NOAA Sea to Sky: Education resource database

An infographic outlining the most common types of plastic marine debris, how they enter the marine environments, and their impacts.

This artistic graphic depicts rain and wind moving debris into waterways.

How do human choices regarding the consumption and disposal of plastics impact ecosystems and our communities and what actions can we take to minimize those impacts? The Wave of Plastic Project includes five lessons to tackle this question. This unit helps students make sense of the core ideas related to issues of plastic pollution (particularly those relevant to the Chesapeake Bay watershed) by engaging in authentic interdisciplinary practice culminating in comprehensive, student-driven, informed action projects. 
 

This collection of six separate lessons includes tutorial videos for each themed lesson, except ecological field modeling.

1. Density dynamics: Experiment by creating four model bodies of water and observe how they compare. 
2. Ecological field monitoring: Get into the field and investigate the ecosystems in your local community using field equipment.
3. Glaciers: Investigate how topography came to be through glacial activity 33,000 years ago. Use geologic and physical tests to uncover the evidence left behind by the Laurentide Ice Sheet. Track and hunt down the path laid by ice giants of the past.  
4. Marine debris & microplastics: Discover how marine debris impacts the environment as you experiment with buoyancy and design a model ocean with circular currents.
5. Watersheds: Explore how we impact our water systems and the watersheds that sustain our population. Create a model coastal community and observe how pollutants travel within a watershed
6. Weather & climate: Explore the differences between weather and climate, look at real-time NOAA weather and climate data, experiment with sea level rise, and create coastal resiliency models.

This resource collection from NOAA Education explores watersheds, flooding, and pollution. The water in your watershed quenches thirst, grows food, washes clothes, and powers industry. However, too much water can cause raging floods and flush pollutants and soil into rivers and streams. How do we interact with the water in our watershed?

Flooding. It’s often associated with heavy rains and severe storms. But with rising sea levels, flooding in some coastal communities is now occurring during high tides and sunny days.

This series of standards-aligned lesson plans explores issues related to marine debris and environmental stewardship. Each of these lessons focus on experiential, project-based learning to support student engagement and action. Each of these lessons are also available in Spanish or in a virtual format. 

Environmental hazards — such as wildfire, flood, and drought — are increasingly affecting communities in Colorado. With this rise in hazardous events, there is a pressing need for communities to become more resilient through education, preparation, and planning. The Hazard Education, Awareness, and Resilience Task Force (HEART Force) lessons and education resources engage rural Colorado middle and high school students, teachers, and communities to take proactive steps in preparing for and responding to natural hazards.

Dive into tutorials on corals, estuaries, global positioning, pollution, ocean currents, and tides. Learn the basics about these topics and how they are a part of NOAA's work.

Report projects a century of sea level rise in 30 years.