EE Week 2011: Ocean Connections

Daily Activity Planning Toolkit 

Each year, EE Week provides hundreds of free resources and lesson plans on this website to help educators plan activities around an annual theme. But busy teachers don't always have the time to sift through all of these materials to identify the best activities for their classes. This year, together with our partners at the Centers for Ocean Sciences Education Excellence (COSEE), EE Week brings you this planning toolkit with a suggested grade-appropriate activity on a daily sub-topic for each school day of EE Week. We are all connected to the oceans in many ways, whether we live near or far from it. These sub-topics were selected to help students better understand their many connections to the coast. 

Be sure to check out our Ocean Connections page for additional information about EE Week 2011.

Jump to:  Monday  Tuesday  Wednesday  Thursday  Friday 

Photo credit: NOAA

Monday, April 11: The Ocean's Role in Weather*

* Visit our Weather Connections to the Ocean special feature to hear from meteorologists how the ocean impacts weather across the United States

Elementary School

• Create-a-Cane! is an interactive game in which students change winds, latitude, moisture and sea temperature to create ideal conditions for a hurricane.

Middle School

• Hurricanes: Science and Society is an educational website that explores the science, history and impacts of hurricanes.

High School 

• Satellites and Storms: Using Ocean Observing to Investigate Coastal Storms is an exploration in which students use ocean observing data to investigate weather patterns, weather maps and the effects weather has on the ocean.

Photo credit: NOAA

Tuesday, April 12: Climate & Ocean Acidification 

Elementary School

• Climate Kids: What is happening in the ocean?  explains the role of the ocean in absorbing atmospheric carbon dioxide.

Middle School

• A Plague in Air and Sea: Neutralizing the Acid of Progress is an audio slideshow available in English and Spanish explaining how rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere affect the ocean's chemistry.

High School 

• Investigating the Ocean: Coral Bleaching is an investigation of the effects of rising ocean temperatures on coral.  

Photo credit: NOAA

Wednesday, April 13: Ocean Exploration 

Elementary School

• Nautical Charts: Message in a Bottle is an interactive online game exploring methods of navigation at sea. 

Middle School

• Oceanography Through Time is an interactive timeline of ocean exploration and discovery. 

High School 

• Ocean Careers Exploration provides students an opportunity to learn about careers in ocean science, technology and exploration. 

Photo credit: NOAA

Thursday, April 14: Ocean Biodiversity 

Elementary School

• Specialized for the Sea is an activity in which students create a mural of ocean animals and investigate their adaptations for life in the sea.

Middle School

• Dive Into Worlds Within the Sea is an interactive feature in which students explore deep sea, coral reef and continental shelf ecosystems. 

High School 

•  A Green Ocean is a podcast with a NASA researcher explaining the ways ocean life are monitored from space.

Photo credit: NOAA

Friday, April 15: Water Connects Us 

Elementary School

• Water Cycle Game is an activity in which students experience the complexity of the water cycle and the role of the ocean.

Middle School

• Where Rivers Meet the Sea is an online game for students to explore what makes a healthy estuary and the essential role of estuaries for human and marine life. 

High School 

• Eutrophication is an online animation explaining the issue of nutrient run-off from land to water and the implications for aquatic life.