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Welcome to our searchable database of education resources created by NOAA and our partners. If you have issues or feedback, please let us know by filling out our feedback form offsite link or sending us an email at education@noaa.gov.
Tips for using the database
Searching for terms that contain more than one word.
Use quotation marks around multiple-word phrases you want to search. For example, searching “climate change” will return resources about “climate change.” If you don’t include quotation marks, it will return resources that include either the word “climate” or “change.”
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Expanding categories.
Each category has a plus sign (+) to expand the available filters within the category. Some categories have subcategories. Look for the plus sign (+) to see more filterable items.
Making the most of the filterable categories.
There are several categories you can use to filter through the resources.
- “Audience” filters by grade level, including postsecondary education, and also has a filter option for adult learners.
- “Subject” filters by the general subject area, such as Arts, Earth science, Math, and more.
- “Resource Type” filters allow you to look for resources ranging from activities, lessons, and units to videos or background information.
- “Topic” filters are more specific than subject. They include filters such as climate, freshwater, and weather and atmosphere.
- “NGSS DCI” filters by Next Generation Science Standards Disciplinary Core Ideas. Only activities, lessons, and units (and no other resource types) have NGSS DCI associated with them. Not all activities, lessons, and units have this alignment.
- “Special categories” offers additional filters for specific types of resources and topics, such as printables, resources available in other languages, and safety/preparedness.
Exploring activities, lessons, and units.
Activities, lessons, and units are bundled together under resource type. You can expand to filter for only one type. Activity/demonstration refers to straightforward activities with little or no classroom strategy or pedagogy. Lesson refers to structured activities that are intended for a classroom audience. Module/unit refers to a collection of lessons that can build upon each other over multiple class periods or times of instruction; some people might call this a curriculum.
Understanding instructional strategies.
Within special categories, there is an expandable filter called “instructional strategies.” This includes special filters that are applicable for some lessons, activities, and units, including things like “outdoor education” and “uses data.”
- Activities, lessons, and units (27)
- Arts and crafts (2)
- Background information (40)
- Career profile (18)
- Citizen science project (3)
- Collection (46)
- Coloring/activity book (12)
- Data product (17)
- Job seeker resource (1)
- Multimedia (86)
- NOAA Education resource collection (2)
- Poster/brochure (3)
- Related story (23)
- Climate (275)
- Freshwater (164)
- Marine life
(481)
- Adaptations (11)
- Aquatic food webs (58)
- Coral reef ecosystems (85)
- Conservation (31)
- Ecosystems (116)
- Endangered species (20)
- Entanglement (17)
- (-) Fish (99)
- Fisheries and seafood (111)
- Invasive marine species (9)
- Invertebrates (90)
- Life in an estuary (36)
- Marine mammals (135)
- Plankton (15)
- Salmon (23)
- (-) Sea turtles (64)
- Seabirds (31)
- Seaweed, algae, and aquatic plants (24)
- Sharks, rays, and skates (39)
- NOAA careers (29)
- Ocean and coasts
(665)
- Earth processes (16)
- Harmful algal blooms (19)
- Maritime archaeology and history (35)
- Ocean acidification (66)
- Ocean chemistry (16)
- Ocean currents (95)
- Ocean exploration (81)
- Ocean floor features (84)
- Ocean pollution and marine debris (176)
- Ocean sounds (15)
- (-) Oil spills (58)
- Rip currents (22)
- Sea level rise (41)
- Tides (59)
- Tsunamis (56)
- Space (50)
- Technology and engineering (288)
- Weather and atmosphere (327)
- ESS2: Earth’s Systems (1)
- ESS3: Earth and Human Activity (5)
- ETS1: Engineering Design (3)
- LS1: From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes (4)
- LS2: Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics (5)
- LS3: Heredity: Inheritance and Variation of Traits (1)
- LS4: Biological Evolution: Unity and Diversity (3)
- PS1: Matter and Its Interactions (2)
- PS3: Energy (1)
- B-WET grantee (1)
- Bite-sized Science webinar series (1)
- CLEAN climate and energy education resource collection (1)
- Diving Deeper podcast (1)
- ELP grantee (2)
- Exploring our fluid Earth (1)
- FishWatch sustainable seafood database (1)
- FishWatch sustainable seafood video gallery (1)
- Fun facts about sea life (1)
- Making Waves podcast (1)
- Marine Careers: A Sea Grant guide to ocean opportunities (1)
- National Marine Ecosystem Status (1)
- National marine sanctuaries coloring pages and puzzles (2)
- National Marine Sanctuaries Webinar Series: Archived webinars (2)
- NOAA and the Octonauts podcast (1)
- NOAA Fisheries YouTube (1)
- NOAA Fisheries: Find a species (1)
- NOAA Live! 4 Kids (1)
- NOAA Marine Debris Program (2)
- NOAA Ocean Podcast (1)
- Ocean Exploration careers (1)
