VA SEA Lesson Plans
Below are classroom-tested science lesson plans created for VA SEA by science graduate students. To view or download the full lesson plan, click on the lesson plan's title.
2024 Lesson Plans
| Lesson Title/Thumbnail | Grades | Subject(s) | Author | Download Files |
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Chesapeake Bay Life Cycles Use reading and comprehension to explore animal and plant life cycles and simulate a blue crab population. |
4th | Life Science, Biology, Oceanography |
Alexandria Marquardt (VIMS) |
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Do Invasive Hogs Alter Species Relationships in Salt Marshes? Build a salt marsh relationship web and determine the impacts of invasive hogs. |
7th | Life Science |
Hallie Fischman (University of Florida) |
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Deeper and Deeper: An Introduction to Seafloor Geology Identifying seafloor features and reading bathymetric profiles. |
4th | Earth Science, Oceanography |
Amy Nicholson (VIMS) |
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Fish Detectives: Identifying Fishes Using a Dichotomous Key |
4th | Life Science, Biology, Oceanography |
Kaitlyn Cisz (VIMS) |
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Food Webs – Here, There, and Everywhere! Examining how food webs depict the flow of energy and relationships between organisms in the marine environment. |
4th | Life Science, Biology, Oceanography |
Ellie Gellerson (VIMS) |
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A Manager’s Dilemma: Defending Salt Marshes Investigate features of salt marshes and the effectiveness of salt marsh restorations with sea-level rise, using an online model that simulates a salt marsh’s development over time. |
11-12 |
AP/IB Earth, Environmental, Oceanography *Google-Based Classrooms Only* |
Mary Bryan Barskdale (VIMS) |
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Phytoplankton Biogeography: Where Is My Home? Conceptualizing the basics of biogeography through the generation, visualization, and interpretation of a phytoplankton dataset. |
9-12 | Life Science, Biology, Environmental, Oceanography |
Lilly Blume (VIMS) |
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Plants, Animals, and Others, Oh My! Investigating the difference between biotic and abiotic ocean life. |
1st | Life Science |
Amy Nicholson (VIMS) |
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Reef Restoration Reconnaissance Gauge the success or failure of restored oyster reefs by collecting and interpreting ecological data from oyster samples and aerial images. |
9-12 | Life Science |
Emory Wellman (University of Florida) |
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Sea Turtle Patrol Collecting and graphing data on nesting sea turtles. |
4th | Life Science, Environmental, Oceanography |
Anna Poslednik (VIMS) |
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Survival Challenge: Can Marine Animals Adapt to Climate Change? Create adaptations that will help a marine animal survive in their new climate-change impacted environments. |
6-8 | Life Science, Biology, Environmental, Oceanography |
Kyra Fitz (Rutgers) |
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Trash Talk: How to Tackle Plastic Pollution Students will carry out a cleanup of their school campus, collecting and graphing data about the trash they find then complete an action project by planning and implementing a behavior change campaign to reduce plastic waste at their school. |
9-12 | Earth Science, Environmental, Oceanography |
Mara Walters (VIMS) |
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We’re All Connected Students will learn about community and ecosystem structure, trophic levels, species diversity, and food webs by participating in a mock-research activity to investigate the impact of human activity. |
11-12 | AP/IB Earth, Environmental, Oceanography |
Amanda C. Salmoiraghi (VIMS) |
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2023 Lesson Plans
| Lesson Title/Thumbnail | Grades | Subject(s) | Author | Download Files |
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Bye Bye, Bycatch! Use critical thinking skills to better understand how conservation engineering can improve sustainable fisheries. Teams of students get a kit of common classroom items from which they engineer their own bycatch reduction device to capture the most amount of target species (beads) with the least amount of bycatch (marbles). |
7th | Life Science, Biology | Derek Jackson (VIMS) |
Lesson Plan (PDF) |
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The Case of the Missing Penguins Gather and graph Adelie penguin data in the Western Antarctic Peninsula to examine population patterns and their potential drivers. Students will count and graph three decades of penguin pair numbers and compare to krill abundance and sea ice coverage to see what may be impacting Adelie penguin population. |
7th | Life Science, Biology | Claudia Moncada (VIMS) |
Lesson Plan (PDF) |
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Cereal Killer: Diagnosing Oyster Disease Using PCR Framed around an oyster murder at a shellfish farm, students investigate what’s killing oysters by comparing DNEA from dying oysters to that of murder suspects (MSX, Dermo and Bonamia). |
9-12 | Biology, Oceanography | Anna Poslednik (VIMS) |
Lesson Plan (PDF) |
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Engaging Communities in Climate Change |
9-12 AP/IB | Environmental Science, Earth Science |
Yao Wang (SUNY-ESF) & Qiong Wang (VTech) |
Lesson Plan (PDF) |
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Going Fishing in the Classroom! Simulate overfishing in a classroom setting. This lesson introduces students to basic fisheries management terms and concepts and encourages them to think critically about how to manage natural resources through a hands-on fishing game. |
4th | Life Science, Ecology |
Will Shoup (VIMS) |
Lesson Plan (PDF) Student Handouts |
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Hematodinium: A Blue Crab Parasite Use monthly survey data to measure percentage of infection, or “prevalence” of Hematodinium in adult and juvenile blue crabs and determine how prevalence changes through seasons. |
9-12 | Biology |
Xuqing Chen (VIMS) |
Lesson Plan (PDF) |
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Mapping a Terrapin Town Explore diamondback terrapin habitat requirements, conservation, and how land use planning can affect their population. Through five rounds of this Tetris-inspired boardgame, students follow a terrapin population through nesting, predation, poaching, habitat loss and more and come up with management recommendations for Terrapin Town. |
