NOAA Sea to Sky: Education resource database

The Deep Ocean Education Project is a collaboration among NOAA Ocean Exploration, Ocean Exploration Trust, and Schmidt Ocean Institute featuring high-quality ocean exploration and science education materials from the three organizations. The Deep Ocean Education Project website – launched in 2021 – is built around themes that are easily searchable, address key ocean-related phenomena, and encourage and support three-dimensional approaches to teaching and learning for K-12 education. The objective is to provide a one-stop resource hub for public, educators, and students looking for deep-sea educational materials. The website also includes information on how to connect with research vessels, including a list of upcoming events and opportunities, and live feeds of expeditions.

Explore this collections of lessons, activities, videos, coloring pages, and field guides from the North Carolina National Estuarine Research Reserve on life in that estuary.

The ocean absorbs the extra carbon dioxide we emit into the atmosphere when we burn fossil fuels, like coal, oil, and natural gas, and that changes the chemistry of the ocean. We call this “ocean acidification.” The change in chemistry is reducing the amount of calcium carbonate in the ocean. Just as humans need calcium to build their bones, sea creatures need calcium carbonate to build strong skeletons and shells. Ocean acidification changes the chemistry of the ocean and causes “osteoporosis of the sea,” which prevents animals at the bottom of the food chain from building and maintaining the protective shells they need to survive.

In this activity, students will take part in a simulated fishery, harvesting California market squid that are common in Monterey Bay and the Pacific Ocean. Because of their quick response time to environmental conditions, market squid provide an interesting example of ecosystem-based management at work. Student groups will role-play in a simulated fishing community, making decisions while also facing a range of natural and human-made challenges. Students will attempt the challenging task of maintaining a balance that sustains both the squid population and the squid fishery, which relies on that population and then analyze the results of their decisions.

Why teach about estuaries? This suite of estuary education resources help educators bring estuarine science into the classroom through hands-on learning, experiments, fieldwork, and data explorations. These specially designed lessons, activities, data explorations, animations and videos can be used independently or as a supplement to existing curricula and can be adapted to meet any grade level.

In this activity, students build their own fish and describe how it lives in its habitat. Students choose which type of body shape, mouth, and tail will aid in the survival of their fish in their habitat. Students can draw in scales and sensory organs if they choose.

On this page you will find information and links for everything you need for your Virtual Salmon Heroes Experience. The Virtual Salmon Heroes program is divided into three parts, which include 1) Introductory lesson videos, 2) field lesson videos, and 3) synthesis lesson videos. A Salmon Heroes Field Journal accompanies the videos.

This activity is designed to expose students to the larval forms of many animals found in the estuary. In order for students to determine which “water baby” they are, they must ask their classmates questions about their baby’s characteristics to help them guess who they are.