by Mark Madden
This issue's Planet Earth Pages feature activities that explore physical and biological features of oceans as well as seafaring history and technology. Ideas are presented in four grade-levels categories, but there may be activities in one of the adjacent age categories that can be adapted to your class. Have a look!
Fish!: Play a Marco-Polo game one child as a dolphin and the others as fish. To simulate hunting in murky water, the dolphin shuts its eyes and attempts to tag (eat) the fish. Now, give each fish a toy clicker and play again. Each time the dolphin says Fish! the fish must respond with a click. Which way did the dolphin have the greatest success? Compare numbers of fish that the dolphin ate each time. Discuss how wild dolphins echo-locate with clicks and other sounds.
Science
Staying afloat: Try to float everyday objects (inflated balloon, dollar bill, etc.) in a tank of freshwater. Ask children to speculate on the reasons that some float and others do not. Are there animals or plants that float or sink for the same reasons? Add a large quantity of salt to the water and try to float the same objects. Do they float more easily? Why?
Art
Sea turtle nests: Make a model of a sea turtle nest as an exhibit for the classroom while exploring the endangered sea turtle's natural history. Use clay for baby turtles and ping-pong balls for eggs. Cut off the top half of a five-gallon water bottle, and then cut the top in half longitudinally, including the neck. Invert it into a 10-gallon aquarium to simulate a cross-section view of a nesting cavity. Seal the edges of the bottle against the front of the aquarium with double-sided foam tape or caulk. Put eggs and the hardened and painted clay turtles in the cavity, and fill the aquarium around the cavity with sand. As you make the model, discuss the size of hatchlings, survival rates, ability of baby sea turtles to survive without their parents, and how nests are constructed. A great book to read before the activity is Sea Turtle Journey: The Story of a Loggerhead Turtle by Lorraine A. Jay and Katie Lee (ISBN 1-56-899-89-4).
Social Studies
Ocean careers: Have an ocean career dress-up day when the children dress as sailors, divers, anglers, submariners, clammers, ocean researchers, and others. Have students explain their jobs and how special outfits and equipment help them do their work.
Language Arts
What's in a name? Show students photos of sea creatures which have names that match their body shapes, such as swordfish, horseshoe crab or blowfish. Then show photos of other sea creatures and ask students to give them names according to their features. Use the new names along with the real names of the animals to create simple poems. An example might be: A pink conch shell, Is like a strawberry ice cream cone, But it doesn't smell, nor does it taste like one.
Math
Amazing measures: Find information on the largest fish, mammal and invertebrate in the ocean. Measure and stake out the length of the animals in the schoolyard. Have students measure themselves and calculate how many of their body lengths it would take to measure up. This calculation may also be done with weight.
Science
Fruits de la mer: Have each student bring in a prepared dish which has ingredients from the sea. Discuss how much of our foodcomes from the oceans and have students research the species they used in their recipes. Award prizes for the most creative recipe, most unusual sea creature or plant used, etc. Eat your homework!
Overfishing: Research and discuss modern fishing methods and why bill fish, tuna, Atlantic cod, Pacific salmon, and others have been overfished. Ask the students what they could do to change this. Some ideas may be not ordering ocean fish in a restaurant or store, asking local restaurants to take the fish off their menus, writing letters to educate legislators and regulatory agencies, or writing an article for the local newspaper to bring attention to the issue.
Art
Finding your depth: Draw a mural of a cross section of the ocean from surface to deep sea, including a beach. Ask each student to research the ideal ecological niche, or preferred habitat, of an ocean animal and paint or draw the animal they are researching. When the drawings are ready, tell the students in general terms what environmental conditions exist at each level on the mural. For example, at the benthic level there is no sunlight and tremendous pressure. One by one, have students place the animals on the mural and explain what adaptations allow it to live at that level. Some of the animals move through different levels and some do not. Discuss why.
Social Studies
Bon voyage: Tell the students they are going on a two-week ocean voyage and that, because space is limited, they may bring only three items from home. The food and fresh water are already stowed safely on the ship. On the day of the imaginary sojourn, have students explain why they chose the items they did. Doing this exercise in teams encourages interesting debate about what is essential and what is not. Compile a class list of supplies and discuss how the class as a whole did in preparing for the voyage. Then study ships' supply lists or archeological records of ships' contents from long ago to compare what you chose to what ancient mariners took with them (museums, local archaeologists, National Geographic articles, or land offices for historical ships may be of help). How does your ship's supply list vary from the historical supply list, and why? How would students' lives on the voyage today differ from those of sailors long ago?
