Ocean Curriculum Catalogue

Environmental Educators! Looking for activities, lesson plans, science projects or marine species resources for the classroom? WORLD OCEAN Curriculum Catalog provides a comprehensive list of links to educational content, lesson plans, and educational activities for kindergarten through secondary programs.     

Aquarius - Sea Surface Salinity from Space
Their goal? To demonstrate how improved understanding of salinity-driven circulation – and its influence on climate and the water cycle – can benefit student learning. Their "Salinity Patterns & the Water Cycle" resources are aligned with the National Science Education Standards for Physical Science. Grades K - 12.

Aquarius Lesson Plans
This site includes lesson plans that have links to Aquarius science projects and the physics of underwater diving. Topics covered include diving, buoyancy, coral reefs, nutrients, underwater vehicles, concentration gradients, marine invertebrates, and fish populations.The lesson plans were developed for Grades 9-12 and address topics in the Life Sciences, Physical Science, Earth Science, Biology, and Chemistry.

Bridge: Sea Grant Ocean Sciences Education Center
Follow the red and green channel markers to Lesson Plans, Real-Time Data Sources and Activities, Teaching Tips and more! Find links to thousands of curriculum units and lesson plans on the web categorized by grade level and ocean science topic.

C.O.O.L Classroom
Providing lessons that integrate real research data and classroom activities. There are a number of different sections including movies, printable worksheets, career cards, and contests.

Carolina Coastal Science | Educator's Guide
Science resource that explores sciences in coastal Carolina. Based on the goals stated in the National Science Education Standards, this site has been designed specifically for an Environmental Science component of a primary and secondary science curricula. An educator’s guide is provided with a variety of teaching suggestions to incorporate this site into primary and secondary school classrooms.

CIESE Online Classroom Projects
From the Center for Improved Engineering and Science Education, this website can enhance your curriuclum with links to collaborative online projects, many of which focus on water and water quality, links to projects that use real-time data, and multidisciplinary projects.

CLEAN | Climate Literacy & Energy Awareness Network
A reviewed collection of educational resources coupled with the tools to enable an online community to share and discuss teaching about climate and energy science. Learn how you can build your students’ understanding of the core ideas in climate and energy science.

Climate & Weather
Free online weather & climate course for K-12 teachers, from the American Meteorological Society.  The Datastreme Atmosphere course gives teachers three units of graduate credits, course textbook, lab manual and access to online lesson plans and resources at no charge.  Click above for more info and application for the course. 

Climate Change Education
Stanford University has developed a curriculum to get students thinking about climate and weather, their own connection to climate change, and the implications of climate change on the physical world. Plans include sea level rise, carbon dioxide emissions, ice core data, global action, local solutions, and mitigation strategies. This site provides introduction overviews for high school curriculum and middle school curriculum (pdf).

Digital Library of Earth System Education
A community effort involving educators, students, and scientists working together to improve the quality, quantity, and efficiency of teaching and learning about the Earth system at all levels. DLESE resources include electronic materials for both teachers and learners: lesson plans, maps, images, data sets, visualizations, assessment activities, curriculum, online courses, and more.

Discovery of Sound in the Sea
DOSITS provides information on the basic science of sound in the sea, how both people and animals use sound underwater, and the effects of sound on marine life. In addition to in-depth science content, there are galleries and educational resources that provide a wealth of information for educators and students alike.

Dive and Discover: Ships at Sea
Students are at the frontline of scientific inquiry as they join geologists, chemists and biologists exploring the seafloor and making amazing new deep sea discoveries. Daily updates, live video feeds, archive video footage, and email correspondence with scientists from these research vessels allow students to follow the progress of the scientific missions and find out about life on the floating laboratories at sea.

Educating Young People About Water
A National Review Team identified nine key water topics and a set of important subtopics to add detail for the process of reviewing the curricula and for the educator to use to find appropriate choices to meet their needs. This site focuses primarily on fresh water topics.

Education and Research: Testing Hypotheses (EARTH)
EARTH is a public education outreach site that provides lesson plans for teachers using near real time data from the ocean observatory. Unit lesson plan topics include ocean observatories, pelagic predators, classification, iron fertilization and coastal processes. Lesson plans are matrixed via skills or standards and contain wonderful background information including links to current oceanic news stories and research.

Education World Curriculum
Exploring the sea of internet resources at primary, intermediate and upper grade levels; bringing the ocean into your classroom.

El Niño Theme Page
Graphic images and animations facilitate learning about El Niño. Teachers and students can access the latest El Niño forecasts and measurements which include global sea surface temperature, equatorial Pacific sea surface temperature, and tropical Pacific buoy data. These datasets can be used in the classroom for graphing and data analysis activities. Appropriate for students in grades 10 -12.

