Thematic Teaching
oceans: activity ideas
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- If I Were an Ocean
Grade Level: 3-5
Subjects: Science & Technology; Math; Reading & Language Arts; Social Studies; The ArtsApproximately 70 percent of the earth's surface is covered by water. Students appreciate the enormity of this amount when they find ways to visually represent the concept of 70 percent. For example, they can paint 70% of a paper plate blue, fill a beaker 70% full, or determine seventy percent of the number of pages in a book. They could count out 70 goldfish crackers in one pile to represent 70% and 30 in another pile to represent the land forms.
Using a world map, have the students locate the world's oceans. The students can "draw" for an ocean (write names of oceans on fish patterns). They will research the ocean and write a paper titled "If I Were the ______ Ocean" and pretend to be that ocean. They will answer questions such as:
- What other oceans can I see?
- What other oceans do I touch?
- What is the largest/smallest animal that lives in me?
- What is my deepest point?
- Do I have any under water mountains or trenches?
- How did I get my name?
- Has a tsunami originated in me within the past hundred years?
Students will create a travel brochure to accompany their research paper. It can include cruise information (you can get this from a travel agent), beaches, scuba or deep-sea diving excursions, animal life, etc.
Online Resources
Earth's Oceans
http://seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov/ocean_planet.htmlUN Atlas of the Oceans
http://www.oceansatlas.org/index.jspPrint Resources
Oceans by Seymour Simon
More Recommended Resources
Deep Sea Explorer by Rick Archbold
The Sea Is Calling Me (book of poems) by Lee Hopkins
Our Amazing Oceans by David Adler
Seas of Life in OceanWorld by BBC
- Ocean Adaptation Wheels
Grade Level: 2-6
Subjects: Reading & Language Arts; Science & Technology; The Arts; MathMarine habitats are divided into layers or zones depending upon the amount of sunlight each receives. As depth increases the amount of light decreases. The sunlight zone is from the surface of the ocean to 600' and receives the most sunlight. The twilight zone is from 600' to 3000' and receives little light. The midnight zone is 3000' to about 15,000' and the only light here is produced by bioluminescence. Challenge students to select a fish or marine animal and take on the role of a marine biologist to discover the animal's adaptations to available light and other environmental factors.
Give each student two paper plates and a brad. They will use a pencil and ruler to divide each plate into four equal sections. Cut out one section of one plate (1/4 of the plate) and use the brad to connect the plates in the center with the cut out plate on top. The top plate is to be illustrated with a drawing of the fish or mammal in its natural habitat. Label the bottom sections Prey, Predators, Adaptations (special body features) and Habitat Zone. Younger students will draw these and older students can write the data. Using these Adaptation Wheels, older students can create a display showing the ocean food web by connecting with yarn. They will use information in the Predator/Prey sections of the wheels. You may wish to include humans in the food web and discuss aquaculture.
Extension: Read the book Swimmy by Leo Lionni to the class. A tuna (predator) eats an entire school of fish (prey) except for Swimmy, a little black fish. Scared and lonely he explores the wonders of the ocean and becomes part of a school of red fish. Although his color is different, he feels safe again. Swimmy was accepted although his color was different. Does this hold true in human society when a person has a different color, religion, background or handicap? What should our attitude be?
