Chemistry

NOAA's Ocean Service Education website provides educational games, resources, projects and activities for students as well as lesson plans, curricula and professional development for teachers.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium offers an array of educational resources for educators looking to bring marine science into the classroom. Curricula and activities are organized by subject area and align to California and national standards. Games and interactive activities are also available online for students.

Oil on the Water: The Physics of Oil Spills is an interactive feature providing an overview of the physics behind an oil spill. The feature illustrates the physical and chemical processes, known as weathering, that change the oil's properties and behavior after it is spilled into the ocean. This feature was developed by MSNBC.

The Center for Microbial Oceanography has created an ocean acidification lesson plan kit containing two lessons addressing the causes and consequences of ocean acidification. The first lesson contains readings, worksheets, power points and a hands-on experiment. The second lesson contains a more in-depth experiment using electronic probes to simulate the process of ocean acidification. Each kit is accompanied by a set of resources which includes narrated power points and complementary scientific journal articles.

Learning Ocean Science through Ocean Exploration is a curriculum for teachers of Grades 6-12 that takes lesson plans developed for NOAA Voyages of Discovery and the Ocean Explorer website and presents them ina comprehensive scope and sequence through subject area categories thatcut across individual expeditions. Topics include mapping the ocean floor, deep-sea ecology and human impacts on ocean ecosystems. Each lesson focuses on an inquiry-based approach to teaching and learning andis correlated to the National Science Education Standards.

Students create a display of 2-liter bottles which represent the amount of air pollution emitted by a vehicle. They familiarize themselves with terms and concepts involved with car emissions, and learn about the health effects of these pollutants. This lesson is best suited for grades 9-12 and adheres to Texas English and Science Essential Knowledge and Skills Standards.

The National Institute of Health put together this module for environmental health. It includes six lessons, all addressing issues of chemicals and their relationship with the environment and human health. All lessons adhere to National Science Education Standards. Lessons include defining chemicals and where they occur, learning about chemical dosage and responses, and recognizing potential environmental hazards.

This lesson plan from the Smithsonian Institution introduces students to the effects of oil on the oceans, whether introduced by a disastrous spill, oil-bearing rock layers on the ocean floor, industrial waste or run-off. Students then simulate an oil spill and calculate the costs of various clean-up methods. A student fact sheet is also provided. The lesson plan is most appropriate for middle and high school students and can be adapted to meet state or national standards in biology, chemistry and social studies.

Students will learn about greenhouse pollutants. They will examine how these pollutants either intensify or are intensified by the urban heat islands effects. This lesson is best suited for grades 5-6 and adheres to Utah State Core Objectives.