EPA's Environmental Education Center
Find curricula and activities on water (including oceans, rivers and watersheds), air, ecosystems, recycling, conservation, and human health. In addition, you will also find links to education grants, awards, scholarships, workshops and community service projects.

Estuary Education | National Estuarine Research Reserve System
The Estuaries 101 Curriculum deepens students understanding about estuaries and how estuaries affect their daily lives. Estuaries offer an exciting context for learning about math, geography, chemistry, marine science, among other fields. Designed to be used by teachers in grades 6-12.

Global Climate Change, A Student's Guide
EPA-developed guide will help students and educators with clear, accurate information about the causes and effects of climate change and the steps we can all take to help solve the problems. Site includes Lesson Plans, Tools and Tips for Educators, and Additional Web Resources.

Gulf of Maine Research Institute
A collection of over 100 pages of information and classroom activities covering: oceans, human impact, weather, satellite imagery, remote sensing, Antarctica, global climate change, lobsters, turtles, freshwater issues, and more.

International Polar Year Classroom Resources
From lesson plans to art contests to expeditions, this IPY site provides a wide array of activities and resources focused on projects in the Arctic and Antarctic.

JASON Project
An educational project begun by Dr. Robert D. Ballard (discoverer of the wreck of the RMS Titanic) dedicated to enabling teachers and students all over the world to take part in global explorations using advanced interactive telecommunications.

Life on the Edge: Exploring Deep Ocean Habitats
The North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences created this site with PDF curricula files on submersibles, submarines and creatures of the deep.

MARE | Marine Activities, Resources & Education
In-depth, kit-based curriculum units delivering science content correlated to the NGSS.  The curriculum provides opportunities for students to engage in investigations and make evidence-based explanations. They are designed in accordance with the latest research on learning. Classroom-tested by teachers across the United States in a wide variety of settings. For science education K–12.

Marine Environmental Education: The Eastern African Region
A Schoolteacher’s Guide
This publication was prepared by the Institute of Marine Sciences of the University of Dar es Salaam, as part of the ongoing broader concept within the framework of UNEP's Regional Seas Programme and the Eastern African Action Plan aimed at enhancing the quality of the marine and coastal environment in partnership with coastal communities and their governments in the eastern African region. This beautifully illustrated comprehensive guide with suggested activities is relevant to classrooms around the world!

MetEd
This site provides upper-level, in-depth content for a variety of meteorology topics and includes a multimedia database and multi-lingual modules. Lesson plans are available for middle and high school level.

Mr. and Mrs. Fish
An award-winning marine education program that comes to elementary schools all over the world to perform hilarious, yet highly educational assembly programs about life in the sea.

National Geographic Ocean Education
Bring engaging and important ocean learning to the classroom. These resources will help students learn about ocean life, human interactions with the ocean, the ocean’s physical geography: the information necessary to formulate their own opinions on ocean-related environmental issues.

National Geographic Xpeditions
The lesson plans on this site were written by educators and have been tested in the classroom. Together, they address all of the U.S. National Geography Standards, the five geography skills, and the main geographic perspectives. Lesson plans are arranged by grade level and skill set. Examples of lesson plans include: Using Maps in Ocean Research (6-8), Pilot Whale's Place in the Ocean and The Water Column, Where do Ocean Animals Belong? (3-5), and The Aral Sea: What\'s Happening to Whom? (9-12).

National Marine Sanctuaries Teacher Programs
The National Marine Sanctuary Program aims to provide teachers with resources and training to support ocean literacy in America\'s classrooms. Lesson plans, exciting activities for students, possible research projects, and extensive background information for teachers. Grades 3-12.

Navigation Education | Outreach Initiatives
These materials will facilitate the introduction of navigation to middle school curricula. Modules include lessons on a variety of navigation topics and are designed to be used by middle school teachers on their own or with the assistance of an ION member volunteer. They can be used in the classroom or as part of a club or outreach program.

Neptune
Establishing a network of underwater observatories within the depths of the northeastern Pacific Ocean, Neptune enables researchers and shore-based learners of all ages to participate in detailed studies and experiments on a wide area of seafloor and ocean for decades rather than just hours or days.

Next Generation Science Standards
Through a collaborative, state-led process, new cross-disciplinary K–12 science standards are being developed that will be rich in content to provide all students an internationally benchmarked science education. The NGSS will be based on the Framework for K–12 Science Education developed by the National Research Council. A draft of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) are ready for public review.

NOAA Ocean Explorer Education
Providing a variety of learning and teaching tools designed to engage broad audiences and enhance America’s environmental literacy through the excitement of ocean discovery. Follow ocean explorations in near real-time, access related lesson plans for grades 5-12, learn about ocean exploration technologies, observe remote marine flora and fauna in the multimedia gallery, and discover additional NOAA resources in their virtual library.

