You are here: / Resources

Observing Estuaries

Introduction—Observing Estuaries

Summary: Students will investigate landforms and features associated with estuaries. They will then use Google Earth and other resources to engage in a scavenger hunt to locate and identify said estuarine landforms and features.

Concepts to teach: Habitats and Species; Landforms; Estuaries

Goals: Students will learn what an estuary is and the various features and landforms that are present in such systems.

Standards:
H.2L.2, H.2E.4

Specific Objectives: Students will:

  1. Describe differences between upland non-estuarine and estuarine landforms and features.
  2. Visually identify and describe various landforms and features including salt marshes, barrier beaches, peninsulas, headlands, spits, mud flats, fjords, deltas, coves, harbors, sounds, and others.

Activity Links and Resources:

Assessment:

  • See the Check for Understanding section of the Estuary Education lesson plan.
/by

Ocean Acidification

Impacts—Ocean Acidification

Summary: The ocean is becoming more acidic because of carbon dioxide emissions. The change threatens the health marine organisms that depend on available calcium carbonate to make their shells. In this topic guide, students use models and real data to explore the relationship between atmospheric CO2 and ocean pH, and the impacts that pH changes have on marine organisms.

Concepts to teach:

Goals:

  1. Increased levels of atmospheric CO2 leads to a decrease in ocean pH
  2. Ocean acidification leads to decreased amounts of available calcium carbonate that many marine organisms need to make their shells
  3. Scientists use data to create models that forecast future conditions

Standards: NGSS Performance Expectations

  • MS-LS2-3. Develop a model to describe the cycling of matter and flow of energy among living and nonliving parts of an ecosystem.

Specific Objectives:
Students will be able to:

  1. Use data to describe the process and driving factor behind ocean acidification
  2. Use online tools to recreate climate change model scenarios and examine effects of increased CO2 on ocean acidity and carbonate saturation levels
  3. Identify expected future impacts of ocean acidification on marine organisms and ecosystems

Activity Links and Resources:

  • Changing Ocean Chemistry – Created in 2019, this high school level curriculum focuses on OA’s causes, impacts, and solutions.
  • Understanding Ocean Acidification from Data in the Classroom —Revised in 2019, this high school level curriculum uses NOAA data to help students learn about ocean acidification.
    • Level 1 Explore NOAA data to understand patterns and relationships that explain variation in ocean pH
    • Levels 2-4 helps students use NOAA data to explore the impacts of ocean acidification
  • The NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program has an OA educational resource page that includes  online interactives, lessons for high school students, and a K-5 Project WET booklet.
  • Ocean Acidification Lab from WHOI and OA Subcommittee, Ocean Carbon and Biogeochemistry Program—These classroom activities are designed to help students understand the science behind ocean acidification.
    dioxide released from the burning of fossil fuels increases the acidity of the ocean
  • Virtual Urchin: Our Acidifying Ocean—With this interactive online laboratory experiment, students discover the effects of acidified sea water on sea urchin larval growth
  • Multimedia Resources about Ocean Acidification
  • Activity: Water Properties: pH —This USGS Water Science School page describes how students can collect their own pH data in the field. Visit a marine or aquatic area in your watershed and measure the pH of the water. What equipment will you use? What pH do you expect to find?
    • StreamWebs is a student stewardship online network that provides tutorials and data sheets for measuring DO, access to Vernier equipment, and a platform for sharing and obtaining data throughout the state.

Assessment:

  • The Data in the Classroom resource includes assessment components, including
    • Check for Understanding interactive questions at the end of Levels 1, 2, and 4
    • The Teacher Guide contains detailed questioning strategies, student worksheets and answer keys
    • Level 5 in the Data in the Classroom unit challenges students to come up with their own hypothesis about ocean acidification and then look for NOAA data that will support or reject that hypothesis.
/by
,

Ocean Acidification

Impacts—Ocean Acidification

Summary: The ocean is becoming more acidic because of carbon dioxide emissions. The change threatens the health marine organisms that depend on available calcium carbonate to make their shells. In this topic guide, students use models and real data to explore the relationship between atmospheric CO2 and ocean pH, and the impacts that pH changes have on marine organisms.

