|
These activities take between one and three hours to perform (not including setup and cleanup)
|
Causes and Effects of Melting Ice
|
This activity introduces the concept of density-driven currents (thermohaline circulation) and
how they are affected by climate change. Participants use colored ice cubes, water, and salt
to explore density as it relates to salinity, leading to an understanding of the impact of glacial
melt on sea level rise. |
| Subject: Ocean Physics |
Grade: 5 to adult |
Duration: 30 - 120 min |
| Ocean Literacy Principle: #1, #2, #6 |
|
Getting the Big Picture:
Reading the Ocean Stories Satellites Tell
|
Students learn how satellite images can be used to learn about ocean conditions and phytoplankton
and learn to generate questions about ocean conditions, processes, and life. |
| Subject: Ocean Physics, Ocean Biology,
Ocean Chemistry, Inquiry |
Grade: 6 - 12 |
Duration: 1 to 3 x 50 min |
| Ocean Literacy Principle: #3, #5, #7 |
|
Growing Up in the Ocean
|
This activity introduces students to the complex life cycles of common marine invertebrates and
allows students to compare and contrast body plans while learning about adaptations that larvae
and adults have made to their respective habitats. Throughout the lesson, students practice skills
important for scientific inquiry: making observations, drawing what they see, asking and answering
questions, and learning to use scientific tools such as microscopes. |
| Subject: Ocean Biology, Inquiry |
Grade: 3 - 6 |
Duration: 2 x 45 min / 90 min |
| Ocean Literacy Principle: #5 |
|
Improving Oil
Spill Response: Plotting the Currents in Prince William Sound
|
Students find and use data from the Alaska Ocean Observing System (AOOS) to plot the tracks of
drifters used by scientists as real-time data to compare with computer predictions during a field
experiment to test a circulation model for Prince William Sound, Alaska. They apply their knowledge
to predicting the path of an oil spill and search & rescue. |
| Subject: Ocean Physics, Ocean Chemistry, Human Impact |
Grade: 6 - 8 |
Duration: 3 x 45 mins |
| Ocean Literacy Principle: #1, #7 |
|
My Place in Puget Sound
|
In this investigative questions curriculum, students explore the relationship between their
everyday practices and chemicals in the local waters. |
| Subject: Ocean Chemistry, Human Impact |
Grade: 7 - 8 |
Duration: 2 x 50 min |
| Ocean Literacy Principle: #1, #6 |
|
Plankton Races
|
Students learn about buoyancy, density and surface area. Students also learn about biodiversity
and the relationship between the structure and function of organisms. |
| Subject: Ocean Physics, Ocean Biology |
Grade: 4 - 8 |
Duration: 45 - 90 min |
| Ocean Literacy Principle: #5 |
|
Teaching Physical
Concepts in Oceanography - Chapter 1: DENSITY
|
|
Density is a fundamental property of matter. Many processes are caused by or reflect differences in
the densities of adjacent water masses or differences in densities between fluids and solids.
The following set of activities is designed to review density, practice density calculations,
and highlight links to oceanic processes. |
|
|
| Subject: Ocean Physics |
Grade: 7 - 12 |
Duration: approximately 20 min each |
|
Teaching Physical
Concepts in Oceanography - Chapter 2: PRESSURE
|
|
This chapter contains a series of activities that allows students to examine pressure from different
angles. The significance of concepts such as hydrostatic pressure, compressibility of gases under
pressure (i.e., Boyle’s Law), and pressure in moving fluids (i.e., Bernoulli’s Principle) to processes
in the ocean is emphasized. |
|
|
| Subject: Ocean Physics |
Grade: 7 - 12 |
Duration: approximately 20 min each |
|
Teaching Physical
Concepts in Oceanography - Chapter 3: BUOYANCY
|
|
This set of activities is designed to help students better understand the underlying principles of
buoyancy. Research conducted at the University of Washington found that many science and engineering
majors lacked an understanding of buoyancy and were not able to predict or explain the floating and
sinking behaviors of different objects (Loverude et al., 2003). |
|
|
| Subject: Ocean Physics |
Grade: 7 - 12 |
Duration: approximately 20 min each |
|
Teaching Physical
Concepts in Oceanography - Chapter 4: HEAT &
TEMPERATURE
|
|
The purpose of this set of activities is to review basic concepts of thermal physics and to highlight
applications to ocean processes. It is recommended that these laboratory activities be completed over
two class periods. |
|
|
| Subject: Ocean Physics |
Grade: 7 - 12 |
Duration: approximately 20 min each |
|
Teaching Physical
Concepts in Oceanography - Chapter 5: GRAVITY WAVES
|
|
The purpose of these activities are to familiarize students with wave motion in general and gravity waves
in particular. Concepts such as resonance, natural frequency, and seiche are demonstrated. Other topics
that are emphasized during class discussion are measurements and their statistics, and dimensional
analysis. |
|
|
| Subject: Ocean Physics |
Grade: 7 - 12 |
Duration: approximately 20 min each |
|
What is in the Water?
|
Students will use open inquiry to learn about
the process of science as well as gain experience regarding the Law of Conservation of Mass, dissolution,
and density. |
| Subject: Ocean Physics, Ocean Chemistry, Inquiry |
Grade: 4 - 8 |
Duration: 45 - 90 min |
| Ocean Literacy Principle: #1, #6 |
|
What is Light?
|
This activity explores proprieties of light that
occur within marine ecosystems - incandescence, fluorescence, phosphorescence, and chemo-luminescence
- using light sticks, flashlights, fluorescent markers and stickers, and Pyrocystis
fusiformis dinoflagellate culture. |
| Subject: Ocean Physics, Ocean Biology, Ocean Chemistry |
Grade: 6 - 8 |
Duration: 60 - 90 min |
| Ocean Literacy Principle: #5 |
