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10 to 30 minutes Hands-On Activities

These activities can be performed in 10 to 30 minutes (not including setup and cleanup)
A Hurricane’s Storm Surge Affects Our Estuaries
Students construct a coastal landmass from sand and add features such as tidal creeks and barrier islands. They then add varying amounts of water to see the effects of storm surge on coastal land masses.
Subject: Ocean Geology, Human Impact Grade: 5 - adult Duration: 20 - 60 min
Ocean Literacy Principle: #1, #3, #6, #7
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
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
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
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
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
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
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 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
The Carbon Cycle Game
A kinetic game in which students take a trip through some of the reservoirs of the carbon cycle. Students visit stations representing stops along the carbon cycle, collecting beads along the way. They then diagram and compare their journeys, learning about biogeochemical processes, photosynthesis and respiration.
Subject: Ocean Chemistry Grade: 8 - 12 Duration: 20 - 45 min
Ocean Literacy Principle: #2, #3