Language Arts
Monstrous fables?: Read tales of fabled sea monsters such as Leviathan, the Kraken, or Scylla and Charybdis. Were these monsters only imaginary or could they have been based on real animals? Why are these giant sea creatures often depicted as bloodthirsty and evil? Are the large creatures which do exist horrible behemoths or are they just specially adapted for living where they do? Manta rays, Megamouth and Whale sharks, Arctic jellyfish, Deep Sea Anglerfish, and the Giant Squid are examples of large creatures with fascinating adaptations. Have students write original stories or rewrite traditional tales, which feature giant sea creatures and are based on the creatures' actual habits.
Math
Ocean superlatives: After looking at a world map which shows physical features, have students create a chart showing the deepest depth of the ocean, the highest oceanic mountain, the highest land mountain, and the lowest point on land. How do these superlatives compare?
Science
Products of the sea: Bring to class various products that come from the sea, or visit a local store to investigate such products. Calcium pills (crushed oyster shells), toothpaste (carrageen seaweed), and aquarium filters (diatoms) are good examples. Challenge students to develop imaginary new products using the sea as a source. The products must be supported with a plan that details where the raw material will be found, how it will be harvested, how the marketing will be done, and scientific facts that support the notion that the product will actually do what it is advertised to do. Review the products as a class. Were they harvested in a sustainable way? Is the resource inexhaustible?
Art
Predator/prey adaptations: Experiment with various materials (cardboard, clay, wood) to build mobiles depicting a predator fish attacking a school of prey fish. Discuss possible reasons for the shapes and colors of the fish, the placement and
variation of fins, the schooling behavior of prey fish, and predator/prey relationships.
History/Social Studies
Pirate profession: Research pirate lore and compare fact and fiction. Were all pirates outlaws who were in it only for themselves or were their activities sometimes government sanctioned? Do famous pirate activities, like burying treasure, make sense given pirates' lifestyles? Are there any examples to be found of modern-day pirates?
Language Arts
Nautical expressions: Have students brainstorm and compile a list of words and expressions which appear to have nautical origins, such as deep six, three sheets to the wind, and even-keeled. Refer to dictionaries of nautical terms to investigate the original meanings of these expressions. Why do sailors find it necessary to have such a specialized language? In small groups, have students compose and share poems or short stories using as many nautical expressions as possible.
Math
Design a hatchery: Visit a fish hatchery or contact fisheries agents for information about species commonly raised in your area, the optimum environments for eggs and fry, and where the young fish go after leaving the hatchery. Design an imaginary fish hatchery for a particular species of fish which will be reared for a specific purpose, such as for food, game or genetic stock. Calculate how much area your hatchery will need, the aeration and flow rates, the amount of food needed to raise the fish to various sizes, and the number of fish you will be raising. (See also "The Steveston Fish Hatchery," Green Teacher 56, which describes the design, operation and curriculum linked to a working salmon hatchery in a British Columbia high school.) Expand on the activity by having students do some of the same population calculations that scientists do to determine allowable catches in natural fisheries. This information is available from any agency mandated to protect fishpopulations in your area.
Science
Geology in a grain of sand: Collect and compare grains of sand from different areas of a beach, creek or river. Are they the same size or shape? What is the parent material? What does this tell you about geological conditions, geographical conditions, and energy of nearby water where the sand was collected?
Art/Design
Marine architecture: Because space is limited on ships, designers have devised ingenious ways to maximize its use. The ultimate example may be the modern submarine. Study marine architecture (boat design) and use the same concepts to draw up a plan for and, if possible, construct a model of a space-efficient house. If people used space more efficiently, could they build comfortable homes with fewer resources? Discuss whether or not any of these space-saving nautical design concepts could become the wave of the future in building houses. What would need to happen in order for your design to become popular?
Social Studies
Create an island community: In order for students to learn about the extraordinary quantity of resources required to build a
modern community, draw a map of an imaginary or real island and have the students plan an island community where they will all live. Give them time to address all infrastructure they will need (roads, energy, water, wastewater, recycling, trash, etc.). Would needs and solutions change if the island were thousands of miles from the nearest continent? If it were on the mainland? How easy is the decision-making process?
Language Arts
Seafarers' tales: Interview someone who has sailed a great distance on the ocean, survived a hurricane, or served on an oceangoing naval vessel. Videotape the interview and make a copy for your school's media center.
Gray whale debate: Although the Pacific gray whale was hunted nearly to extinction in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, protection measures have resulted in healthy increases in populations in recent years. Have students research, write about and debate the current controversy over allowing Makah hunters toresume their traditional hunt of gray whales on the Pacific northwest coast. Newspapers, the internet, native rights groups, and wildlife protection organizations are likely sources for up-to-date information and opinion on both sides of this ongoing issue.
Mark Madden is Director of the Anne Springs Close Greenway inFort Mill, South Carolina.