marine biology Archives - Secondary Sparks

Marine Vertebrates Activities for Middle School Science

Michelle Rudolph — Wed, 08 Jan 2025 02:40:14 +0000

Looking for fun and engaging marine vertebrates activities to add to your marine science lessons? You’re in the right place!

Whether your students are dissecting a shark or designing their own deep-sea creature, these activities make learning memorable and interactive.

Here are five of my favorite marine vertebrates activities to help your students dive deeper into the world of ocean science. Thousands of science teachers have used these five marine vertebrate activities to make their lessons unforgettable, too!

Marine Vertebrates Unit Bundle

Want to dive into marine science without all the prep? Explore my Marine Vertebrates Unit Bundle! Get everything you need to keep students engaged from start to finish.

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Feeling overwhelmed by the thought of planning a whole marine science course? I get it. I was there—excited to teach but totally lost when it came to organizing my lessons. After searching high and low for a pacing guide (and finding nothing useful), I built my own.

If you’re looking for a week-by-week plan with fun project ideas, labs, and activities to make your life easier, grab my free pacing guide here. It’s the guide I wish I’d had when I started!

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1. Dive Into Dissections (The Marine Activity Students Won’t Forget)

If you are able to get the materials, I highly recommend doing a dissection in your class. Nothing beats a hands-on experience, and actually working with marine organisms gives students a deeper understanding that’s hard to get anywhere else.

My personal favorite? Dogfish! When you tell students they’ll be dissecting a shark, the excitement is next level. If budget constraints make this tricky, don’t worry – there are plenty of interactive dissection simulations available online that can be a great alternative.

2. Create Your Own Marine Organism

Challenge your students to design their own marine marine vertebrate with at least three survival adaptations for their chosen ocean zone. Assign them an ocean zone, environmental challenge, or diet, and watch them craft some incredible creatures. The organism should have realistic adaptations to survive.

Whether they draw it or build a 3D model, this project lets students rise to the challenge and surprise you with what they have learned throughout the year in marine science. This project works best at the end of the year when your students have learned the key marine biology concepts. As a result, your students will have maximum knowledge from all units you’ve taught.

3. Comparative Physiology Discussions

This one is simple but powerful. Have students compare the anatomy and adaptations of different marine organisms.

Ask questions like:

Why does one species have sharp teeth while another filters water?
How do various vertebrates survive in the deep sea or near coral reefs?

These conversations spark curiosity and help students understand how each organism fits into the larger marine ecosystem.

4. Marine Vertebrates Collaborative ABC Book

If we’re being honest, you could spend an entire year teaching about the different marine vertebrate species. But, as we know, the school year always flies by and time is limited.

This is why I created this Marine Organisms ABC Book Project. I wanted to give my students the chance to dive deeper into the fascinating world of marine life without taking up too much class time.

This project combines research, creativity, and collaboration to help students explore marine vertebrates while working together to create something meaningful.

Each student is assigned a letter of the alphabet and chooses a marine organism corresponding to their letter. They’ll research key details about their chosen species and create a page for the class book. Once every letter is complete, your class will have its own unique ABC book, showcasing their collective work and new knowledge about marine life!

The best part? This project is fully editable and no-prep, making it easy for you to implement. Prefer digital tools? A Google Slides version is also included for creating a digital book, perfect for virtual learning or paperless classrooms.

5. Marine Organism Bingo

If you need a whole-group activity to review the characteristics of marine vertebrates across various phyla, classes, and orders, Marine Animals Bingo is for you! This low-prep activity is perfect for classes of up to 45 students. Simply print the materials and you’re ready to go.

You can customize the game by using bingo cards with images or text-only cards to encourage deeper recall.

Adding these marine vertebrates activities to your marine science unit is a guaranteed way to boost engagement and make marine science something your students look forward to. Whether they’re getting their hands dirty with dissections or creating a new marine organism, these projects help make learning fun and meaningful.

By mixing creative projects, discussions, and collaborative activities, you’ll create a classroom environment where students are curious, excited, and ready to dive into marine science. Ready to make your marine science unit unforgettable? Choose one of these tested activities and watch your students dive deep into learning.

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Activities For the End of the Year in Your Marine Science Class

Michelle Rudolph — Fri, 26 Apr 2024 19:13:26 +0000

As the school year wraps up and all the testing chaos ends, you may be thinking “what can I do for the rest of the school year?” “How can I keep my students engaged?” Well, I believe the end of the year in marine science is all about having some fun while still keeping the activities content-focused. Here are some of my favorite ways to wrap up the end of the year in marine science.

Did you Miss Anything?

This one may be simple but just looking at your pacing guide and curriculum map can be really helpful here. What are some of those big projects or labs that you put off because you didn’t have enough time earlier in the year? The end of the year is the perfect time to revisit those activities.

Contributions to Marine Science Project

This is a fun project that I usually like to assign at the beginning of the year but I have done it at the end of the year as well. The Contributions to Marine Science Project is a research project that allows students to learn more about inventions and technologies that have made the lives of marine scientists easier and advanced research. The students get assigned a contribution (or you can let them choose) from a list. Once they have theirs chosen, they begin to do research about it. What does it do? What does it look like? Who uses it? How does it help marine scientists?

