Funded by NOAA, the Ocean Sciences Curriculum Sequences are in-depth, kit-based curriculum units that deliver rich, standards-based content.

Ocean Sciences Curriculum Sequence for Grades 3-5

The Ocean Sciences Curriculum Sequence for Grades 3–5 contains three thematic units based on the Ocean Literacy: Essential Principles and Fundamental Concepts as well as the Ocean Literacy Scope & Sequence for Grades K–12. Each unit may be taught independently or as a progression of all three units and is appropriate for all three grades. The Grades 3–5 Sequence engages students in exploring ocean currents, features of the ocean floor, ocean habitats, ocean organism diversity, ocean food webs, adaptations to the ocean environment, and human interconnections with the ocean including exploration, technology, pollution and solutions. This upper elementary curriculum prepares students to understand the climate ocean connection and climate change curriculum they will be exposed to in middle school.

• Unit 1: What kind of place is the ocean? covers Earth and physical science themes about the ocean as a physical space with unique characteristics (e.g., features of the ocean floor; properties of ocean water such as salinity, temperature, and pressure; and ocean currents).
• Unit 2: What is life like in the ocean? covers life science themes, with a specific focus on food webs, habitats, and adaptations.
• Unit 3: How are humans and the ocean interconnected? covers life science and environmental science themes, with a specific focus on how humans use the ocean, pollution, fisheries, and how people can help care for life in the ocean.

Ocean Sciences Curriculum Sequence for Grades 6–8: Exploring the Ocean Climate Connection and Climate Change

OSS Grades 6–8 engages students in investigating climate change through the evolution of the ocean and atmosphere through Earth's history, movement of the atmosphere and ocean through density and air and water currents, the carbon cycle, and the ocean's relationship to climate and climate change. See the information below for an overview of the unit topics addressed in OSS 6–8. More information can be found at http://www.lawrencehallofscience.org/gems/CurriculumSequences.htm. The OSS Grades 6–8 Curriculum will be available in late Fall 2012.

• Unit 1: How do the ocean and atmosphere interact?

The ocean and atmosphere are closely interconnected through major Earth systems such as ocean and air currents, climate and weather patterns, the water cycle, and the flow and exchange of heat energy around the planet. In this unit, students learn about these connections through the lens of what sets water and air currents in motion, and how what happens in the ocean affects the atmosphere and vice versa. Students have many opportunities to delve into density - both as an observable phenomenon and on the molecular level. Students come to an understanding of how density relates to movement of water, air, and heat on Earth. Thermal expansion and the concept that water is a heat reservoir are also explored in relation to the ocean-atmosphere system.

• Unit 2: How does carbon flow through the ocean, land, and atmosphere?

An understanding of how carbon flows between carbon reservoirs in Earth's systems is crucial to understanding climate change, yet unfortunately, is often lacking among those debating this important issue. In this unit, students learn about how carbon flows from animals into the atmosphere through respiration, from the atmosphere into plants through photosynthesis, from the atmosphere into the ocean through absorption, into fossil fuels and sediments through decay, and from fossil fuels into the atmosphere through combustion. They learn that the flow of carbon into the atmosphere has been increasing in recent decades through the burning of fossil fuels, causing an imbalance in the carbon cycle. They also learn how this increase of carbon in the atmosphere has led to an increase of carbon dioxide in oceans, causing ocean acidification, and affecting ocean life.

• Unit 3: What are the causes and effects of climate change?

In this unit students explore the causes and effects of climate change as well as possible solutions. Through investigations of topics such as the greenhouse effect, melting glaciers and sea ice, sea level rise, human contributions to rising atmospheric CO2 levels, effects on organisms, and ocean-atmosphere connections, students gain an understanding of the underlying causes of climate change and how pervasive its effects are on the Earth system as a whole. In the last few sessions students revisit the human contributions to climate change and the carbon cycle they learned about in Unit 2 in order to brainstorm, learn about, and communicate with others about personal, local, and global solutions and adaptations to climate change.