Online Resources
Secrets of the Ocean Realm
http://www.pbs.org/oceanrealm/Nature: "Humpback Whales"
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/humpback/Nature: "Incredible Suckers"
http://www.pbs.org/nature/suckersNature: "The Octopus Show"
http://www.pbs.org/nature/octopus/Nature: "The Secret World of Sharks and Rays"
http://www.pbs.org/nature/sharks/Nature: "Sperm Whales: The Real Moby Dick"
http://www.pbs.org/nature/spermwhales/Seafood Choices
http://www.seafoodchoices.org/Print Resources
Creatures of the Deep: In Search of the Sea's Monsters and the World They Live In by Erich Hoyt
More Recommended Resources
Swimmy by Leo Lionni
The Magic School Bus On The Ocean Floor by Joanna Cole
Ocean: The Living World by Barbara Taylor
Life In The Oceans by Lucy Baker
Big Al and Shrimpy by Andrew Clements and Yoshi
- Weird Sea Creatures
Grade Level: K-6 (with modifications)
Subjects: Science & Technology; Reading & Language Arts; The ArtsChildren are assigned a sea creature to research and create an alphabet book to place in the school library. Younger children may draw the creature and write the name, while older students can include a more detailed description with Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus and Species. Some suggestions are:
- A - abalone, anchovy
- B - barracuda, barnacles, blue whale
- C - clownfish, clam, cuttlefish
- D - dolphin
- E - eel
- F - fireworm, fiddler crab, flying fish
- G - giant squid, goby, gorgon's head sea star
- H - hermit crab, herring
- I - Indo-Pacific ridley (sea turtle)
- J - jellyfish, jack fish
- K - killer whale
- L - leatherback turtle, lobster, lantern fish
- M - manatee, mussell, marlin
- N - nut clam
- O - octopus, oarfish, orca
- P - porpoise, puffer, purcupine fish
- Q - queen trigger fish
- R - razor clam
- S - sand dollar, seahorse, shark, sting ray
- T - tunic, tube sponge
- U - urchin
- V - venomous sea snake
- W - walrus, "water pickle"
- X - xancus angulatus (crank shell)
- Y - yellowfin tuna, yellow-bellied sea snake
- Z - zooplankton
Online Resources
Secrets of the Ocean Realm
http://www.pbs.org/oceanrealm/Nature: "Humpback Whales"
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/humpback/Nature: "Incredible Suckers"
http://www.pbs.org/nature/suckersNature: "The Octopus Show"
http://www.pbs.org/nature/octopus/Nature: "The Secret World of Sharks and Rays"
http://www.pbs.org/nature/sharks/Nature: "Sperm Whales: The Real Moby Dick"
http://www.pbs.org/nature/spermwhales/International Year of the Ocean
http://www.yoto98.noaa.gov/kids.htmPrint Resources
Into the A, B, Sea: An Ocean Alphabet by Deborah Lee Rose and Steve Jenkins
More Recommended Resources
- Buoyancy
Grade Level: 3-6
Subjects: Science & Technology; Reading & Language Arts; MathBuoyancy is an upward push on an object by a liquid. The book Who Sank The Boat by Pamela Allen is a rhyming fantasy about a cow, a donkey, a sheep, a pig and a mouse who attempt to go for a boat ride in the ocean and end up in the water instead.
Instruct the students to measure and cut aluminum foil into a 10 cm square. They will then design and build a boat that will hold the most pennies. Fill a tub with water and add pennies, one at a time, until the boat sinks. Count the pennies (remember to take away the one that made it sink) and record how much the boat was "worth." The book says they were to sail on the ocean. Dissolve several tablespoons of salt into the water and repeat floating the boat. Record how much this boat was "worth" on salt water. Why did the salt water float more pennies?
Extension: Compare a fish's swim bladder to the ballast tanks in a submarine.
Online Resources
NOVA: Buoyancy Basics
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/lasalle/buoybasics.htmlSavage Seas: Ship Buoyancy
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/savageseas/captain-article.htmlNOVA: "Hitler's Lost Sub: Submarine Buoyancy"
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/teachers/activities/2712_lostsub.htmlPrint Resources
Who Sank The Boat by Pamela Allen
More Recommended Resources
Eyewitness Science: Matter by Chris Cooper
Eyewitness Science: Chemistry by Ann Newmark
A Drop of Water by Walter Wick
How Does A Ship Float: Projects About Sinking and Floating by Jim Pipe and Catherine Ward
- Oil Spills
Grade Level: 4-8
Subjects: Science & Technology; Social Studies; Reading & Language ArtsOil spills cause enormous, and in many cases, irreversible damage to ocean life. On March 24, 1989, the Exxon Valdez, a hugh oil tanker, sailed out of Valdez, Alaska. After crashing into an underwater reef it released millions of gallons of thick black oil into the ocean. Many species of wildlife were permanently plagued with sterility, damaged nervous systems, or even death.
Divide students into small groups. Give each group 3 clear cups -- one filled with sand, one with water, and one with soapy water. The students will pour 20 mL vegetable oil into each cup and observe what happens. When all groups have finished, they should record their observations on a chart. Now ask the groups to brainstorm ways to remove the oil from the cups.