Concepts to teach:

Goals:

  1. Increased levels of atmospheric CO2 leads to a decrease in ocean pH
  2. Ocean acidification leads to decreased amounts of available calcium carbonate that many marine organisms need to make their shells
  3. Scientists use data to create models that forecast future conditions

Standards: NGSS Performance Expectations

  • HS-ESS3-6. Use a computational representation to illustrate the relationships among Earth systems and how those relationships are being modified due to human activity

Specific Objectives:
Students will be able to:

  1. Use data to describe the process and driving factor behind ocean acidification
  2. Use online tools to recreate climate change model scenarios and examine effects of increased CO2 on ocean acidity and carbonate saturation levels
  3. Identify expected future impacts of ocean acidification on marine organisms and ecosystems

Activity Links and Resources:

  • Changing Ocean Chemistry Curriculum from Oregon Sea Grant – This 2019 resource includes five lessons to define and characterize OA is and its impacts, and describes what students can do to reduce the problem of OA.
  • On June 10, 2019, the Oregon Coordinating Council on Ocean Acidification and Hypoxia (OAH) released the Oregon’s DRAFT Ocean Acidification and Hypoxia Action Plan
  • Understanding Ocean Acidification from Data in the Classroom —Revised in 2019, this high school level curriculum uses NOAA data to help students learn about ocean acidification.
    • Level 1 Explore NOAA data to understand patterns and relationships that explain variation in ocean pH
    • Levels 2-4 helps students use NOAA data to explore the impacts of ocean acidification
  • The Power of pH: Changing Ocean Chemistry from Monterey Bay Aquarium – Review what pH is and how CO2 released from the burning of fossil fuels increases the acidity of the ocean
  • Virtual Urchin: Our Acidifying Ocean—With this interactive online laboratory experiment, students discover the effects of acidified sea water on sea urchin larval growth
  • Multimedia Resources about Ocean Acidification
    • Ocean Acidification—Short animation from North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher introduces effects of OA on ecological interactions
    • This pH infographic summarizes findings from the Ocean Acidification Summary for Policy Makers 2013

Assessment:

  • The Data in the Classroom resource includes assessment components, including
    • Check for Understanding interactive questions at the end of Levels 1, 2, and 4
    • The Teacher Guide contains detailed questioning strategies, student worksheets and answer keys
    • Level 5 in the Data in the Classroom unit challenges students to come up with their own hypothesis about ocean acidification and then look for NOAA data that will support or reject that hypothesis.
/by

Ocean Animal Adaptations

Coastal Habitats & Species—Ocean Animal Adaptations

Summary: This topic guide focuses on classroom and field trip activities that show students that the ocean is home to a variety of animal species, and each has structural and behavioral adaptations that help it survive in marine ecosystems.

Concepts to teach: Adaptation, marine ecosystems, evolution

Goals: The ocean supports a great diversity of life.
Animal species are adapted to environments.

Standards:
3.3S.2, 4.2L.1, 43S.2, 4.2L.1, 5.2L.1

Specific Objectives:

  1. Students identify the major natural history characteristics of a marine animal.
  2. Students describe four body structures and two behavioral characteristics of an organism that help it survive in a marine habitat.
  3. Students share their finding with others through an oral or written presentation.

Activity Links and Resources:

Assessment:

  • Students prepare a report on their findings of a particular marine animal, in which basic natural history characteristics are described and structural and behavioral adaptations identified.
  • Compare and contrast a marine organism with a terrestrial organism using a Venn diagram.
/by

Ocean Animal Adaptations

Coastal Habitats & Species—Ocean Animal Adaptations

Summary: The ocean is home to a variety of animal species, and each has structural and behavioral adaptations that allow for survival in marine ecosystems.

Concepts to teach: Adaptation, marine ecosystems, evolution

Goals: The ocean supports a great diversity of life.
Animal species are adapted to environments.

Standards:
6.2L.2, 8.2L.1

Specific Objectives:

  1. Students identify the major natural history characteristics of a marine animal.
  2. Students describe four body structures and 2 behavioral characteristics of a the organism which help it survive in a marine habitat.
  3. Students share their finding with others through an oral or written presentation.

