Lesson Plans
Educators and scientists working with NOAA developed a series of lessons for students in Grades 5 - 12 that are specifically tied to the science behind the Tracking Narwhals in Greenland Expedition. These lessons focus on cutting-edge ocean exploration and research using state-of-the-art technologies.
The lessons are grouped into the following categories:
Grades 5-6
Grades 7-8
Grades 9-12 (Chemical, Biological, Earth, and Physical Science)
Other Relevant Lessons
In addition to being tied to the National Science Education Standards and the Ocean Literacy Essential Principles and Fundamental Concepts 
, the hands-on, inquiry-based activities include focus questions, background information for teachers, links to interesting Internet sites, and extensions.
Read a description of each lesson and/or download them to your computer. All of the lessons are available in a PDF format, and may be viewed and printed with the free Adobe Acrobat Reader. To download a lesson, click on its title from the listing below. (Note: if you have problems downloading one of these lessons, right-click on the link and save the lesson to your desktop.)
The Ocean Unicorn (10 pages, 292 kb)
Focus: Narwhals
In this activity, students will be able to describe key elements of the life history and ecology of narwhals, including overall morphology, preferred habitat, geographic range, and feeding habits; and identify and explain three possible explanations for the apparent decline in the size of narwhal populations.
Frozen Out (10 pages, 296 kb)
Focus:
Impacts of climate change on Arctic predators
In this activity, students will be able to explain the concepts of indicator species and microhabitats; compare and contrast average regional conditions with site-specific conditions; and explain at least three examples of the impacts of climate change on top predators in the Arctic.
The Good, the Bad, and the Arctic (16 pages, 344 kb)
(adapted from the Hidden Ocean, 2005 Arctic Expedition)
Focus:
Social, economic and environmental consequences of Arctic climate change
In this activity, students will be able to identify and explain at least three lines of evidence that suggest the Arctic climate is changing; identify and discuss at least three social, three economic and three environmental consequences expected as a result of Arctic climate change; identify at least three climate-related issues of concern to Arctic indigenous peoples; and identify at least three ways in which Arctic climate change is likely to affect the rest of the Earth’s ecosystems.
Other Relevant Lessons from NOAA’s Ocean Exploration Program
Grades 5-6
Three Cold Realms (5 pages, 267k) (from the Hidden Ocean, Arctic 2005 Expedition)
Focus: (Biology) Pelagic, benthic and sea ice realms
In this activity, students will be able to compare and contrast the pelagic, benthic and sea ice realms of the Arctic Ocean, name at least three organisms that are typical of each of these three realms, and explain how the pelagic, benthic and sea ice realms interact with each other.
The Big Burp: A Bad Day in the Paleocene (5 pages, 364k) (from the 2003 Windows to the Deep Expedition)
Focus: Global climate change and the Paleocene extinction (Earth Science)
In this activity, students will be able to describe the overall events that occurred during the Paleocene extinction event, describe the processes that are believed to result in global climate change, and infer how a global climate change event could have contributed to the Paleocene extinction event.
Polar Bear Panic! (8 pages, 476k) (from the 2002 Arctic Exploration Expedition)
Focus: Climate change in the Arctic Ocean
In this activity, students will be able to identify the three realms of the Arctic Ocean, and describe the relationships between these realms; be able to graphically analyze data on sea ice cover in the Arctic Ocean, and recognize a trend in these data; and discuss possible causes for observed trends in Arctic sea ice, and infer the potential impact of these trends on biological communities in the Arctic.
Life in the Crystal Palace (6 pages, 464k) (from the 2002 Arctic Exploration Expedition)
Focus: Sea ice communities in the Arctic Ocean
In this activity, students will be able to identify major groups of organisms found in Arctic sea ice communities, describe major physical features of sea ice communities and how these features change during summer and winter, explain how these changes affect biological activity within these communities. Students will also be able to describe interactions that take place between sea ice communities, and explain the importance of sea ice communities to Arctic ecosystems.
Grades 7-8
Where Have All the Glaciers Gone? (8 pages, 295k) (from the Hidden Ocean, Arctic 2005 Expedition)
Focus: (Earth Science) Arctic Climate Change
In this activity, students will be able to describe how climate change is affecting sea ice, vegetation, and glaciers in the Arctic region, explain how changes in the Arctic climate can produce global impacts, and will be able to provide three examples of such impacts. Students will also be able to explain how a given impact resulting from climate change may be considered positive as well as negative, and will be able to provide at least one example of each.
