Educators' Corner
Our Ocean Portal Educators’ Corner provides you with activities, lessons and educational resources to bring the ocean to life for your students. We have collected top resources from our collaborators to provide you with teacher-tested, ocean science materials for your classroom. We hope these resources, along with the rich experience of the Ocean Portal, will help you inspire the next generation of ocean stewards.
Featured Lesson Plans
Keeping Watch on Coral Reefs
Students learn why coral reefs are important, and what can be done to protect them from major threats.
Long Live the Sharks and Rays
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.
Focus on Farmer Fish
In this two part lesson, students gain a deeper understanding of the relationship between environmental factors and organism adaptations through a focused study on a specific coral reef denizen—the personable farmerfish. Students first take part in an interactive PowerPoint presentation to gain background knowledge and then apply learned concepts by participating in a board game.
Search Lesson Plans
Find lessons/activities by topic, title or grade levels. Sort by newest or alphabetically. Lessons were developed by ocean science and education organizations like NOAA, COSEE, and NMEA to help you bring the ocean to your classroom.
Grade Level
Lesson Subject
Life of a Coral Reef Fish
COSEE – Central Gulf of Mexico
To synthesize a lesson on coral reefs, students write first person narratives as though they were reef organisms including their daily lives and the threats facing themselves and their communities.
Caribbean Coral Reef and Climate Case Study
NOAA Ocean Service
Through a case study and related activities, students learn where coral reefs are found and what conditions are necessary for their survival.
Coral Conservation
NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program
Students will learn about the natural and human threats to coral reefs including destructive fishing practices.
Who Has the Data?
NOAA Ocean Service
Students learn what types of data scientists collect to monitor coral reefs, and how these data are used.
Keeping Watch on Coral Reefs
NOAA Ocean Service
Students learn why coral reefs are important, and what can be done to protect them from major threats.
A Reef of Your Own
NOAA Ocean Service
Students learn what physiological, ecological, and behavioral strategies contribute to the success of reef-building corals.
Caution! Do Not Bleach
NOAA Ocean Service
Students learn why coral reefs are important, and what possible explanations are for the phenomenon known as coral bleaching.
Sharks: Setting the Record Straight
NOAA
Often mislabeled as man-eaters, sharks prefer to eat creatures in the sea. Students learn about how different sharks play different roles in a food web.
Shark!
Sea World Education
Students explore the natural history of sharks and recognize that humans are an interconnected part of sharks’ ecosystems.
Long Live the Sharks and Rays
Discovery
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.