This Classroom Connectors lesson plan covers physical features of oceans such as currents, sea-floor spreading, ocean basins, the ocean's landscape, and the origin of the oceans. The site provides goals, objectives, an outline, time required, materials, activities, and closure ideas for the lesson. The Classroom Connectors address content with an activity approach while incorporating themes necessary ... Full description.

Ocean Talk provides a glimpse of oceanography and an awareness of the importance of the sea to our environment and our own well-being. There are scientific explanations of ocean bottom features, the properties of seawater, underwater sound, sea ice, ocean currents, tides, waves, and tsunamis. A history of marine exploration and descriptions of the Earth's oceans are also provided. Full description.

This data tip from Bridge, the Ocean Sciences Education Teacher Resource Center archive, focuses on tides. Students learn how to plan for tide-affected activities by using the NOAA Tide Predictions page to calculate tidal predictions for several days at a site of interest in the coastal United States. Students are also linked to a site with global data where they may generate a graph of tidal predictions ... Full description.

This reference describes the physical setting of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. Topics include the California current; water masses and hydrography; wind, upwelling and oceanographic seasons. There are also chapters on El Nino; the Bay itself; tide and tide currents; internal tide; and plans for current and future research in the sanctuary. Full description.

This lesson will familiarize students with discoveries in ocean research, including hydrothermal vents and historical shipwrecks. They will learn about the work of deep-sea explorer Robert Ballard and hypothesize about what they might find in the ocean. Students will complete their research by creating a museum exhibit about ocean exploration and by suggesting questions for future research. Full description.

This document explains the predictable and periodic movements of ocean waters that are known as tides and how they are produced by the gravitational forces of the moon and sun. It describes how gravitational attraction and centrifugal force create bulges on either side of the Earth (the high tides), and how two coinciding and simultaneous low tides occur at equal distances around the earth between ... Full description.

This text discusses differences in ocean tides. Along America's Atlantic Coast, two high and low tides occur daily. Such tides are called semidiurnal. On the north shore of the Gulf of Mexico, the tide is diurnal, meaning that it moves in and out again once a day while in the Pacific Northwest, there are mixed tides, two highs and two lows a day, characterized by significant disparity between successive ... Full description.

This lesson demonstrates that simple models can be used to represent real world objects that are not easily brought into a classroom. Students will create a wave model using two different types of simple models. The approach of creating, describing, and understanding qualitative models is critical because it is the type of learning that students will most closely relate to their experiences. Full description.

This article reports on an unsuccessful dive attempt to study deep sea vents at the Juan de Fuca Ridge. It offers an overview of the pressure in the deep seas, including how it builds, how much our bodies can withstand, and the dangers it poses in the study of deep sea vents. It describes the technology that protects crews from pressure and allows them to safely dive to depths of 2,500 meters and ... Full description.

This classroom activity will give students an appreciation for the difficulties deep sea researchers must face in order to find hydrothermal vents. Working in small groups, students can complete this Web investigation in a single class period. The printable six-page handout includes a series of inquiry-based questions that prompt students to use what they already know about mid-ocean ridges to hypothesize ... Full description.