In this lesson, students consider the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and related cleanup efforts. They then design and execute experiments to learn more about the effects of oil spills, and apply their findings to the coastal communities in the gulf region. Finally, they explore the economic and political impacts of the oil spill as well as the technological progress toward stopping ... Full description.

This webinar (1 hour 19 minutes) presented during the Education Week 2011, provides information on the timeline and effects of the Gulf oil spill and answers questions regarding its long-term consequences. Many educators have elected to focus on the Gulf Oil Spill as a unifying interdisciplinary theme to explore throughout the school year. Full description.

This resource provides links to scientific and governmental organizations that continue to track the Gulf Oil Spill. In the aftermath, researchers are attempting to understand the spill and its impact on marine life, the Gulf coast, and human communities. Gathered data and research findings from researchers and scientists compare historical ecological data with recently collected data. Inter-disciplinary ... Full description.

The purpose of this site is to provide access to teaching materials to respond to sudden hazard events, specifically the Deep Horizon Oil spill, in the classroom as well as more generalized materials that will help educators teach about hazards either before or soon after such an event. Resource includes images, videos and visualizations as well as current informational blogs and news reports Full description.

This site contains 34 questions on the topic of the world oceans (Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, and Arctic), which cover tides, ocean properties , salinity, waves, and currents. This is part of the Principles of Earth Science course at the University of South Dakota. Users submit their answers and are provided immediate verification. Full description.

This activity combines science and art to provide an understanding about why the sea is salty. Students will obseve how salt concentration increases in water and how the salt remains after the water evaporates. They will do a salt painting using water, salt, and food coloring to observe the evaporation process. Full description.

This Classroom Connectors lesson plan teaches students about ocean movements such as currents, tides, and waves. This includes types of currents, Northern and Southern Hemisphere currents, differences between salt and fresh water, trade winds, and tsunamis. The site provides goals, objectives, an outline, time required, materials, activities, and closure ideas for the lesson. The Classroom Connectors ... Full description.

This section of the Windows to the Universe website provides information and images about water, including detailed information about lakes, rivers, ocean, the water cycle, and tides. Windows to the Universe is a user-friendly learning system pertaining to the Earth and Space sciences. The objective of this project is to develop an innovative and engaging website that includes a rich array of documents, ... Full description.

This data tip from Bridge, the Ocean Sciences Education Teacher Resource Center archive, includes a variety of educational sites to visit, and a data exercise on water quality in which students graph dissolved oxygen versus depth in the Gulf of Mexico dead zone where the Mississippi River enters the Gulf. The data is from the Nutrient Enhanced Coastal Ocean Productivity Program (NECOP). Full description.

This article discusses how hydrothermal vents are formed and why scientists monitor minute temperature changes around them. It details the writer's personal account of preparing temperature probes to be deployed for a year-long study, an explanation of deep sea vents and their hydrothermal nature, and why they seem to spew black smoke. The thermometers prepared by the writer help monitor the currents ... Full description.