Exploring Ocean Mysteries is a curriculum that makes it easy to teach the seven Ocean Literacy Principles while meeting NGSS, Common Core and Climate Literacy standards. Lessons are targeted to middle grades and adaptable for grades 4-12. They use the National Marine Sanctuary System as an engaging backdrop that helps students understand their importance for exploration, research, Indigenous cultures and more.
Ocean Literacy Essential Principle 5: The ocean supports a great diversity of life and ecosystems.
In the Modeling Coral Reef Ecosystems: Rainforests of the Sea lesson, students research an organism from coral reef ecosystems. They will determine which organisms are producers, consumers and detritivores. They will also identify physical and behavioral adaptations aiding survival and reproduction. Students will present their findings to the class, then create kinesthetic and visual ecosystem models, incorporating other organisms and nonliving things that are important for the ecosystem. Through their models and class discussion, students will demonstrate how biodiversity makes ecosystems more resilient.
Lesson Plan
Students will:
- Research an organism from a coral reef ecosystem and write about its interactions with other organisms in the ecosystem.
- Create a kinesthetic model of a food chain and coral reef ecosystem, showing how organisms are linked to one another by the transfer of matter and energy, as well as other interactions.
- Show visually and explain verbally how energy from the Sun and photosynthesis form the foundation of most marine ecosystems.
- Create a visual model of a coral reef ecosystem, including the interactions in the web of life, the factors creating healthy ecosystems, and biodiversity.
Review some of the coral reef organisms and select a few that are interesting to you. Research them, then record what you learn about your organism below and/or in science notebooks.
Explore an example of a concept map for a coral reef ecosystem.
Following the student’s brief presentation about their organism, have their classmates provide feedback using this rubric.
Review this coral reef organism chart to see what species eat and what eats them.
