Oceanography

Oceanography (Grades 6-8) Through creating models and using claim based evidence, the Oceanography unit helps students examines how much of the earth's surface is covered in water and how energy cycles through the ocean ecosystem. View Materials List Lesson One: Ocean Planet A simple game involving a globe introduces students to the world’s oceans, and starts a discussion about what percentage of the world is water or land. Students practice claim evidence based reasoning by collecting and analyzing data to create pictorial representations of the earth. Lesson Two: How Did the Oceans Form? Using a variety of videos and articles, students practice understanding scientific readings to gather data. Students then use their findings to create a storyline of the creation of the earth and how water originated on earth. Lesson Three: Stratification Building on the first two lessons, students begin to take a more in depth look at the ocean and its properties. Students are tasked with building a model of the ocean to mimic the movement of water currents and the effect on land masses. Lesson Four: Ocean Zones Once students understand how the ocean is formed and how the water moves, they dive into the different environmental habitats of the ocean. They are introduced to ocean creatures, and by using evidence, they make claims about which organisms can survive, and which adaptations help them. Lesson Five: Ocean Food Web: Part 1 In this lesson, students design food webs and food chains to become familiar with ecology and the living and non-living parts of an ecosystem. Lesson Six:Ocean Food Web: Part 2 This lesson builds upon the prior lesson to expand upon the energy transfer in oceans. Students use an interactive website to explore the different ways that energy can be used, and the delicate system the ocean depends on for these energy transfers.