Educators and scientists working with NOAA developed two lesson plans for students in Grades 6-8 and 9-12 that are tied to the science behind the Coral Ecosystem Connectivity 2013 from Pulley Ridge to the Florida Keys Expedition. These lesson plans are targeted toward performance expectations specified by the Next Generation Science Standards in the context of cutting-edge ocean exploration and research using state-of-the-art technologies. Activities are also correlated with the Ocean Literacy Essential Principles and Fundamental Concepts, and include focus questions, background information for teachers, links to interesting Internet sites, and extensions. Web logs that document the latest discoveries and complement the lesson plans, complete with compelling images and video, will be sent back each day from sea. Teachers are encouraged to use the background essays, logs, and other resources from the Coral Ecosystem Connectivity 2013 from Pulley Ridge to the Florida Keys Expedition posted on this site to supplement the lesson plans.
Additional lesson plans that have been developed for prior expeditions to explore mesophotic coral ecosystems are also listed, as well as other relevant lessons from the Ocean Explorer Program, and are grouped into the following categories:
Read a description of each lesson plan and/or download them to your computer. All of the lesson plans are available in a PDF format, and may be viewed and printed with the free Adobe Acrobat Reader. To download a lesson plan, 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.)
Grade Level: 5-6
Focus: Biological and physical data collected by benthic landers (Life Science)
(Supplemental Lesson to Design a Benthic Lander from the Deepwater Canyons 2012 Expedition)
Students construct and defend inferences about types of organisms that may colonize settlement plates attached to benthic landers deployed in mid-Atlantic deepwater canyons and interpret data from benthic lander sensors to identify patterns and variability of selected physical conditions in a deepwater marine ecosystem.
Grade Level: 7-8
Focus: Exploration of Cold-seep Ecosystems (Life Science)
(Supplemental Lesson to Life is Weird from the Deepwater Canyons 2012 Expedition)
Students will interpret observations of benthic fauna to construct explanations that link the distribution of these fauna to their proximity to cold seeps.
Grade Level: 9-12
Focus: Effect of water currents on benthic communities (Life Science)
(Supplemental Lesson to Feeding in the Flow from the Deepwater Canyons 2012 Expedition)
Students construct explanations for observations about events and observations reported from investigations of deepwater ecosystems and use evidence to support arguments about how the distribution of deepwater organisms is affected by environmental factors.
Grade Level: 5-6
Focus: Buoyancy (Physical Science); Engineering Design (Life Science)
(from the Deepwater Canyons 2012 - Pathways to the Abyss Expedition)
Students calculate buoyant forces that would be expected to act on hypothetical benthic landers and design and build model benthic landers with specified characteristics using the engineering design process.
Grade Level: 5-6
Focus: Global warming and the Paleocene extinction (Earth Science)
(from the 2003 Windows to the Deep Expedition)
Students describe the overall events that occurred during the Paleocene extinction event, describe the processes that are believed to result in global warming, and infer how a global warming event could have contributed to the Paleocene extinction event.
Grade Level: 5-6
Focus: Methane hydrate ice worms and hydrate shrimp (Life Science)
(from the NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer Education Materials Collection - Volume 1: Why Do We Explore?)
Students define and describe methane hydrate ice worms and hydrate shrimp, infer how methane hydrate ice worms and hydrate shrimp obtain their food, and infer how methane hydrate ice worms and hydrate shrimp may interact with other species in the biological communities of which they are part.
Grade Level: 5-6
Focus: Spatial heterogeneity in deep-water coral communities (Life Science)
(from the 2007 Cayman Island Twilight Zone Expedition)
In this activity, students will be able to explain what a habitat is, describe at least three functions or benefits that habitats provide, and describe some habitats that are typical of deep-water hard bottom communities. Students will also be able to explain how organisms, such as deep-water corals and sponges, add to the variety of habitats in areas such as the Charleston Bump.
Grade Level: 7-8
Focus: Biological organisms in cold seep communities (Life Science)
(from the Deepwater Canyons 2012 - Pathways to the Abyss Expedition)
Students describe major features of cold seep communities, including at least five organisms typical of these communities; infer probable trophic relationships among organisms typical of cold-seep communities and the surrounding deep-sea environment; describe in the process of chemosynthesis in general terms; and contrast chemosynthesis and photosynthesis.
Grade Level: 7-8
Focus: Feeding adaptations among benthic organisms (Life Science)
(from the 2003 Charleston Bump Expedition)
Students describe at least three nutritional strategies used by benthic organisms typical of deep-water coral communities and describe physical adaptations associated with at least three nutritional strategies used by benthic organisms.
Grade Level: 7-8
Focus: Bathymetric mapping (Physical Science/Earth Science)
(from the NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer Education Materials Collection - How Do We Explore?)
Students explain the advantages of multibeam sonar, and its role in the exploration strategy used aboard the Okeanos Explorer; and use data from the Okeanos Explorer to create a bathymetric map.
