In this activity students analyze data from previous research on water motion and feeding behavior of corals and infer how water currents and external morphology may affect the food capture of some particle-feeders. As a result of this activity, students will be able to describe at least two ways in which current flow may affect the feeding efficiency of particle-feeding organisms and explain how ... Full description.

In this lesson, students will investigate adaptations found in microorganisms living in cold-seep communities in the Gulf of Mexico and whether they might also be seen in microorganisms living on other planetary bodies. As a result, they should be able to explain the process of chemosynthesis, explain the relevance of chemosynthesis to biological communities in the vicinity of cold seeps, and compare ... Full description.

In this lesson students investigate benthic communities in the deep Arctic Ocean to determine the factors that influence their compositions. As a result of this activity, students will be able to identify the three realms of the Arctic Ocean and describe the relationships between these realms. They will also be able to describe different species associations in a benthic community, infer probable ... Full description.

In this activity students will become familiar with oceanography terms by writing an oceanography horror story. Terms include sea floor features, marine organisms, oceanographic sampling, and creative writing. Students can use their imaginations to good advantage in this activity, but they must get the facts right! For example, they can change one characteristic of an organism, such as increasing ... Full description.

This resource features three sections devoted to learning about coral reefs: an online tutorial, an educational roadmap to resources, and formal lesson plans. The tutorial presents an overview of coral biology and threats to coral reefs. Topics include characteristics of corals, the relationship of corals and zooxanthellae, stony corals and reef formation, the importance of coral reefs, and natural ... Full description.

This applet explores Mendel's ideas about dominant and recessive traits. The student chooses the leaf and stem colors of the parent plants before pollination, and the applet displays the resulting plants of the next generation. The student then chooses from this second generation the parents of the third generation, the offspring are displayed, and so on. The experiment can also be conducted using ... Full description.

Containing a highly interactive computer activity for students, this module examines evidence from the fossil record, behavior, biomechanics and cladistic analysis to interpret the sequence of events that led to flight in the dinosaur lineage. The module concentrates on the process of science - how we know what we know. It also contains background information, lesson plans, handouts, and assessments. ... Full description.

This activity will allow students to observe and interpret fossil footprint evidence. From the evidence, they are asked to construct defensible hypotheses or explanations for events that took place in the geological past. Students will be asked to propose explanations and make predictions based on evidence, recognize and analyze alternative explanations and predictions, understand that scientific ... Full description.

At this site, students learn that sound moves five times faster in water than in air and cleaner fish have cleaning stations where they remove parasites. Students deepen their knowledge with this ocean life challenge. They learn about how living in the water differs from living on land. An ichthyologist first explains that ocean creatures have special features that allow them to breathe, eat, communicate, ... Full description.

This activity will help students learn about how tree rings provide a record of past growing conditions and, by inference, climate. They use this principle to work out how cores from three different trees (three strips of paper marked with stripes to represent rings) fit together to represent a longer period of time and then use this composite record to plot a graph of changing climate conditions. ... Full description.