Activity Links and Resources:

  • Jean-Michel Cousteau Ocean Adventures lessons from PBS KQED – This website offers a variety of lesson plans focused on adaptations of marine animals such as sharks, dolphins, orcas, seabirds and invertebrates including:
    • Inside-out Adaptations—Students learn about the unique adaptations of sea stars and then research and develop a presentation on the adaptations of two other organisms
  • The Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport offers on-site lab classes, outreach programs, and classroom lesson plans for Grades 6-8 including:
    • Ocean Commotion (6-8)—Students investigate marine invertebrates from four phyla and how they’ve adapted to this rough-and-tumble environment.
    • Supporting materials for Ocean Commotion
  • Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport has a variety of on-site lab and field classes for grades 6-8, including:
    • Animal Adaptations—Adaptations of invertebrates living in tidepools, sandy beaches and estuaries
    • Squid Dissection—Anatomical and behavioral adaptations of cephalopods.

Assessment:

  • Students prepare a report on their findings of a particular marine animal, in which basic natural history characteristics are described and structural and behavioral adaptations identified.
  • Compare and contrast a marine organism with a terrestrial organism using a Venn diagram.
/by
,

Ocean Circulation

Science Concepts—Ocean Circulation

Summary: Ocean currents redistribute heat around the world and affect the world’s climate. Thermohaline circulation (THC) is a system of both surface and deep currents that transports water through all ocean basins. Complex interactions between wind, the rotation of the earth, temperature and density drives ocean currents and affect weather and climate. In this topic guide, students learn about some of the driving factors behind ocean circulation, and use a model to describe how ocean circulation affects Earth’s climate.

Concepts to teach:

Goals:

  1. The ocean plays a major role in regulating the weather and climate of the planet
  2. Wind and rotation of the earth drive surface currents
  3. Temperature and density drive deep the global conveyor belt or Thermohaline Currents (THC)

Standards:

Specific Objectives:
Students will be able to:

  1. Identify major ocean current systems and describe how they affect climate in various parts of the globe.
  2. Give an example of how sea surface temperature affects weather on land
  3. Describe factors that could disrupt the Global Conveyor Belt (THC).

Activity Links and Resources:

  • Ocean Conveyor Belt Kit from C-MORE—These hands on and computer based experiments introduce fundamental oceanography concepts. All the lesson plans and slide shows that come with these kits are available for download from the C-MORE website. Additionally, educators who are near a participating lending facility can check out a kit to use in the classroom.
    • Lesson One—Water Stratification
    • Lesson Two—Deep Ocean Circulation
    • Lesson Three—Using Data to Explore Ocean Processes
    • Lesson Four—Nutrients and Ocean Circulation
  • NOAA Multimedia Discovery Mission Lesson 8: Ocean Currents
    • The Video Lesson provides narrated animations describing surface currents and deep ocean currents, and the Global Impact sections describes how increased ice melt in the Arctic could slow deep ocean circulation.
  • Online image: Major Ocean Currents viewer from NOAA National Weather Service JetStream webpages

Assessment:

  • The C-MORE Ocean Conveyor Belt kit includes pre and post assessments
/by

Ocean Observation

Introduction—Ocean Observation

Summary: This activity will help familiarize students with methods scientists use to study the coastal ocean in the Pacific Northwest, and will encourage them to pose and investigate their own questions about the ocean.

Concepts to teach: Physical and Earth Science, Inquiry

Goals: To show students how technology enables scientists to study local and global ocean characteristics.

Standards:
6.3S.1, 6.4D.2, 7.3S.1, 7.4D.2, 7.4D.3, 8.3S.1, 8.3S.3, 8.4D.1

Specific Objectives:

  1. Students will be able to describe the various methods used by NANOOS researchers to study ocean characteristics, events, and ecology
  2. Students apply information found on the NANOOS Web Portal to answer questions.

Activity Links and Resources:

Assessment:

  • Assessments included in the NANOOS lesson plan and OCEP summary.
/by

Ocean Observation

Introduction—Ocean Observation

Summary: This activity will help familiarize students with methods scientists use to study the coastal ocean in the Pacific Northwest, and will encourage them to pose and investigate their own questions about the ocean.

Concepts to teach: Physical and Earth Science, Inquiry

Goals: To show students how technology enables scientists to study local and global ocean characteristics.

Standards:
H.3S.1, H.3S.2, H.3S.5, H.4D.4, H.4D.5

Specific Objectives:

  1. Students will be able to describe the various methods used by NANOOS researchers to study ocean characteristics, events, and ecology
  2. Students apply information found on the NANOOS Web Portal to answer questions.

