Middle School

Through the lessons in this module, designed for grades 6-12, students are guided through the use of NOAA data (sea surface temperature and SST anomalies, coral bleaching hotspots, and degree heating weeks) to understand how scientists monitor coral bleaching events in order to determine what is happening to the health of coral reefs in the world’s oceans. The module offers lessons at five different levels, beginning with basic graph interpretation (Levels 1 & 2) and building towards activities that challenge students to ask questions and develop their own data investigations (Levels 4 & 5).

Students will analyze and interpret data from the Okeanos Explorer to make inferences about the possible presence of hydrothermal vents.

This lesson guides student investigations into reasons for ocean
exploration. Other lessons in Volume I, Why Do We Explore guide additional investigations into key topics of Ocean Exploration,
Energy, Climate Change, Human Health, and Ocean Health.

The classroom activity package Winged Ambassadors – Ocean Literacy through the Eyes of Albatross is available free online courtesy of NOAA, Oikonos, and other partners. Albatrosses, charismatic and threatened seabirds, are ambassadors for a clean ocean because they traverse vast oceanic regions searching for floating food. Along their journeys, they ingest plastic trash and feed it to their chicks. These five lessons comprise new and modified activities, using inquiry-based science instruction, aligned to new standards for grades 6 – 8 with extensions for grades 9 – 12.