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.

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.

Chemosynthesis is the synthesis of organic compounds by bacteria or other living organisms using energy derived from reactions involving inorganic chemicals, typically in the absence of sunlight. Learn more about the fascinating communities that this unique form of primary productivity fuels in this fact sheet.

Principles and concepts for estuaries 101: The big ideas and essential details students should learn about estuaries.

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.

Marine debris is a pervasive, global problem and one that is felt locally in the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI). Through a NOAA Marine Debris Program prevention grant, the University of the Virgin Islands(link is external) adapted and revised marine debris lessons for USVI, including Oregon Marine Debris STEAMSS, Turning the Tide on Trash, and Talking Trash and Taking Action. The curriculum was co-created with the input of educators from USVI who participated in workshops and provided input following in-class use. The curriculum also includes 15 spotlights, which highlight USVI-specific marine debris research, local researchers, community-led prevention efforts, and natural disaster impacts from marine debris.

Get answers to hundreds of questions about the ocean and coasts on topics like ocean life and ecosystems, maritime transportation, technology, ocean observations and much more.

This is a marine biology book for kids. Learn all about two special rockfish. Discover how rockfish grow and change. Find out about what they eat and who eats them. Explore the different rockfish hangouts in the ocean and learn why these rockfish live in different habitats throughout their lives. All this is shared with you by a couple of intelligent mermaid marine biologists.

Its size is tiny, but its significance is colossal. Krill – a shrimp-like crustacean – forms the basis of the marine food web for whales, seabirds, fish, squid, seals, and sharks throughout the world’s ocean. Along California’s coast, the California Current ecosystem’s unique springtime wind and circulation patterns generate upwelling of nutrient-rich, deep ocean waters to the sunlit upper layers, which results in an extraordinary explosion of biological productivity. And in this system, krill is king.