Once they have their background knowledge about the invention, they take on a marketing role. Their job is to pretend they are on the marketing team for this invention or advancement. They must design an advertisement for their contribution that shows what it is capable of and convince others why it’s so helpful. If you want to take things up a notch, you can add a Shark Tank twist. Have your students present their advertisements as if they are on the show. This always made it a bit more fun!

Plastic Pollution and the Coral Reef PBL

This is an excellent long-term project for marine science. It covers coral reefs, biodiversity, ecology and the impact of plastic pollution on coral reefs. It reviews many of the concepts you have gone over throughout the year and ties it all together. You can learn more about the project here or grab the resource for the project here. You will need about 2-3 weeks to complete this PBL, making it perfect for the end of the year.

Here is the quick summary of the project plan:

1. Introducing the project. This really sets the tone for the unit and keeps students on track with a goal in mind. I like to write the question (How does plastic pollution affect the biodiversity of life on coral reefs?) on the board and come back to it throughout the project.

2. Create a sketch. Have students create a sketch of what they think a healthy, biodiverse coral reef looks like. They can apply what they know about coral reefs here.

3. Research. Students will begin researching the coral reef and the current state of things. This can be done individually, with a partner, or even in small groups depending on your class size and dynamics.

4. Create a new sketch. After researching, have students create another sketch that represents the “true” state of coral reefs based on what they learned.

5. Create a PSA. Now that students know why coral reefs are important and what is happening with coral reefs – they can inform others! Put students into groups to create a PSA about biodiversity and how plastic pollution has affected coral reefs.

6. Create an Action Plan. Finally, have students create an action plan that gets the school or community involved in efforts to reduce the plastic in the oceans. Their action plan will focus on why coral reefs are important and what the average citizen can do to help.

Polynesian Nautical Stick Charts

This is a fun project that ties in the history of marine science and early map making. Ancient Polynesians made their maps out of sea shells, sticks and other natural materials to create personalized maps that helped them with seafaring. With this Polynesian Nautical Stick Charts Project. With this project, Students will learn about Ancient Polynesian stick charts, how they were created, and their significance. Then, they will build their own map using various materials and include islands of their choice. Once they have created their own charts, they will trade with a classmate to see if they can be read and understood by others. This project will take a couple of class periods so that students get an idea of how to tie the sticks together.

You’ll need some supplies such as:

Kabob sticks

Sea shells

Clay

Beads

Strings

Build an Edible Coral Polyp

Students love a good food lab. They can be messy but they are fun and educational too! This Edible Coral Polyp Lab is a simple lab that you can do with students to review coral polyp anatomy. Students bring in different candies or snacks to create their coral polyp. However, the foods they use must represent the different parts of the anatomy for their coral polyp. Have your students review the anatomy, the function of each feature and how the food they choose represents that anatomical feature. This one was always a favorite in my marine science class!

Marine Animals Bingo

If you are looking for a way to have your students review characteristics of marine animals, this Marine Organisms Bingo Game is perfect. It is played similar to the traditional style of Bingo but, in order to win, students need to be able to identify and understand the characteristics of organisms in various phyla, classes and orders. As the teacher, you read off the characteristics and the students mark the correct organism on their Bingo card. Make the game easier by giving students game cards with images or make it more challenging by providing game cards without images.

Marine Animals ABC Book

One of my favorite projects is the ABC’s of Marine Vertebrates Book. This is a collaborative project in which each student’s contribution puts the whole project together. Each student gets a page of a book with a letter. The students have to find a marine vertebrate that matches that letter and research it’s characteristics. Then, they draw their animal and color it. Once all students are complete, you can place all the pages together in order, bind the book with string and there you have it! A book that your class made together. Sometimes, we donate the book to our local elementary school so that the younger students can enjoy it.

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4 of My Favorite Marine Science Picture Books

Michelle Rudolph — Wed, 31 May 2023 02:28:21 +0000

When it comes to picture books, you might think of little kids during literacy time. But picture books can actually be fun and informational for middle schoolers as well. In my experience, middle schoolers appreciate a chance to be a “kid again” and take a break from more challenging texts. Which is why I love using marine science picture books with middle schoolers.

Not only are picture books enjoyable, but they can make complex concepts accessible. One of my favorite ways to use science picture books is to introduce a new unit. It gets students engaged in the content and gives them basic background knowledge to build on.

Some of the links below are affiliate links. This means that, at zero cost to you, I will earn an affiliate commission if you click through the link and finalize a purchase.

My Favorite Science Picture Books

10 Little Rubber Ducks

A cargo ship is hit by a giant wave and a box of ten rubber ducks goes overboard. Because of the ocean currents, the ducks are sent in various directions and meet lots of marine life on their journey. This book is a cute way to introduce marine life and habitats, plus wind and currents.