Grade Level: 7-8
Focus: Underwater robotic vehicles for scientific exploration (Physical Science)
(from the Lessons from the Deep: Exploring the Gulf of Mexico's Deep-Sea Ecosystems Education Materials Collection)
Students describe and contrast at least three types of underwater robots used for scientific explorations, discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using underwater robots in scientific explorations; and given a specific exploration task, identify robotic vehicles best suited to carry out this task.
Grade Level: 9-12
Focus: Effect of water currents on food capture in corals (Life Science)
(from the Deepwater Canyons 2012 - Pathways to the Abyss expedition)
Students describe at least two ways in which current flow may affect food capture by particle-feeding organisms; explain how interactions between current flow and the morphology of a particle-feeding organism may affect the organism’s ability to capture food; and identify at least two environmental factors in addition to current flow that may affect the morphology of reef-building corals.
Grade Level: 9-12
Focus: Biology and ecology of Lophelia corals (Life Science)
(from the 2003 Life on the Edge: Exploring Deep-Ocean Habitats Expedition)
Students describe the basic morphology of Lophelia corals and explain the significance of these organisms, interpret preliminary observations on the behavior of Lophelia polyps, infer possible explanations for these observations, and discuss why biological communities associated with Lophelia corals are the focus of major worldwide conservation efforts.
Grade Level: 9-12
Focus: Significance of methane hydrates (Life Science)
(from the 2003 Windows to the Deep Expedition)
Students define methane hydrates, describe where these substances are typically found and how they are believed to be formed, describe at least three ways in which methane hydrates could have a direct impact on their own lives, and describe how additional knowledge of methane hydrates expected from the Blake Ridge expedition could provide human benefits.
Grade Level: 9-12
Focus: Quantifying biological diversity (Life Science)
(from the 2003 Windows to the Deep Expedition)
Students discuss the meaning of biological diversity and will be able to compare and contrast the concepts of variety and relative abundance as they relate to biological diversity. Given abundance and distribution data of species in two communities, students will be able to calculate an appropriate numeric indicator that describes the biological diversity of these communities.
Grade Level: 9-12
Focus: Effects of habitat complexity on biological diversity (Life Science)
(from the 2003 Charleston Bump Expedition)
Students describe the significance of complexity in benthic habitats to organisms that live in these habitats and will describe at least three attributes of benthic habitats that can increase the physical complexity of these habitats. Students will also be able to give examples of organisms that increase the structural complexity of their communities and infer and explain relationships between species diversity and habitat complexity in benthic communities.
Grade Level: 9-12
Focus: Multibeam sonar data and exploration activities during the NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer Gulf of Mexico 2012 Expedition missions (Earth Science)
(from the NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer Gulf of Mexico 2012 Expedition)
Students describe multibeam sonar, explain why the velocity of sound in water must be measured before maps can be created with the Okeanos Explorer’s multibeam sonar system, discuss the advantages of multibeam sonar bathymetry compared to two-dimensional topographic bathymetry, and interpret three-dimensional multibeam data of underwater features mapped by the Okeanos Explorer.
Grade Level: 9-12
Focus: Multibeam sonar data and exploration activities during the NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer Multibeam sonar data interpretation (Earth Science)
(from the NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer Gulf of Mexico 2012 Expedition)
Students interpret three-dimensional multibeam data of underwater features mapped by the Okeanos Explorer during the Gulf of Mexico 2012 Expedition.
Grade Level: 9-12
Focus: CTD data and exploration activities during the NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer Gulf of Mexico 2012 Expedition (Physical Science/Earth Science)
(from the NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer Gulf of Mexico 2012 Expedition)
Students define "CTD" and explain how this instrument is used aboard the Okeanos Explorer; explain how relationships between temperature, salinity, pressure, and density in seawater are useful to ocean explorers; and use data from the Okeanos Explorer to create and interpret graphs of temperature, salinity, and depth.
Grade Level: 9-12
Focus: CTD data interpretation (Earth Science)
(from the NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer Gulf of Mexico 2012 Expedition)
Students interpret CTD data collected by the Okeanos Explorer during the Gulf of Mexico 2012 Expedition.
Grade Level: 9-12
Focus: ROV imagery and exploration activities during the NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer Gulf of Mexico 2012 Expedition (Earth Science)
(from the NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer Gulf of Mexico 2012 Expedition)
Students will describe typical applications and limitations of imagery obtained with ROVs, demonstrate how lasers may be used to calibrate images for size and distance measurements, and analyze ROV imagery from the Okeanos Explorer to make inferences about deep-ocean habitats and organisms.
Grade Level: 9-12
Focus: ROV imagery interpretation (Earth Science)
(from the NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer Gulf of Mexico 2012 Expedition)
Students interpret ROV imagery collected by the Okeanos Explorer during the Gulf of Mexico 2012 Expedition.