National Ocean Service (NOS)

NOAA's National Ocean Service is an innovative resource designed to introduce high school students to the breadth of scientific research, technology, and activities conducted by NOAA in the areas of oceans, coasts, charting and navigation. Within the NOS Discovery Center, students and teachers will find Discovery Kits, Discovery Stories, and the Discovery Classroom, theme-based units of study with downloadable lesson plans that connect to real-time data being collected in the field. NOS is a great example of how to incorporate data into lessons and use real science in a technology-adapted classroom.

National Ocean Service Education Discovery Center
Building ocean, coastal, and climate literacy for students and educators, this site is full of lessons, stories, and activities sure to keep your students' attention.

Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS)
OBIS is a way to organize and visualize real scientific data and make it accessible and interpretable to scientists, resource managers, and of course students and teachers. Our goal is for students to participate side by side with scientists from around the world, as they attempt to the pattern, scale, and diversity of ecological communities. OBIS provides a variety of lesson plans and ‘webquests’ for students to utilize the data provided by OBIS and CephBase (the net’s premier photo resource for cephalopods.)

Ocean Climate: An Educational Resource Packet
Carbon Emissions, the Ocean Carbon Cycle, Polar Melt, Ocean Currents, Extreme Weather, Ocean Acidification: this free 19-page resource packet was developed by World Ocean Observatory for our subscription-based service of audio-visual material. Here you will find information and links to online resouces on the aforementioned topics. This is a companion piece to our original and curated programming for our first module Ocean Climate but serves as a stand-alone resource, too.

Ocean Explorer
NOAA's Ocean Explorer site offers over 140 lesson plans, numerous professional development opportunities for educators, and an explanation of ocean careers. It contains video clips and images from 5 years of NOAA oceanic research expeditions. It is not only breathtaking to investigate, but this site has a wealth of information and incredible resources to teach from, enjoy and share.

Ocean Literacy Framework
The Ocean Literacy Framework is comprised of two consensus documents: Ocean Literacy: The Essential Principles of Ocean Sciences K-12 (also known as the Ocean Literacy Principles); and Ocean Literacy Scope and Sequence for Grades K-12 (also known as the Scope & Sequence).

Ocean Planet: Interdisciplinary Marine Science Activities
The Smithsonian developed this set of lesson plans as an extension of their "Ocean Planet" exhibit. Six different multidisciplinary lesson plans are included in the online booklet, along with good background information, and student worksheets that can be downloaded and printed. Grades 3-8.

Ocean Quest San Diego Teacher Page
This project introduces students to San Diego County\'s marine ecosystems. Students create maps of selected coastal areas and do research to identify the plant, animal life and some endangered species that occupy the selected area and access websites that contain data on the plants and wildlife, the effect of urbanization and pollution on their selected area to summarize their findings.

Oceanography from the Space Shuttle
A pictorial survey of oceanic phenomenon visible to the naked eye from space. Fantastic visual images are accompanied by text descriptions. The oceanographic content includes coastal scenes, islands, local winds, waves, ship wakes, pollution at sea, spiral eddies, and more. The web site images taken from the space shuttle can be used to supplement a textbook for a variety of oceanographic topics. These images can also be used by K-12 science teachers for journal writing activities for students.

Oceans: A Fact Haiku | ArtsEdge Curricula, Lessons & Activities
Oceans: A Fact Haiku lesson plan intends for students in Grade 3 to write about the ocean using all five senses in the Haiku style of poetry. The lesson presents an overview; suggests length of time and grade level; cites subjects and subtopics; lists dimensions of learning and intelligence being addressed; notes equipment and materials needed; lists teacher and general resources; and cites relevant National Standards for Arts Education and other standards.

The Ocean Adventure
Offers school assembly programs complete with a set of thematic, multi-disciplinary curriculum materials. Choose from the following program topics: animal adaptations, manatees, sharks, whales, kelp forests, coral reefs, volcanoes, or ocean careers & technology, Grades K-8.

The Ocean Drilling Program
The Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) consists of research into the history of the ocean basins and the nature of the crust beneath the ocean floor. This web site can be used in an upper level secondary education science classroom to learn about oceanographic science processes. Students can learn about laboratory equipment and the types of research which are conducted on board the research vessels. Science teachers can also use the resources at this web site for mapping activities with their students.

OceanWorld – Bringing the Ocean to the Classroom
Supported by NASA through the TOPEX/Poseidon Education Project, this site has educational information and classroom activities on oceans & climate, El Niño, ice ages, fisheries, waves, icebergs and currents.

