Curated OER
Friend, Foe, or . . .
As a result of this lesson, upper elementary ocean explorers will be able to describe several interrelationships: symbiosis, mutualism, commensalism, and parasitism. They learn that the biological richness is increased near seamounts and...
Curated OER
Top to Bottom
Marine science classes read about the 2005 North Atlantic Stepping Stones Expedition and review climate change. They use maps to locate the seamount chains. In collaborative groups, they research how climate change may be altering the...
Curated OER
Wreck Detectives
Junior archaeologists examine types of artifacts from the Bronze Age on the internet. In collaborative groups, they create a story about a ship from this period and then construct a model of the ocean floor after their ship has sunk....
NOAA
A Matter of Density
Larvae transportation on the New England seamounts is based on the density of the water. Scholars calculate density and graph salinity versus temperature to better understand the distribution of organisms in a water column. Discussions...
Curated OER
Bering Sea Buffet - A Foodweb Activity
Life in the Bering Sea, food webs, and the ocean ecosystem are introduced with a map activity. The lesson starts as kids explore maps and images of the Bering Sea, then it kicks into high gear as they start to discuss the types of...
Curated OER
Journey To the Unkown
Students explore the ocean rift habitat off the Galapagos through an audio expedition, Internet research on deep sea animals, an explorer game and simulation of the exploration of the deep sea bottom. They focus on the actual NOAA...
Curated OER
2005 Submarine Ring of Fire Expedition: What's for Dinner?
Young scholars compare and contrast photosynthesis and chemosynthesis as sources of primary production for biological communities, and describe sources of primary production observed in biological communities associated with volcanoes of...
Curated OER
Uncharted Territory
Students examine what were preconceived perceptions of the areas Lewis and Clark explored. They compare and contrast past and modern maps of North America. They accurately place route and site information on the map.
Curated OER
The Good, The Bad and The Arctic
Students examine the impact of a major climate change in the Arctic Ocean on the rest of the world. They use the Internet to research the Arctic region and the wildlife that lives there.
Curated OER
Hydrothermal Vent Challenge
Young scholars discover common features of hydrothermal vent fluids. They use this knowledge to locate possible undiscovered hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor.
Curated OER
Cutt-Off Genes
Students explore how gene sequence analysis can be used to examine phylogenetic similarities of different organisms. Students work in groups to simulate a gel electrophoresis separation of fragments using poster board to create their gel.
Curated OER
Big Enough?
Students explore the concept of density and buoyancy. In this physics lesson, students discover the different factors that affect an object's density and buoyancy in water. Students conduct several investigations to further understand...
Curated OER
An Oceanographic Proxy
Students conduct experiments on a sample of sea water. In this oceanography lesson, students inquire how conductivity is used to approximate the salinity ocean water. Students construct their own conductivity meters and test solutions...
NOAA
Where There's Smoke, There's ...
A remotely operated vehicle approaching a volcano was engulfed by molten sulfur where the plumes of fluids contained the highest concentrations of aluminum ever recorded. This isn't science fiction or an April fools joke, though it did...
NOAA
Where Have All the Glaciers Gone?
What happens when ice melts? Well ... water happens. When that melting ice is a glacier, the amount of water that results produces change throughout the world. Middle school science sleuths uncover the truth about global warming, the...
Curated OER
Getting to the Bottom
Students identify taxa in Arctic benthic communities. They discover organisms that live in these Arctic areas. They analyze data compiled for the Canada Basin Benthic Samples, 2002.
Curated OER
Submersible Designer
Students work in groups to design, build, and test a submersible prototype. In this engineering lesson, students learn about the importance and design of submersible vessels and apply their knowledge by building one of their own. They...
Curated OER
This Old Tubeworm
Students plot data to construct and interpret a graph about vestimentiferans at cold-seep sites in the Gulf of Mexico. In this deep sea lesson, students plot data provided for the growth of tubeworms. They use the graphs to determine...
Curated OER
Kure Waste Chase Game Lesson
Students work together to identify marine debris. They explain the effect of the debris on various ecosystems. They draw different types of ocean currents as well.
Curated OER
Living Light
Students explain bioluminescence. In this life science lesson, students discuss bioluminescence and conjure examples of organisms that carry this trait and how it is useful in their environment.
Curated OER
Molecular Explorations
Students explain the processes for separating DNA from tissue and separating complex mixtures. For this exploratory lesson students complete a lab where they extract DNA.
Curated OER
Magellan and Coronado
The best part of elementary school is learning about the explorers. Take your 5th graders on a quick trip with European explorers Coronado and Magellan. Described here are their routes, personal histories, and encounters in the New...
NOAA
Deep-Sea Ecosystems – Life is Weird!
A pool of brine in the deep sea can be up to four times as salty as the surrounding sea water. The deep sea ecosystem relies on chemosynthesis and the organisms that live there are often strange to us. The lesson focuses on researching...
NOAA
Importance of Deep-Sea Ecosystems – How Diverse is That?
When judging diversity of an ecosystem, both species evenness and species richness must contribute. After a discussion of diversity and a guided example using the Shannon-Weaver function, scholars use the same function on two other...