NOAA Sea to Sky: Education resource database

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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.”

 

Audience

Grade 3-5
Grade 6-8
Grade 9-12

Subject

Earth science

Resource type

Activities, lessons, and units
Lesson plan
Module/unit

Topic

Climate
Climate change
Climate data monitoring
Cryosphere
Freshwater
Watersheds, flooding, and pollution
Ocean chemistry
Ocean currents
Ocean pollution and marine debris
Weather and atmosphere
Hurricanes
Weather observations

NGSS DCI

ESS2: Earth’s Systems
ESS3: Earth and Human Activity
ETS1: Engineering Design
LS2: Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics
PS1: Matter and Its Interactions

Special categories

Grantee resource
Instructional strategies
Hands-on
Outdoor education
Uses data

Collection name

B-WET grantee

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.