Océano Profundo 2018: Exploring Deep-Sea Habitats off Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands

Classroom Lessons

Classroom lessons and learning tools relevant to the expedition are listed below by grade level. Although some of these resources may have been developed for past expeditions conducted in other regions of the world ocean, the Focus Questions and Student Learning Objectives are applicable to the current expedition.

 

NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer Education Materials Collection

This lesson collection was developed to encourage educators and students to become personally involved with the voyages and discoveries of NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer – America’s first Federal ship dedicated to ocean exploration. The Education Materials Collection is presented in two volumes:

  • Volume 1: Why Do We Explore? (Grades 5-12)
    This volume of 16 lessons focuses on modern reasons for ocean exploration, providing background information on key topics of Ocean Exploration including Climate Change, Energy, Human Health, and Ocean Health.

  • Volume 2: How Do We Explore? (Grades 5-12)
    This volume of 11 lessons focuses on modern exploration tools used aboard the ship: telepresence, multibeam sonar, water column investigations and underwater robots.

  • Lecciones en español
    Traducción al español de las lecciones de Explorando el océano profundo con NOAA, el taller para el desarrollo profesional del educador.

 

Watching in 3-D

Grade Level: 9-12
Focus: Multibeam sonar (Physical/Earth Science)

Students explain how multibeam sonar uses the properties of sound waves in water for scientific research about topography of the ocean floor; and analyze and interpret multibeam sonar data to identify patterns in the distribution of seafloor features that contribute to scientific research about large-scale interactions in Earth’s systems.

To supplement the Watching in 3-D lesson, the activities listed below describe how geographical and mapping data marry with expedition website data and selected interactive Fledermaus scene files from key discoveries. The Digital Atlas can be used to obtain information about past NOAA Ocean Explorer expeditions, education resources associated with the expeditions, ship tracks, bathymetric maps, dive tracks, and more.