In the Web-based game Kure Waste Chase, students take on the part of an Ocean Adventures expedition member volunteering for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and explore various habitats (beach, water surface and underwater) to collect as much harmful marine debris as possible in a limited amount of time. Use the tips and handouts below to turn the Kure Waste Chase game into a structured learning activity for your students.

Corals, like other living animals, require a particular range of environmental conditions to survive. In this lab, students examine sea surface temperature, depth, salinity, and aragonite saturation data to discover coral reefs' favored environments.

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In the previous lab, students explored the characteristics of the ocean environment in which coral reefs thrive. Unfortunately,there are a number of factors, both natural and anthropogenic (resulting from human activities), that can alter the ocean environment and threaten the health of coral reef ecosystems. In this activity, students will examine the three main factors that disrupt corals.

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Aquaculture is the most rapidly growing food-production industry in the world. In Part A of this investigation, students examine and analyze U.S. and global aquaculture data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Fisheries and Aquaculture database. In Part B, students examine global trends in aquaculture production and learn about aquaculture methods and their associated environmental impacts. In Part C, students use Google Earth to analyze before and after satellite images of the Pacific coast of Honduras to illustrate how aquaculture is altering coastlines.

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This activity is a longer project that involves using inquiry to find out what kinds of aquatic animals live in our school pond. Students use direct observation, journaling, outdoor classroom techniques, research skills, collaboration, and service learning to learn about their question.

In this video from WOSU Columbus, learn about the types of communities of plants, animals, birds and fish that abound in wetlands.

Trees grow all around us. Sometimes they are in large forests and sometimes they are single trees along the road or in our schoolyards. In this storyline, students explore cultural connections with trees, learn about the characteristics of trees, and discover what trees need to grow through handson activities, art, and literacy integration.

In this video from Outdoor Nevada, Brian Wignall speaks with an ornithologist about the peregrine falcon, a majestic and endangered species that is one of the fastest animals in the world.

The deep continental margins were once perceived as monotonous mud slopes of limited ecological or environmental concern. Technological advances now reveal unexpected diversity, with a mosaic of lush habitats and ecosystems that support varied and unusual species fundamental to the health of the ocean and our own lives. Join Scripps biological oceanographer Lisa Levin as she reveals how changes in ocean temperature and chemistry, as well as growing economic opportunities, are placing new pressures on deep-ocean ecosystems, just as we are getting to know them. (56 minutes)

Join research oceanographer and photographer Dale Stokes for a global photographic journey featuring ships, submarines, underwater habitats, and both poles. This presentation includes a decade of images documenting exotic locations underwater and topside and a variety of unusual vessels and research instruments. (58 minutes)

While often treated as distinct and independent ecosystems, marine and terrestrial habitats are intimately connected through a number of pathways, both natural and unnatural. Join University of San Diego biological oceanographer and Scripps graduate Drew Talley, as he discusses the ways in which these linkages are formed (and broken), and how connectivity across academic, public, and government sectors can help us to better understand coastal habitats. (55 minutes)

In this video adapted from Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, learn about the prairie dog, the importance of its role in its ecosystem, and how it is affected by an ever-growing human population.

In this video segment from NatureScene, observe dragonflies and mayflies near Cedar Creek at Congaree Swamp National Park.

This video segment from NatureScene describes the characteristics of redwood trees at Redwood National Park.

In this video segment from NatureScene, discover some reptiles in the swamp forest ecosystem at Congaree Swamp National Park.

This is a large-scale participatory activity used to prompt students to review what they have learned and to think actively and cooperatively about the connections between the systems we have discussed prior to the activity. It produces a large, visual product students can reflect on.

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In this field exercise for an introductory environmental science course, students investigate plant cover and type in a riparian area using transects. The final assignment is a lab report that includes a summary data table, a graph of cover types along their transect and an analysis of riparian health.

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Learn about root systems of trees in the Congaree Swamp National Park in this video segment from NatureScene.

This performance assessment aligns with NGSS Performance Expectation 2.LS4.1 and is intended to be used as an interim assessment. These assessments can either be used summatively, as an end of learning activity, or formatively, utilizing student responses to identify next instructional steps

In this exercise students work with light, temperature, and phytoplankton biomass proxy (chlorophyll a concentration) data to;

Become more skilled in reading and interpreting semi log graphs, temperature profiles, and time series plots.
Practice unit conversions.
Gain an understanding of k, the attenuation coefficient for nondirectional light.
See how the depth of the photic zone and the surface mixed layer varies seasonally at temperate latitudes and how this relates to seasonal phytoplankton productivity dynamics.

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