Our Magnificent Ocean

• In this multi-day lesson, students will investigate what is living in a drop of ocean water, the importance of phytoplankton to all life on Earth, and how climate change affects marine life.
• Students will use microscopes, explore food webs, hear from a California-based marine scientist, make a model to illustrate ocean acidification, and create art to demonstrate their learning.

Positives

• The video of the interview with the marine scientist from California will inspire students to consider a science career.
• Students add their thoughts about what is in ocean water to a droplet graphic in different colors, giving them a visual representation of how their knowledge has grown throughout the lessons.

Additional Prerequisites

• Teachers will need different materials for this lesson, including Foldscopes or microscopes and flower petals.
• Use the links in the Teacher Overview doc to access the worksheets and activity sheets, as some of the links in the presentation notes do not work.
• The "What Do I Eat?" worksheet link is broken.
  
• It may benefit students to know how molecules interact to create new compounds.
• The QR code on the presentation slides may not work.

Differentiation

• Make connections to plants on land that also photosynthesize and have students investigate the importance of all photosynthesizers to life on Earth.
  
• Teachers can use the vocabulary terms at the bottom of the Sequence and Flow graphic and pair them with representative pictures to help students access them.
• Have students write short stories about phytoplankton to demonstrate their learning.
• Teachers can use the breathing exercise to introduce students to breathing as a coping strategy.

This resource addresses the listed standards. To fully meet standards, search for more related resources.