SEARCH
Ocean Physics

These activities teach concepts related to waves, currents, motion, density, hurricane formation.

Jump to: BUOYANCY    DENSITY    GRAVITY WAVES    HEAT & TEMPERATURE    PRESSURE
Beach Buckets
Visitors explore a bucket of sand and beach drift and debris, sort the items using observable characteristics and use a model to show how sand could be composed of items found on a beach. They also infer how the beach drift might have traveled to the beach.
Subject: Ocean Physics, Ocean Geology Grade: K to adult Duration: 30 - 45 min
Ocean Literacy Principle: #1, #2
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
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
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
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
Exploring the Ocean with Robots
Investigate buoyancy and how ocean gliders work with this activity. Using “gliders” that they make from plastic syringes, plus Cartesian bottles and plastic bubbles, students explore characteristics of buoyancy by adjusting amounts of air and salt water.
Subject: Ocean Physics Grade: 6 - 12 Duration: 45 min
Ocean Literacy Principle: #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
Teaching Physical Concepts in Oceanography - Chapter 3: BUOYANCY
This set of activities is designed to help students better understand the underlying principles of buoyancy. Research conducted at the University of Washington found that many science and engineering majors lacked an understanding of buoyancy and were not able to predict or explain the floating and sinking behaviors of different objects (Loverude et al., 2003).
3.1 - Mayday! 3.3 - Designing Floats
3.2 - Archimedes Ball 3.4 - Cartesian Diver
Subject: Ocean Physics Grade: 7 - 12 Duration: approximately 20 min each
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
Causes and Effects of Melting Ice
This activity introduces the concept of density-driven currents (thermohaline circulation) and how they are affected by climate change. Participants use colored ice cubes, water, and salt to explore density as it relates to salinity, leading to an understanding of the impact of glacial melt on sea level rise.
Subject: Ocean Physics Grade: 5 to adult Duration: 30 - 120 min
Ocean Literacy Principle: #1, #2, #6
Improving Oil Spill Response: Plotting the Currents in Prince William Sound
Students find and use data from the Alaska Ocean Observing System (AOOS) to plot the tracks of drifters used by scientists as real-time data to compare with computer predictions during a field experiment to test a circulation model for Prince William Sound, Alaska. They apply their knowledge to predicting the path of an oil spill and search & rescue.
Subject: Ocean Physics, Ocean Chemistry, Human Impact Grade: 6 - 8 Duration: 3 x 45 mins
Ocean Literacy Principle: #1, #7
Melting Ice
This activity explores density, convection, stratification, and by inference the melting of ice bergs. Students are allowed an opportunity to make a hypothesis, test their hypothesis, and explain their observations.
Subject: Ocean Physics, Inquiry Grade: 6 - 12 Duration: 30 - 45 mins
Ocean Literacy Principle: #1, #6
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
Teaching Physical Concepts in Oceanography - Chapter 1: DENSITY
Density is a fundamental property of matter. Many processes are caused by or reflect differences in the densities of adjacent water masses or differences in densities between fluids and solids. The following set of activities is designed to review density, practice density calculations, and highlight links to oceanic processes.
1.1 - Will it Float? 1.4 - Effects of Temperature and Salinity on Density and Stratification
1.2 - Can a Can Float? 1.5 - Effect of Stratification on Mixing
1.3 - Densities of Oceanic and Continental Crusts 1.6 - Convection under Ice
Subject: Ocean Physics Grade: 7 - 12 Duration: approximately 20 min each
What is in the Water?
Students will use open inquiry to learn about the process of science as well as gain experience regarding the Law of Conservation of Mass, dissolution, and density.
Subject: Ocean Physics, Ocean Chemistry, Inquiry Grade: 4 - 8 Duration: 45 - 90 min
Ocean Literacy Principle: #1, #6
Teaching Physical Concepts in Oceanography - Chapter 5: GRAVITY WAVES
The purpose of these activities are to familiarize students with wave motion in general and gravity waves in particular. Concepts such as resonance, natural frequency, and seiche are demonstrated. Other topics that are emphasized during class discussion are measurements and their statistics, and dimensional analysis.
5.1 - Wave Speed and Water Depth 5.3 - Buoyancy Oscillations
5.2 - Internal Waves
Subject: Ocean Physics Grade: 7 - 12 Duration: approximately 20 min each
How is Coastal Temperature Influenced By the Great Lakes and the Ocean?
This activity explores how bodies of water can serve as a heat source or sink at different times and how proximity to water moderates climate along the coast. The activity’s combination of laboratory investigation, map study, and graphing applies different learning styles and provides practice in important science processes.
Subject: Ocean Physics Grade: 7 - 8 Duration: 45 - 60 mins
Ocean Literacy Principle: #3
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
Teaching Physical Concepts in Oceanography - Chapter 4: HEAT & TEMPERATURE
The purpose of this set of activities is to review basic concepts of thermal physics and to highlight applications to ocean processes. It is recommended that these laboratory activities be completed over two class periods.
4.1 - Radiative Heat Transfer and Absorption of Radiation 4.5 - Heat Flow and Latent Heat
4.2 - Conduction 4.6 - Sling Psychrometer (Hygrometer)
4.3 - Convection 4.7 - Thermal Expansion
4.4 - Heat Pack 4.8 - Reversing Rods
Subject: Ocean Physics Grade: 7 - 12 Duration: approximately 20 min each
Teaching Physical Concepts in Oceanography - Chapter 2: PRESSURE
This chapter contains a series of activities that allows students to examine pressure from different angles. The significance of concepts such as hydrostatic pressure, compressibility of gases under pressure (i.e., Boyle’s Law), and pressure in moving fluids (i.e., Bernoulli’s Principle) to processes in the ocean is emphasized.
2.1 - Bed of Nails 2.5 - Shrinking Balloons
2.2 - Perception of Weight 2.6 - Compressibility of Gases
2.3 - Ready, Set, Squirt 2.7 - Demonstration of Bernoulli's Principle
2.4 - Manometer and Equilibrium Tubes
Subject: Ocean Physics Grade: 7 - 12 Duration: approximately 20 min each