NOAA Sea to Sky: Education resource database

Data in the Classroom has structured, student-directed lesson plans that use historical and real-time NOAA data. The five modules address research questions and include stepped levels of engagement with complex inquiry investigations with real-time and past data.

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.

Marine debris has major impacts on all kinds of marine animals, especially sea turtles. These iconic animals can confuse plastic bags and balloons for jellyfish, their favorite food. In this interactive video program, students can virtually participate in a simulated sea turtle necropsy, or animal dissection, learn how trash can get to the ocean and impact sea turtles, and learn how we can all help stop marine debris! Throughout the video, there are places to pause and discuss observations and predictions with students. For more information, additional activities, and lesson extensions, please see the Program Activities Guide. 
Please be aware that the model dissection may upset sensitive viewers, especially younger students. 

How do human choices regarding the consumption and disposal of plastics impact ecosystems and our communities and what actions can we take to minimize those impacts? The Wave of Plastic Project includes five lessons to tackle this question. This unit helps students make sense of the core ideas related to issues of plastic pollution (particularly those relevant to the Chesapeake Bay watershed) by engaging in authentic interdisciplinary practice culminating in comprehensive, student-driven, informed action projects. 
 

This collection of six separate lessons includes tutorial videos for each themed lesson, except ecological field modeling.

1. Density dynamics: Experiment by creating four model bodies of water and observe how they compare. 
2. Ecological field monitoring: Get into the field and investigate the ecosystems in your local community using field equipment.
3. Glaciers: Investigate how topography came to be through glacial activity 33,000 years ago. Use geologic and physical tests to uncover the evidence left behind by the Laurentide Ice Sheet. Track and hunt down the path laid by ice giants of the past.  
4. Marine debris & microplastics: Discover how marine debris impacts the environment as you experiment with buoyancy and design a model ocean with circular currents.
5. Watersheds: Explore how we impact our water systems and the watersheds that sustain our population. Create a model coastal community and observe how pollutants travel within a watershed
6. Weather & climate: Explore the differences between weather and climate, look at real-time NOAA weather and climate data, experiment with sea level rise, and create coastal resiliency models.

This series of standards-aligned lesson plans explores issues related to marine debris and environmental stewardship. Each of these lessons focus on experiential, project-based learning to support student engagement and action. Each of these lessons are also available in Spanish or in a virtual format. 

Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is rising, but what does this mean for the world's ocean? Using data from NOAA, students will explore relationships between carbon dioxide, ocean pH and aragonite saturation state. By examining these parameters using graphs and models, students can predict whether ocean conditions support the growth and survival of shell-building marine life, both now and in the future.

Hydrothermal vents are dynamic, diverse ecosystems that exist in the absence of sunlight. This video features scientific experts who explain the geological processes that form these other-worldly ecosystems and the biological communities that call them home. Video courtesy of NOAA Ocean Exploration.

On this page are links to five different earth science subject groups that relate to the Global Monitoring Division's research and mission. Within each subject group educators can easily access background information about the topics, student handouts, and classroom activities that can be incorporated into lesson plans. Information and activities are geared toward grades 7-12. Teachers should feel free to modify the activities to meet the needs of their students.

This guide is designed for educators in both formal and informal education situations. It is a regional introduction to three main categories of marine debris: litter; derelict or abandoned boats; and lost or abandoned commercial and recreational fishing gear.