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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

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.

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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.

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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

The Great Plankton Race

DEEP-C

Students use a variety of materials to construct various models of plankton to gain an understanding of neutral buoyancy.

K-2 3-5 6-8

What a Day for Ocean Microbes

NOAA
For most of us, the term “marine organism” brings to mind images of fishes, coral reefs, marine mammals, or other animals that are easy to see with the naked eye. Yet, 98% of the biomass in Earth’s ocean and most of its biological activity is provided by marine microbes— organisms that are exceedingly small, less than a few thousandths of a millimeter. Scientists conducted a global survey of marine microbes species in 2014 called Ocean Sampling Day. This lesson plan includes a marine microbe activity and a simulation of the activities conducted in the 2014 survey.
6-8 9-12

What Drives Ocean Currents?

DEEP-C

Students will gain an understanding of how water density and salinity affect ocean currents in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico by modeling a layered ocean.

6-8

What is a Coral Reef? Middle School

Moorea Coral Reef LTER Education

Students will gain an understanding of the basic components of a coral reef ecosystem, with emphasis on specific abiotic and biotic factors crucial to reef health and trophic level relationships among key organisms. Also included in the lesson is an opportunity for students to learn about traditional, Polynesian culture and the native uses of coral reef resources. This is accomplished through a PowerPoint presentation with corresponding student note-taking guide and several short critical thinking group work opportunities throughout the lesson.

6-8