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.
Fossil Forams and the Scientific Process
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.
Frozen Out
NOAA Ocean Explorer
Students explain the concepts of indicator species and microhabitats. Students compare and contrast “average regional conditions” with “site-specific conditions.” Students explain at least three examples of the impacts of climate change on top predators in the Arctic.
Game of Life
NOAA National Marine Sanctuaries Program
The goal of this game is to illustrate to the students what happens to a fish stock when large amounts of biomass are removed from a particular species. Students learn about over-fishing and its impact on the ocean.
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.
Head to Foot
NOAA
The lesson begins with a broader introduction on new species discovered around seamounts, then narrows down through mollusks to focus on squids. Students research and write reports on squids covering their body forms, feeding behavior, movement, and interesting facts.
How to Catch a Fish
PBS – Jean Michel Cousteau Ocean Adventures
After an introduction to the variety of current fishing methods, students learn through an activity about the problem of bycatch and then design a poster or PSA to educate others about the issue.
Hydrothermal Vent Food Web
DEEPEND
Students will make a food web diagram of the hydrothermal vent community and show the flow of energy and materials in this ecosystem.
I, Robot, Can Do That
NOAA Ocean Explorer
Students describe and contrast three types of underwater robots. Students discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using robots in the exploration of the ocean. Students identify a robotic vehicle that best suits a specific exploration task.
In Search of the Giant Squid
Smithsonian Institution
In this series of lessons, worksheets, and activities, students will get acquainted with the habits, biology, and range of the giant squid. Students will understand the challenges in finding a “relatively small” giant squid within a vast and deep habitat and will also learn about the ever-improving technological resources needed to find a live giant squid.
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.