Climate, Corals, and Change (14 pages, 441k) (from the North Atlantic Stepping Stones 2005 Expedition)
Focus: (Physical Science) - Paleoclimatology
In this activity, students will be able to explain the concept of "paleoclimatological proxies" and describe at least two examples, describe how oxygen isotope ratios are related to water temperature, and interpret data on oxygen isotope ratios to make inferences about the growth rate of deep-sea corals. Students will also be able to define "forcing factor" and will be able to describe at least three forcing factors for climate change and discuss at least three potential consequences of a warmer world climate.
Meet the Arctic Benthos (8 pages, 492k) (from the 2002 Arctic Exploration Expedition)
Focus: Benthic invertebrate groups in the Arctic Ocean
In this activity, students will be able to recognize and identify major groups found in the Arctic benthos, describe common feeding strategies used by benthic animals in the Arctic Ocean, and discuss relationships between groups of animals in Arctic benthic communities. Students will also be able to discuss the importance of diversity in benthic communities.
Grades 9-12
Getting to the Bottom (7 pages, 295k) (from the Hidden Ocean, Arctic 2005 Expedition)
Focus: (Biology) Benthic communities in the Canada Basin
In this activity, students will be able to identify major taxa that are dominant in deep benthic communities of the Arctic Ocean. Given distribution data for major taxa in different Arctic benthic communities, students will be able to identify patterns in the distribution of these taxa and infer plausible reasons for these patterns.
Burp Under the Ice (5 pages, 269k) (from the Hidden Ocean, Arctic 2005 Expedition)
Focus - (Earth Science) Potential role of Arctic methane deposits in climate change
In this activity, students will be able to identify the natural processes that produce methane, describe where methane deposits are located in the Arctic region, explain how warmer climates may affect Arctic methane deposits, explain how the release of large volumes of methane might affect Earth’s climate, and describe how methane releases may have contributed to mass extinction events in Earth’s geologic history.
The Good, the Bad, and the Arctic (13 pages, 368k) (from the Hidden Ocean, Arctic 2005 Expedition)
Focus: (Biology/Earth Science) Social, economic and environmental consequences of Arctic climate change
In this activity, students will be able to identify and explain at least three lines of evidence that suggest the Arctic climate is changing, identify and discuss at least three social, three economic and three environmental consequences expected as a result of Arctic climate change, identify at least three climate-related issues of concern to Arctic indigenous peoples, and identify at least three ways in which Arctic climate change is likely to affect the rest of the Earth’s ecosystems.
Top to Bottom (7 pages, 348k) (from the North Atlantic Stepping Stones 2005 Expedition)
Focus: (Earth Science/Life Science) - Impacts of climate change on biological communities of the deep ocean
In this activity, students will be able to describe thermohaline circulation, explain how climate change might affect thermohaline circulation, and identify the time scale over which such effects might take place. Students will also be able to explain how warmer temperatures might affect wind-driven surface currents and how these effects might impact biological communities of the deep ocean, and discuss at least three potential impacts on biological communities that might result from carbon dioxide sequestration in the deep ocean.
The Big Burp: Where's the Proof? (5 pages, 364k) (from the 2003 Windows to the Deep Expedition)
Focus: Potential role of methane hydrates in global warming (Earth Science)
In this activity, students will be able to describe the overall events that occurred during the Cambrian explosion and Paleocene extinction events and will be able to define methane hydrates and hypothesize how these substances could contribute to global warming. Students will also be able to describe and explain evidence to support the hypothesis that methane hydrates contributed to the Cambrian explosion and Paleocene extinction events.
Being Productive (Chemistry/Biology) (14 pages, 512k) (from the 2002 Arctic Exploration Expedition)
Focus: Primary productivity and limiting factors in the Arctic Ocean
In this activity, students will be able to identify the three realms of the Arctic Ocean, and describe the relationships between these realms; identify major factors that limit primary productivity in the Arctic Ocean; and describe how these factors exert limiting effects. Given data on potentially limiting factors and primary productivity, students will be able to infer which factors are actually having a limiting effect.
Current Events (8 pages, 472k) (from the 2002 Arctic Exploration Expedition)
Focus: Currents and water circulation in the Arctic Ocean (Earth Science)
In this activity, students will be able to identify the primary driving forces for ocean currents and will be able to infer the type of water circulation to be expected in the Arctic Ocean, given information on temperature, salinity, and bathymetry.
