Make connections between the physical characteristics of an environment and the organisms that inhabit it by having students engage in a kinetic game interpreting ocean temperature data while role playing a fish with specific physical water requirements in a game that simulates one year in time.
Using ocean data products, students will explore the relationship between seasons as we observe them on land and seasons in the ocean. Working in pairs or small groups, students will be challenged to explain the differences and similarities seen within the ocean data to their experiences with continental seasons.
Not only do physical characteristics of ocean water change over horizontal distance, they also change with depth. Students use a model simulating the three-dimensional aspects of the ocean to create a cross section of the water column. This is done to visually define the idea of a cross section, and to familiarize students with looking […]
Students will create water samples with different temperatures and salinities, and then compare their sample with a partner’s in a tank. Once they finish observing the behavior of their samples, they will make some density calculations and explain their observations in terms of density. Discuss as a group what effects changing properties such as temperature […]
Students are given information to plan a large exhibit scale aquarium with native species. They must keep in mind what water conditions, such as temperature and salinity, their preferred species require, the feeding habits of species, and the habitat preferences of their chosen fish in designing the tank. (A huge tank with only small benthic […]
This lesson introduces students to sea surface temperature data, as well as the concept of spatial resolution. Students work in groups to collect a limited number of “sea surface temperatures” from a simulated ocean. They discover patterns of sea surface temperature, along with challenges related to spatial resolution. Throughout the lesson, students are asked to […]
You too can use ocean observing system data despite teaching a standards-based curriculum!