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 4: The ocean makes Earth habitable.
In the Ocean Origins of Life lesson, students explore the evolution of marine organisms. They use cards showing images of extinct organisms and attempt to match brief descriptions with the correct organisms. Then they try to order these from simplest to most complex anatomical structures and body systems. They hypothesize which organisms (or group to which the organism belongs) evolved first. Then they match living species with their extinct relatives, noting similar traits. Students research where in national marine sanctuaries the living species are found and create a sanctuary poster featuring the organism. The teacher facilitates discussion about the importance of the ocean in the evolution of life.
Lesson Plan
Students will:
- Analyze and look for patterns in the level of complexity of anatomical structures in organisms and hypothesize about the chronological order of organism appearance in the fossil record.
- Construct an explanation for the anatomical similarities and differences between modern and fossil organisms to infer evolutionary relationships.
- Understand that life originated in the ocean and organisms on Earth today are related by descent from common ancestors that evolved in the ocean.
Print copies of the “Ocean Origins of Life Organism Cards,” one set for groups of 2–3 students. Cut up the cards in advance and prepare to distribute them in two separate sets to each group.
Download and prepare to share the “Ocean Origins of Life” PowerPoint presentation.