One way oil spills can be cleaned up in the ocean is by placing a ring of floating devices around the spill to keep it from spreading. The oil can then be pumped form the water's surface. Another way is to place a sheet of oil-absorbing material on the ocean surface to soak up the oil Two other methods of cleaning up oil spills cause additional harm -- burning the oil creates air pollution and chemical detergents break up the oil but endanger marine life. Enlist members of the class to role play people effected by an oil spill. Include an environmentalist, representatives of the oil company, local residents, politicians, and the oil tanker captain. They should relate specific information or opinions about the oil spill and clean-up.
Online Resources
ThinkQuest: Paradise Lost? Prince William Sound and the Oil Spill
http://library.thinkquest.org/10867/Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council
http://www.evostc.state.ak.us/Alaska Science Center
http://alaska.usgs.gov/science/biology/index.phpDiscovery School: The Dirt on Soil
http://school.discovery.com/schooladventures/soil/index.htmlHarriman Expedition: Panel on Oil and Gas in Alaska
http://www.pbs.org/harriman/explog/lectures/oilandgas.htmlPrint Resources
Oil Spill! by Melvin Berger, illus. by Paul Mirocha
More Recommended Resources
Spill! The Story Of The Exxon Valdez by Terry Carr
Oil Spills by Laurence Pringle
Save Our Oceans and Coasts by Ron Hirschi
Ocean Animals in Danger by Gary Burbak
- Crossing the Ocean to America
Grade Level: 7-10
Subject: Social Studies; Reading & Language ArtsYour students may have learned about the Viking longboats used by some of the earliest visitors to North America, and certainly they will have heard about the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria employed by Christopher Columbus and his companions. But how did later groups arrive in America?
This activity will focus on two groups who came to America under very different circumstances: African-Americans brought to the United States by slave traders through the "Middle Passage" over the Atlantic, and the immigrants who traveled in steerage from the Old World to the New.
Use the primary source materials listed below to provide students with first-hand accounts of these journeys, and to access critical commentaries by historians and others. You may choose to use segments from the feature film Amistad to illustrate conditions on a slave ship.
Ask students to design a monument to those who arrived in America by one of these methods. What would you like visitors to the monument to know about this subject? Where should the monument be located? What should it look like? Ask students to share their ideas with the class, and contact organizations who may be working to create such spaces.
Online Resources
Africans in America: The Middle Passage
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part1/1narr4.htmlJuneteenth World Wide Celebration
http://www.juneteenth.com/UVA: Account of the Middle Passage from The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano
http://www.iath.virginia.edu/vcdh/jamestown/mpassage.htmlRobert Hayden's "Middle Passage"
http://puma.kvcc.edu/dmiller/robert.htmInternet Public Library: Charles Johnson
http://www.ipl.org.ar/cgi-bin/ref/litcrit/litcrit.out.pl?au=joh-119Aboard A Slave Ship
http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/slaveship.htmReports of the Immigration Commission: Steerage Conditions
http://www.balchinstitute.org/resources/destinationusa/html/body_1steerage.htmlCornell University: "The Steerage of Today"
More Recommended Resources
http://cdl.library.cornell.edu
- Making a Living at Sea
Grade Level: 6-8
Subject: Social Studies; MathAsk your students if they have seen the movie The Perfect Storm. What does this movie tell them about the life of fishermen? Brainstorm a list of characteristics.
Ask students about others who may make their living working on the water; possibilities include those who work in offshore oil drilling, those who work on cruise ships, etc.
Research these occupations using resources like the Occupational Outlook Handbook. What can you learn about these professions, in terms of salary, hazards, qualifications, and prospects for future employment? What has been the history of these jobs (was it formerly a "booming" business? etc.)? Are these occupations controversial? If so, why?
Finally, locate a comparable job in a land-based industry (e.g., cruise ship attendant might be equivalent to flight attendant). How does the job compare? Share your results in a PowerPoint presentation that describes the important data you discovered.
Online Resources
U.S. Department of Labor: Occupational Outlook Handbook
http://www.bls.gov/oco/home.htmU.S. Government: Fisheries Statistics
http://www.st.nmfs.gov/st1/fus/fus01/index.htmlVoyage of the Odyssey: Long-line Fishing
http://www.pbs.org/odyssey/voice/20000409_vos_transcript.htmlVoyage of the Odyssey: The [Aquarium] Live Fish Trade
http://www.pbs.org/odyssey/voice/20010606_vfts_transcript.htmlHow Stuff Works: Offshore Oil Drilling
http://www.howstuffworks.com/oil-drilling.htmMariners Museum: Chesapeake Bay Watermen
http://www.mariner.org/chesapeakebay/waterman/wat000.htmlNOAA Photo Library
More Recommended Resources
http://www.photolib.noaa.gov
- Frightening Forecasts
Grade Level: 6-8
Subject: Science, MathWhat do your students know about the extreme weather of the ocean--waterspouts, tsunamis, hurricanes, and tropical storms?