- Ocean Exploration educational materials (1)
- Ocean facts (1)
- Ocean Today (36)
- Octonauts Corner (1)
- Oregon Marine Scientist and Educator Alliance (ORSEA) (1)
- Salmon Heroes (1)
- Sanctuaries 360 virtual dives (1)
- Sanctuaries LIVE Interactions (1)
- Sanctuaries media gallery (1)
- Sea Grant podcasts (2)
- Sea-Earth-Atmosphere (SEA) resources (1)
- Signals of Spring ACES (Animals in Curriculum-based Ecosystem Studies) (1)
- Sustainable fisheries video gallery (1)
- Sustainable seafood video galley (1)
- Teacher at Sea (2)
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NGSS DCI
This guide includes eight elementary-level lessons, inspired by topics from the IMAX film Ocean Odyssey. Watching the film is not required for these lessons, but may enhance students’ learning experience of the topics presented in the activities. Educators can view a special extended preview offsite link of the film. Understanding the ocean and its ecosystems is essential to comprehending and protecting this planet. We must all be stewards for a cleaner, healthier, and more sustainable ocean. The activities in this guide will help lead you and your students to learn more about our ocean planet, its myriad of wonders beneath the waves, and work to maintain healthy ecosystems that are resilient in the face of change.
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Watch. Explore. Discover. View the beauty and mystery of the ocean realm captured on video around the globe. Videos are organized into collections to help educators.
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We think of oil as being a single substance, but there actually are many different kinds of oil. Oil types differ from each other in their viscosity, volatility, and toxicity.
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Marine debris has major impacts on all kinds of marine animals, especially sea turtles. These iconic animals can confuse plastic bags and balloons for jellyfish, their favorite food. In this interactive video program, students can virtually participate in a simulated sea turtle necropsy, or animal dissection, learn how trash can get to the ocean and impact sea turtles, and learn how we can all help stop marine debris! Throughout the video, there are places to pause and discuss observations and predictions with students. For more information, additional activities, and lesson extensions, please see the Program Activities Guide.
Please be aware that the model dissection may upset sensitive viewers, especially younger students.
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In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the National Marine Sanctuary System, the best of the best educational materials for an elementary school audience have been compiled in collaboration with the National Park Trust. Discover Spectacular with these education and outreach digital materials focused on 10 exciting topics: climate change, ocean acidification, marine debris, kelp forest ecosystems, coral reef ecosystems, sea turtles, sharks, whales and ocean noise, seabirds, and shipwrecks.
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This resource collection from NOAA Education explores sea turtles and conservation. Sea turtles breathe air, like all reptiles, and have streamlined bodies with large flippers. They are well adapted to life in the ocean and inhabit tropical and subtropical ocean waters around the world. Of the seven species of sea turtles, six are found in U.S. waters; these include the green, hawksbill, Kemp's ridley, leatherback, loggerhead, and olive ridley.
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This resource collection from NOAA Education explores what oil is, where it comes from, how oil spills can happen, and what NOAA does in response to these events. Oil is an ancient fossil fuel that we use to heat our homes, generate electricity, and power large sectors of our economy. But when oil accidentally spills into the ocean, it can cause big problems. Oil spills can harm sea creatures, ruin a day at the beach, and make seafood unsafe to eat. It takes sound science to clean up the oil, measure the impacts of pollution, and help the ocean recover.
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Sea turtles are a key part of marine ecosystems worldwide, but they face many threats today. Explore a collection of NOAA webinars, a virtual reality dive, lesson plans, videos, posters, web stories, and more to gain a deeper understanding of sea turtle species and NOAA's efforts within the sanctuary system to protect them and limit the threats they face.
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Most people associate sea turtles with warm, tropical destinations. You might be surprised to learn that some sea turtle species can also be found in the frigid ocean waters off Alaska.
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On Dive in With NOAA Fisheries, a conversation with Barbara Schroeder, the National Sea Turtle Coordinator in the NOAA Fisheries Office of Protected Resources. Hear about sea turtles, bycatch, and the innovations and solutions getting implemented or developed thanks to some hard-working scientists at NOAA Fisheries, in coordination with industry.