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Ocean Biology

These activities teach concepts related to ecology and physiology, ecosystems, microorganisms, genetic makeup, biochemistry, cell biology, toxicology.
Don’t Stop for Hitchhikers!
This activity involves role playing and props to engage students in understanding the concept of invasive species and how they travel. The activity is best done in a large indoor or outdoor space.
Subject: Ocean Biology, Human Impact Grade: 4 - 8 Duration: 45 min
Ocean Literacy Principle: #5
Exploration Tanks
Learners observe and interact with marine animals in a touch tank. The educator/facilitator helps guide the learners’ observations and encourages them to generate questions and find the answers to their own questions as they continue to explore.
Subject: Ocean Biology, Inquiry Grade: K - 12 Duration: 30 - 45 min
Ocean Literacy Principle: #5
Fish Tales
This activity introduces concepts of habitat, morphology and adaptation. Students are shown photographs of a variety of fish, followed by a discussion that explores fish characteristics and adaptation.
Subject: Ocean Biology Grade: 1 - 6 Duration: 15 - 60 min
Ocean Literacy Principle: #5
Getting the Big Picture: Reading the Ocean Stories Satellites Tell
Students learn how satellite images can be used to learn about ocean conditions and phytoplankton and learn to generate questions about ocean conditions, processes, and life.
Subject: Ocean Physics, Ocean Biology, Ocean Chemistry, Inquiry Grade: 6 - 12 Duration: 1 to 3 x 50 min
Ocean Literacy Principle: #3, #5, #7
Got Seaweed?
Learners explore seaweed samples. They use different criteria to sort the seaweeds, and then are guided to sort the seaweed based on color. Visitors also may observe what happens when powdered seaweed is mixed with water, and predict why we might add such seaweed products to food found in our cupboards. They then find out which foods do contain seaweed by checking the ingredients lists of some common foods.
Subject: Ocean Biology, Ocean Chemistry, Human Impact Grade: K - 12 Duration: 30 - 45 min
Ocean Literacy Principle: #5, #6
Growing Up in the Ocean
This activity introduces students to the complex life cycles of common marine invertebrates and allows students to compare and contrast body plans while learning about adaptations that larvae and adults have made to their respective habitats. Throughout the lesson, students practice skills important for scientific inquiry: making observations, drawing what they see, asking and answering questions, and learning to use scientific tools such as microscopes.
Subject: Ocean Biology, Inquiry Grade: 3 - 6 Duration: 2 x 45 min / 90 min
Ocean Literacy Principle: #5
Introduction to Ocean Zones
Students will learn to identify and describe different zones of the ocean and the organisms that live in each zone.
Subject: Ocean Physics, Ocean Biology Grade: K - 12 Duration: 55 min
Ocean Literacy Principle: #1, #2, #4, #5, #7
Litter Matching Game
By matching descriptions to images, students identify marine debris items, leading to discussion about the effects of marine debris and how it can be reduced.
Subject: Ocean Biology, Ocean Chemistry, Human Impact Grade: 5 - adult Duration: 20 - 30 min
Ocean Literacy Principle: #1, #6, #7
Ocean Home
A kinetic game exploring the effects of climate change on marine species distribution. In this activity, students will model, on a human-sized board game, how changes in water temperature may affect fisheries, learning concepts related to physiology, climate change, and sea surface temperature.
Subject: Ocean Physics, Ocean Biology Grade: 4 - 9 Duration: 45 mins
Ocean Literacy Principle: #3, #5, #6
Plankton Feeding
This activity provides a hands-on experience with a scale model, a relatively high viscosity (a property of a fluid), the interactions of an organism with its environment, and feeding behaviors.
Subject: Ocean Physics, Ocean Biology Grade: 4 - adult Duration: 30 min
Ocean Literacy Principle: #5, #7
Plankton Races
Students learn about buoyancy, density and surface area. Students also learn about biodiversity and the relationship between the structure and function of organisms.
Subject: Ocean Physics, Ocean Biology Grade: 4 - 8 Duration: 45 - 90 min
Ocean Literacy Principle: #5
The Great Plankton Race
Participants are challenged to design a planktonic organism that will neither float like a cork nor sink like a stone. This exercise is designed to give students an opportunity to apply observations and concepts in an engaging way. It is not a biomechanics exercise, and thus Reynolds Number issues are ignored.
Subject: Ocean Physics, Ocean Biology Grade: 1 - 12 Duration: 40 min
Ocean Literacy Principle: #1, #4, #5, #6
Who Can Harvest a Walleye?
This activity focuses on interactions within Earth systems and the effects of human activities as students build a biomass pyramid. This game shows how factors affecting lower sections of the food chain can affect higher levels as well. The pyramid in this game is a biomass type because it is based on the weight of the organisms in kilograms.
Subject: Ocean Biology, Human Impact Grade: 3 - 6 Duration: 45 min
Ocean Literacy Principle: #6
What is Light?
This activity explores proprieties of light that occur within marine ecosystems - incandescence, fluorescence, phosphorescence, and chemo-luminescence - using light sticks, flashlights, fluorescent markers and stickers, and Pyrocystis fusiformis dinoflagellate culture.
Subject: Ocean Physics, Ocean Biology, Ocean Chemistry Grade: 6 - 8 Duration: 60 - 90 min
Ocean Literacy Principle: #5