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LESSON PLANS AND ACTIVITIES

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  • 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

  • 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

  • Polar Regions: Arctic Adaptations and Global Impacts

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    This lesson uses the habitat of the Beaufort Sea and other Arctic communities as examples of Ocean Literacy Principles #5 and #6. Students will learn about the adaptive capabilities of animals and people living in these environments. Students will look at recent climate changes, study the effects of global warming on polar regions such as the Beaufort Sea area, and ultimately understand the interconnectedness of life in these regions with life around the world.

    Grades: 6-8

  • Global Warming Wheel Card Activity

    EPA / Environmental Protection Agency

    Students will be introduced to the concept of climate change and the greenhouse effect. Students will learn the common sources of greenhouse gas emissions that humans generate. Students will create a Global Warming Wheel Card which will enable them to see how their own actions generate greenhouse gas emissions and contribute to global warming. Students will learn ways that they might reduce their individual, family, school and community’s production of these gases. For more information:

    Grades: 6-8

  • What is El Nino?

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    This activity explores the potential for climate variability and change to trigger more frequent occurrences of El Nino, and the impacts that could result. Students will access information at remote sites using telecommunications. Students will identify impacts by reviewing past El Nino events. Students will analyze the data collected and predict what the consequences could be if, as some scientists predict, climate variability and change could create a permanent El Nino.

    Grades: 6-8, 9-12

  • The Global Climate Game

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    This group game is designed to help students explore the various aspects of global climate and to learn how human activity may affect climate. Student groups will be responsible for making decisions about activities that may impact global climate. Students will be able to identify the various human impacts on the environment. Students will be able to explain how lifestyles may be altered to become more favorable to the environment. Students will examine the role of individual decisions and their impact on the natural environment.

    Grades: 6-8

  • Climate Change Metaphors

    / Wild BC

    Students will use and describe how a variety of objects provide metaphors for why climate change is occurring and the impacts resulting from it. Students will demonstrate the ability to interpret metaphors, describe the factors contributing to climate change and make connections between human behavior and environmental changes. For more information: http://wildbc.org/index.php/programs/climate-change-education/

    Grades: 3-5, 6-8

  • Is Climate Change Good For Us?

    / Wild BC

    In this activity students are encouraged to consider how climate change could impact them personally and how changes may affect their regions. Students will analyze the roles of organisms as part of interconnected food webs, populations, communities, and ecosystems, assess survival needs and interactions between organisms and the environment, assess the requirements for sustaining healthy local ecosystems evaluate human impacts on local ecosystems. For more information: http://wildbc.org/index.php/programs/climate-change-education/

    Grades: 6-8

  • Global Climate Change and Sea Level Rise

    / California Academy of Sciences

    Students will learn via experimentation that ice formations on land will cause a rise in sea level when they melt, whereas ice formations on water will not cause a rise in sea level when they melt. Students will learn that ice is less dense than water and that ice displaces water equal to the mass of the ice. For more information: http://www.calacademy.org/teachers/

    Grades: 3-5, 6-8

  • Self Contained Gulf Oil Spill Kit

    Cynthia Cudaback / The Ocean and You

    A kit you can create to help your students understand the impacts of the Gulf Of Mexico oil spill. Easily contained in a box so clean up is easy...as compared to oil spills in real life! For more information, please see http://OceanAndYou.com

    Grades: 3-5, 6-8, 9-12

  • Prince William's Oily Mess - A Tale of Recovery

    / NOAA Ocean Service Education

    How does an ecosystem recover from a major one-time insult such as an oil spill?

    As you will learn from this Discovery Story, the answer is not simple. It isn't easy to determine whether a particular area of shoreline has recovered from oiling during a spill, or how to expect it to look when it has.

    This lesson includes links to many other oil related lesson plans. For more about NOAA Ocean Service Education, see here: http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/education/welcome.html

    Grades: 6-8, 9-12

  • BioBlitz Organizational Guide

    / Connecticut State Museum of Natural History at UCONN

    Learn all about BioBlitz and how to organize one for your school. Includes a checklist and schedule.

    For more information: http://www.cac.uconn.edu/mnhhome.html
    http://web2.uconn.edu/mnh/bioblitz/

    Grades: 3-5, 6-8, 9-12

  • Be a Scientist

    / Monterey Bay Aquarium

    Learn how scientists collect field data by being a scientist yourself! By studying a specific ecosystem, students learn how different scientists work together, what kinds of data scientists record, and experience the scientific process through observation and data collection.
    For more information: http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/

    Grades: 6-8, 9-12

  • Field Investigations: Using Outdoor Environments to Foster Student Learning of Scientific Processes

    / Texas Parks and Wildlife

    This extensive guide has everything you need to know for conducting field studies with your students, especially the methods used for scientific field research. Included: why field study is important; preparing students for field investigations; and using data to help identify patterns and relationships.
    For more information: http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/

    Grades: 6-8, 9-12

  • Introduction to Latitude and Longitude

    / National Geographic Xpeditions

    This lesson introduces students to latitude and longitude. They will look at lines of latitude and longitude on a United States map and discuss the reasons why these lines are helpful. Students will also discuss the ways that temperatures vary with latitude and will explain the clothes they might wear at specific latitudes.
    For more information: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/

    Grades: K-2