidden objects by the sounds they make when shaken in a box, students use string to map a model ocean floor by taking depth readings to simulate sonar.

    Grades: 3-5

  • Exploring Explorations

    / NOAA Ocean Service

    Students will describe human benefits that have resulted from explorations of the Earth’s deep oceans.

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

    Grades: 6-8, 9-12

  • Why Do We Explore the Ocean?

    / NOAA Ocean Explorer

    Students will be able to discuss why scientists believe there are important undiscovered features and processes in Earth’s ocean; discuss at least three motives that historically have driven human exploration; explain why ocean exploration is relevant to climate change; and discuss at least three benefits that might result from ocean exploration. For more information http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov.

    Grades: 3-5, 6-8, 9-12

  • 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

  • Long Live the Sharks and Rays

    / PBS Nature

    Students will learn about adaptations that have helped sharks and rays survive. Students will explore similarities and differences between sharks, rays and other fish and that different types of sharks and rays have different temperaments and diets and that some of the largest sharks and rays are the most gentle.

    For more information:
    http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature.

    Grades: 6-8

  • Shark!

    / Sea World Education

    Students explore the natural history of sharks and recognize that humans are an interconnected part of sharks’ ecosystems.

    For more information:
    http://seaworld.org

    Grades: 3-5, 6-8

  • Sharks: Setting the Record Straight

    / National Geographic Xpeditions

    Students read, discuss, and compare news reports of shark attacks with data and then design a television special to educate the public about sharks.

    For more information:
    http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/.

    Grades: 9-12

  • Are Great White Sharks As Dangerous As We Think They Are?

    / National Geographic Xpeditions

    Students discuss their existing thoughts on sharks and analyze a map of reported shark attacks. After viewing and discussing both a painting of a shark attack and an image of a researcher swimming with a bull shark, students do research to determine the real dangers posed by and to sharks.

    For more information:
    http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions

    Grades: 3-5

  • The Pros and Cons of Artificial Reefs

    / National Geographic Xpeditions

    Students make hypothetical lists of the pros and cons of artificial reefs and then revise them after reading an article and researching the topic.

    Grades: 9-12