I often use this book to introduce my Air-Sea Interactions unit.

Shark Lady: The True Story of How Eugenie Clark Became the Ocean’s Most Fearless Scientist

There are lots of misconceptions about sharks, and Eugenie Clark wanted to change that. In this science picture book, students will learn about a female scientist who devoted her life to researching sharks. One thing I really like about this story is how Eugenie actually gained an interest in sharks at a young age. I think it can be relatable for middle schoolers. I use this book during our Bony & Cartilaginous Fish unit.

Secrets of the Sea: The Story of Jeanne Power, Revolutionary Marine Scientist

What does a nineteenth-century dress maker have to do with science? Well, Jeanne Power changed the way we study underwater life. She built glass tanks to study animals and published her findings in scientific journals. At a time when women didn’t get much recognition in science, Jeanna made a large impact. This science picture book goes really well with our history of Marine Science unit at the beginning of the year.

The World of Coral Reefs: Explore and Protect the Natural Wonders of the Sea

This is a great book for helping students understand the power of coral reefs. During the story, Erin Spencer, a marine ecologist, covers the types of coral, their lifecycle, where they live, and more. This is a great book for introducing your Coral Reefs and Human Impact unit.

Want more tips for planning your marine science units? Grab the free Marine Science Pacing Guide for a week by week breakdown of what I teach throughout the year.

I hope you can see why I love using science picture books in the classroom. They are so many stories out there to choose from which can help you ease into a new unit or topic, while also getting your students engaged.

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A Pacing Guide for Teaching Marine Science

Michelle Rudolph — Thu, 05 Jan 2023 19:39:36 +0000

I get questions all the time about the pacing and units included in marine science, and it makes total sense! Many teachers who teach marine science were assigned the class randomly or with no prior experience. And because marine science is often taught as an elective course, there are not as many resources out there to help. If you are new to teaching marine science, let’s look at how to organize your course and a sample pacing guide.

Which Branch of Marine Science are You Teaching?

Before you can plan your pacing guide, you first need to figure out which branch of marine science you will focus on or if you will have a mix of both. There are two main branches of teaching marine science: oceanography and marine biology. Both of these could be a whole course on their own.

Oceanography studied the physical and chemical properties of the ocean and abiotic (nonliving) ocean factors. In oceanography, you are studying topics like waves, tides, water chemistry, air-sea interactions, seafloor geography, currents, and more.

Marine biology focuses on the biotic (living) factors of the ocean and how they interact. With marine biology, you would teach topics like plants, seaweed, marine invertebrates, marine vertebrates, and marine ecology.

By teaching marine science, you are essentially bringing both oceanography and marine biology together into one course – and as you can imagine, that’s a lot of content! In the pacing guide (which I will break down in a moment), I focus on oceanography in semester one and marine biology in semester two.

Marine Science Pacing Guide

The tricky part about teaching marine science is combining both oceanography and marine biology together. You will not be able to cover it all, so let’s clear that up from the beginning! Instead, I pick some of the biggest topics and units to cover.

Here is a quick overview of my marine science pacing guide –

Semester One

History of Marine Science
Air-Sea Interactions
Plate Tectonics & Geography of the Ocean Floor
Properties of Water
Properties of Seawater
Challenges of Life in the Ocean
Marine Ecology and Transfer of Energy
Marine Primary Producers

Marine Biology

Porifera (sponges)
Cnidaria & Ctenophora (Jellyfish, Corals, anemone, etc.)
Coral Reef Building and Human Impact
Marine Worms (Roundworms and flatworms)
Mollusca (octopus, squid, oysters, clams, snails, etc.)
Class Crustacea (crabs, lobsters, shrimp, etc.)
Echinoderms (Sea Stars, sea urchins, sand dollars, sea cucumbers, etc.)
Bony & cartilaginous fish (includes sharks, rays)
Marine Vertebrates (Mammals, birds, reptiles)

If you want a more detailed and in-depth view of my pacing guide, including what I cover week by week, grab the FREE Marine Science Pacing Guide! This will help you structure your units and fit in all the content – without the stress.

Marine Science Resources

When you’re new to teaching marine science, it can feel overwhelming. Trust me, I’ve been there! That’s why I share my done-for-you units and resources, so you don’t have to spend hours of your time creating activities and lessons from scratch. Check out some of the marine science resources –

History of Marine Science – Kick off your marine science unit with a look at the history! This resource includes a PowerPoint, guided notes, and assessment to make planning a breeze. You’ll cover topics like reasons for exploring the ocean, ancient oceanographers, and well-known scientists.

Plate Tectonics and Continental Drift – Students will learn about the Big Bang Theory, plate tectonics, mid-ocean ridge, and much more in this unit. You’ll get access to a PowerPoint, guided notes, and an assessment.

Properties of Water – This unit bundle includes a PowerPoint, guided notes, and assessment, so you can plan a unit from start to finish with ease. Cover topics like the geometry of water molecules, cohesion, surface tension, and more.

You can explore all of my marine science resources below!

View All the Marine Science Resources

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