Activity Links and Resources:

Assessment:

  • Assessments included in the NANOOS lesson plan and OCEP summary.
/by

Ocean Temperature

Science Concepts—Ocean Temperature

Summary: When displayed on a map, sea surface temperature (SST) measurements from the ocean help scientists see patterns in global sea surface temperature changes. Students watch and interpret an animation that shows temperatures varying according to season. Then they use a similar map to visualize temperature anomalies. Students practice reading and interpreting maps and charts to identify patterns, and they describe how patterns in data help scientists understand when new changes are occurring.

Concepts to teach:

Goals:

  1. Scientists have been measuring ocean sea surface temperature for many years.
  2. Sea surface temperature normally varies according to latitude and season.
  3. By examining long-term datasets, scientists can detect changes that differ from normal patterns.

Standards: NGSS Performance Expectations

  • 3-ESS2-2. Obtain and combine information to describe climates in different regions of the world.

Specific Objectives:
Students will be able to:

  1. Identify factors that produce normal patterns of variability in ocean temperatures.
  2. Interpret a map that shows how sea surface temperatures vary over time.
  3. Obtain and evaluate information showing that ocean heat content is rising.

Activity Links and Resources:

  • NASA’s Global Temperature Anomalies visualization 1880-2018
  • What are today’s SST conditions? Check the earth.nullschool website for a visualization of global weather conditions forecast by supercomputers (updated every 3 hours)
  • EPA’s Ocean Heat Content—Ocean heat is an indicator for climate change. This page describes trends in the amount of heat stored in the world’s oceans between 1955 and 2015.

Assessment:

  • What do the colors in the “Anomalies” animation and the SST map indicate?
  • What are today’s SST conditions?
  • The EPA’s Ocean Heat Content graphic plots three different datasets on the graph. How does looking at results from more than one set of data help scientists understand patterns?

 

RETIRED LINK:

  • NOAA’s Global Science Investigator—Use false color images to examine patterns in sea surface temperatures. The Sea Surface Temperature animation can be used to determine normal seasonal variations 2000–2006, while the Sea Surface Temperature Anomalies animation shows temperatures that differ from normal patterns 1980–1999.
/by

Ocean Temperature

Science Concepts—Ocean Temperature

Summary: Water has a much higher heat capacity than air, and the ocean absorbs 90% of the heat energy trapped by greenhouse gases. As the planet warms, the amount of heat stored in the world’s oceans increases. This topic guide provides resources that support student learning about ocean heat capacity and how ocean heat is an indicator of climate change.

Concepts to teach:

Goals:

  1. The ocean absorbs heat from the atmosphere.
  2. Sea surface temperature normally varies according to season.
  3. Climate change is causing an increase in ocean heat content.

Standards: NGSS Performance Expectations

  • MS-PS3-4. Plan an investigation to determine the relationships among the energy transferred, the type of matter, the mass, and the change in the average kinetic energy of the particles as measured by the temperature of the sample.

Specific Objectives:
Students will be able to:

  1. Explain the difference between heat capacity of water and the heat capacity of air.
  2. Identify natural seasonal variability in ocean temperatures.
  3. Use data to demonstrate how ocean heat content is an indicator for climate change.

Activity Links and Resources:

  • Heat Capacity Demonstration video—Use the balloon experiment from the NASA/JPL Climate Kids to demonstrate the difference between heat capacity of air vs. water. Rather than show the video to the students, inject inquiry into the investigation by presenting the demonstration or lab to the students without introduction, and ask them to explain to each other what is happening. Solicit student suggestions for how they could modify the experiment to further test their ideas.
  • EPA’s Ocean Heat Content—Ocean heat is an indicator for climate change. This page describes trends in the amount of heat stored in the world’s oceans between 1955 and 2015.
  • What are today’s SST conditions? Check the earth.nullschool website for a visualization of global weather conditions forecast by supercomputers (updated every 3 hours)

Assessment:

  • Explain how the balloon model demonstrates the difference between the heat capacity of water vs. air.
  • The EPA’s Ocean Heat Content graphic plots three different datasets on the graph. How does looking at results from more than one set of data help scientists understand patterns?
  • Why is ocean heat increasing?
  • What are today’s SST conditions?
/by