Ask students to define each phenomenon using dictionaries or encyclopedias. To learn more about each type of extreme weather, and to learn how waves are made, visit the Savage Seas Web site to try the articles and interactive games.
Some experts argue that global warming will lead to an increase of these extreme weather conditions, in addition to coastal flooding. Visit the "What's Up With the Weather?" Web site to read interviews with scientists on both sides of the issue, and to learn about how marine ecosystems may be affected by greenhouse gases.
Decide as a class, based on the evidence you've seen, whether or not global warming is real and if it presents a serious threat to marine ecosystems. Write a letter to your congressional representative describing what you've learned and talking about possible measures to be taken, if the class feels action is required.
Online Resources
Savage Seas
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/savageseas/NOVA: "Tracking El Niño"
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/elnino/NOVA/Frontline: "What's Up With the Weather?"
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/warming/waterworld/Voyage of the Odyssey: Global Warming
http://www.pbs.org/odyssey/voice/20010530_vfts_transcript.htmlPrint Resources
The Change in the Weather: People, Weather, and the Science of Climate, by William K. Stevens
More Recommended Resources
El Niño: Unlocking the Secrets of the Master Weather-Maker by J. Madeleine Nash
Isaac's Storm : A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History by Erik Larson
- Water, Water Everywhere
Grade Level: 6-10
Subject: Health & Fitness; Science & TechnologyIntroduce students to this quotation from the famous poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, "The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner": "Water, water, everywhere, and not a drop to drink."
What does Coleridge mean? If there's water "everywhere" how can there be "not a drop to drink?"
People stranded at sea without proper supplies are in danger of many things -- sharks, extreme weather, starvation. But perhaps the most immediate threat is the danger of dehydration. Individuals who have water but nothing else have been known to survive ten days or longer at sea.
Why can't you just drink seawater if you're floating on so much of it? The answer lies in a concept called "osmosis." For a simple demonstration of osmosis, try the experiment described at the PBS ZOOM site below or visit the Thames Valley School Web site for an interactive demonstration.
Use Play-Doh or another modelling substance to construct a simple cell and demonstrate how solutes and water may pass through membranes.
Research dehydration and its treatment; prepare a flyer for school athletes, band members, or others who may spend long hours outdoors.
Online Resources
PBS ZOOM
http://pbskids.org/zoom/activities/sci/coloringflowers.htmlThames Valley School District: Osmosis
http://www.tvdsb.on.ca/westmin/science/sbi3a1/Cells/Osmosis.htmThe Merck Manual: Water Balance
http://www.merck.com/mmhe/au/print/sec12/ch158/ch158a.htmlPersonal MD: Dehydration
More Recommended Resources
http://www.personalmd.com/news/quench_82900.shtml
- Caribbean Literature
Grade Level: 10-12
Subject: Reading & Language Arts; Social StudiesRead with students Claude McKay's poem "The Tropics in New York." How did McKay, a poet closely associated with the Harlem Renaissance and African-American literature, feel about his native Jamaica years later in the United States?
Many other Caribbean authors use similar imagery to express a homesickness for the tropics; still others focus on social commentary that exposes the racial history of the region.
With students, read all or part of Derek Walcott's epic poem "Omeros." As you read, study the history of St. Lucia, an important colonial outpost which passed between British and French control no less than 14 times in 150 years.
Ask students to choose three passages from the poem that best exemplify the powerful racial legacies in the region. Discuss the passages, and compare to the racial themes in American literature students may have read. What is similar? What is different?
Online Resources
Nobel E-Museum: Derek Walcott
http://www.nobel.se/literature/laureates/1992/History of St. Lucia
http://www.saint-lucia.com/st-lucia-history.htmlUniversity of Singapore: Caribbean Authors
More Recommended Resources
http://www.scholars.nus.edu.sg/landow/post/caribbean/caribov.html
Published: December 2002