NOAA Sea to Sky: Education resource database

Students examine actual data from a NOAA sea scallop survey in 2012, organize it, and make inferences about what type of story the data might tell.

Through role-playing, teamwork, and a little fate, this activity provides students with an opportunity to get an "insider's" view of what it takes to be an active stakeholder in a commercial fishery. Whether a boat owner, dockside buyer, processing plant owner, distributor, or retail seafood store operator, each student will get a deeper sense of the complex factors that determine the viability of a commercial fishery. Students will learn to understand the real costs that contribute to eventual market value, as well as experience some of the unanticipated gains or losses that can occur at any stage along the way.

Kelp forests are an important ecosystem that support a variety of species and grow predominantly along the Eastern Pacific Coast, from Alaska and Canada to the waters of Baja, California. Kelp forests can be found in four of our national marine sanctuaries along the West Coast of the United States. This collection has compiled wide-ranging resources from lesson plans, webinars, web stories, virtual reality videos, and more. You are invited to learn more about the importance of Kelp Forest Ecosystems, NOAA’s efforts to manage and conserve them, the species that call these forests home, and the threats kelp face.

An Incredible Journey is filled with 10 hands-on lesson plans that explore the salmon life cycle; the cultural, environmental, and economic importance of salmon; the major issues facing salmon today; and how individuals can get involved to protect these iconic species.

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.

After selecting and analyzing fisheries data from NOAA, students develop research questions, analyze the data and draw conclusions, which are then represented visually in the form of a poster presentation and shared with the class.

By the end of the interactive lesson, the students will be able to explain why overfishing has occurred in our ocean and describe the effects of overfishing on fish stocks.

The groundfish survey is part of SEAMAP — South East Area Monitoring and Assessment Program — a joint venture between NOAA and the states to better understand the populations of fish and shellfish along the coast of the Gulf and Atlantic. In this lesson, students will simulate the groundfish survey by classifying fish species and record their lengths. Students will then make graphs of their results and compare their findings. Finally, students will explore online maps to understand variations in habitat.

These education theme pages are designed to provide the best of what the OceanExplorer.NOAA.gov website has to offer on a number of popular ocean science topics. Each theme page provides links to background information, lessons, multimedia interactive activities, career profiles, and information on associated past expeditions.

The elementary portion of the Oysters on the Chesapeake Bay learning sequence consists of six lessons; one for each grade in Kindergarten through 5th. Each lesson targets an important area in the study of oysters: individually, as part of an ecosystem, and in oyster restoration. While not directly building on each other, the lessons incorporate age-appropriate skills used in previous lessons and build new skills. Kindergarteners begin by learning about pollution in water, and in subsequent years build knowledge about oyster shells, oyster reefs, and oyster internal anatomy. By fifth grade, students consolidate their learning, examine other perspectives, and demonstrate their mastery of ecological principles. They investigate and communicate conflicting interests in oyster harvest and restoration and learn how science can be helpful in navigating the complexity of biological and sociological interactions.