One Ocean: A Guide for Teaching the Ocean to Grades 3-8
National Geographic developed this guide, providing a comprehensive introduction to the ocean and the ocean literacy principles. In addition to general information about the ocean, the guide includes a number of educational features that help connect the content to practical application in the classroom. This book is available for (free) download with iBooks on Mac or iPad and with iTunes on your computer.

Project GROWS
Project GROWS allows students to learn molecular techniques while they examine genetic variation in salmon populations. Students can collect tissue, extract DNA, conduct PCR and RFLPs to generate DNA fingerprints for their salmon. Participating classes can enter their data into a database on this web site, and students around the world will be able to view and analyze these data.

Ridge 2000
Ridge 2000 is a major, long-term program of research into the life, physical, earth, and ocean science of mid-ocean ridges and related tectonic systems. This site includes activities, lessons and resources for your own classroom in addition to expedition information, professional development opportunities and career information.

Science Career Resources
Free online science classes. This guide provides a wealth of free online resources for science students and spans the study of biology, chemistry, astronomy, earth science, and physics. An excellent source of industry-specific information and research material.

Science with OAR | Teaching Materials
Scientists and educators have joined forces to create this collection of teaching materials on El Niño, storms, the atmosphere, fisheries, the Great Lakes, and oceans. Each unit contains background information, data, applications, and additional activities. Middle school level.

Secrets of the Ocean Realm
From PBS Online, contains information, teaching activities, quizzes, photography and more. Activities designed for grades 5-7 (with extensions for lower and higher grades).

Telemetry to the Rescue
Sealtag.org has a wealth of information for educators and students on remote monitoring (telemetry) and marine mammals as well as a hands-on STEM curriculum for 6th-12th grades aligned to Ocean Literacy Principles and Science Content Standards.

Topex/Poseidon Satellite
Teachers and students can learn how TOPEX/POSEIDON maps ocean surface topography and how oceanographers use ocean topography to monitor ocean currents and compute the ocean's heat budget. Many of the resources at this web site can be incorporated into secondary science curricula. The Educational Resources section contains an online tutorial which presents ideas on how to incorporate the TOPEX/Poseidon data into the classroom. This tutorial can be used effectively as a stand alone tutorial for secondary students in a networked computer lab. Many sections of the tutorial contain images which can be used by teachers as presentation materials to explain oceanographic science processes and concepts.

Toxic and Harmful Algal Blooms
Activities Page
These activities will help your students gain a better understanding of toxic and harmful algal blooms. Each module consists of background content material and related standards-based activities.

The Transatlantic Slave Trade
Though recent decades have seen an explosion in academic publications on the slave trade, comprehensive accounts of a general nature are still not readily available for educational purposes, contributing to the silence around the trade that the UNESCO project seeks to break. Increasing the availability of teaching materials on the slave trade should, therefore, be an important part of the UNESCO project. This text sets out the general history of the transatlantic slave trade, providing an interpretative overview of the literature. Such a broad approach may not satisfy the needs of every student, yet it is hoped that it will encourage students to reflect further on the issues at stake, as well as to read other, more specialized works of research.

Water on the Web
A curriculum development project for advanced high school and undergraduate students that uses real-time environmental data to teach about lake systems. Lesson plan topics include aquatic respiration, oxygen solubility, conductivity, data interpretation, diel temperature variation, pH, photosynthesis, fish stocking, heat budgets, water quality, water properties, storms and turbidity, and thermal stratification.

Water Science for Schools
The latest education-based web site developed by Howard Perlman of the US Geological Survey, Water Resources Division. This site is available for all students and anyone who wants to find out more about the many aspects of water from what it is to how we use it. Topics range from water’s basic properties, the many forms of water on and in the Earth, acid rain, how urbanization affects the water system, water use charts, maps and data and much more. An interactive activity center lets students test their water knowledge, and compare their answers to surveys with those of other students around the country.

Water Source Books
Online curriculum guides for K-12 with over 324 activities related to wetlands, coastal waters, and water resources.

WhaleNet
WhaleNet is a collaborative project of the biology departments at Wheelock College and Simmons College in Boston, Massachusetts. It is an educational site devoted to whales, whale research, the marine habitat and environment studies. Students are encouraged to use telecommunications tools to ask researchers questions on-line in the "Ask a scientist" area.

What Every High School Student Should Know About the Ocean
The national education standards for teaching science provide little guidance for teaching about the ocean and atmosphere. As a result, information about the oceans, atmospheres, and hydrology are usually taught in separate, unconnected modules. Worse, many texts include much trivia, neglecting the most important issues.

The Year of the Ocean
Activities for students to practice math, geography, science, and language skills while learning about the world's oceans.

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