6-8 | Life Science, Environmental Science | Anna Caputo (VIMS) |
Lesson Plan (PDF) |
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The Mystery Oyster: What’s in the Bag? Did you know that the shape of an oyster determines where in the market it ends up? In this hands-on lesson, students will use measurements and graphing to examine and assess how different husbandry strategies and business decisions can impact the shape of the Eastern Oyster. |
6-8 |
Life Science/Biology |
Julia Grenn (VIMS) |
Lesson Plan (PDF) |
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Watching Seagrass Breathe Investigate how seagrasses act as primary producers in the ocean, why we care about them and how scientists measure their rates of primary respiration. Students work in teams as marine scientists to watch graphically simulated sea grass incubation experiments, counting oxygen bubbles produced and calculate the primary production. They then use primary production rates to estimate overall seagrass primary production for the Chesapeake Bay. |
9-12 | Biology, Oceanography | Aly Hall (VIMS) |
Lesson Plan (PDF) |
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Where Land Meets the Sea In this interactive geology lesson, groups of students will use graphic “core logs” to make observations about sediment types, interpret graphic data into sediment descriptions, and apply those interpretations to determine how coastlines change over time. Click here for a video summary (Coming Soon!) |
9-12 | Earth Science, Environmental Science | Kayla Cahoon (VIMS) |
Lesson Plan (PDF) |
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Who’s That Phytoplankton? Harmful algal bloom diagnosis. In this lesson, students will assess biotic and abiotic factors of a phytoplankton bloom by analyzing aerial photographs and will work together to hypothesize the cause, collect cell counts, and design their own phytoplankton species. |
9-12 | Biology, Oceanography | Savannah Mapes (VIMS) |
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2022 Lesson Plans
| Lesson Title/Thumbnail | Grades | Subject(s) | Author | Download Files |
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Find the Bullseye: Targeting Conservation in the Candy Darter |
6-8 | Life Science, Biology | Jem Baldisimo (ODU) | |
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From the Subsurface to the Sky: Tracking Groundwater with Drones |
9-12 | Earth Science, Physical Science | Stephanie Wilson (VIMS) |
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Gelatinous Zooplankton in Biological Systems; Case Study: Salpa thompsoni in the Western Antarctic Peninsula |
6-8 | Life Science | Maya Thomas (VIMS) |
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How Resilient Is It? The Resilience Quotient Zoning Ordinance |
9-12 | Environmental Science, Earth Science, Oceanography |
Qiong Wang (VTech) & Yao Wang (SUNY-ESF) |
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Killer from the Deep! |
6-12 | Life Science, Ecology | Tor Mowatt-Larssen (VIMS) |
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The Seagrass is Greener on the Other Side |
9-12 | Biology | Lauren Alvaro (VIMS) | |
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Searching for Sea Scallops: The Role of Science in Fisheries Management |
6-8 | Life Science, Biology | Kaitlyn Clark (VIMS) | |
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Selectively Breeding Hard Clams |
9-12 |
Biology, AP Biology |
Leslie Speight Youtsey (VIMS) |
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Shark Sanctuaries: Habitat and Climate Change |
9-12 | Biology | Kaitlyn O'Brien (VIMS) |
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Shifting Sands: Coastal Dunes in Motion |
5+ | General Science, Geology, Environmental Science | Liz Davis (VIMS) |
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2021 Lesson Plans
| Lesson Title/Thumbnail | Grades | Subject(s) | Author | Download Files |
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Antimicrobial Sensitivity Testing: The Search for Antibiotics |
9-12 | Biology | Aman Kohli (VIMS) | |
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Case of the Stressed-out Larva: A Study of Climate Change Effects on Oyster Cellular Physiology |
9-12 | Advanced Biology, Chemistry, Oceanography | Annie Schatz (VIMS) |
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Dial C for Collaboration: Finding Unknowns with Your Fellow Scientists |
9-12 | Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, Oceanography | Brianna Stanley (VIMS) |
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Etiology in Action: Identifying Aquaculture Disease Threats through Data Analysis |
9-12 | Biology, Environmental Science, Oceanography | Malina Loeher (VIMS) |
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Fish Census: Monitoring Finfish Populations in Chesapeake Bay |
6-12 | Life Science, Biology, Oceanography | Rachel Dixon (VIMS) |
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Growing Up Is Hard: Vertical Accretion in Salt Marshes |
9-12 | Biology, Environmental Science, Oceanography | Alex Smith (VIMS) | |
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High to Low: Exploring Estuarine Gradients |
9-12 | Biology, Earth Science, Oceanography | Cristin Wright (VIMS) | |
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Marsh Migration Mania! |
6-12 | Life Science | Emily Goetz (VIMS) |
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Migrating to Motherhood: The Story of Female Blue Crabs in Their Ecosystem |
6-12 | Life Science | Alex Schneider (VIMS) |
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Sunny-Side-Up: Temperature & Lobster Egg Development |
6-12 | Life Science, Biology, Environmental Science | Abigail Sisti (VIMS) |
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Watercolors: Relating Properties of Light to Organic Matter and Ecosystem Production |
9-12 | Biology, Chemistry, Environmental Science, Oceanography | Derek Detweiler (VIMS) |
2020 Lesson Plans
| Lesson Title / Thumbnail | Grades | Subject(s) | Author | Download Files |
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The Code in the Water: An Investigation into Harmful and Non-harmful Algal Blooms |
9-12 |
Biology / Environmental Science / Oceanography |
Sam Fortin (VIMS) | |
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Dichotomous Keys: An Essential Tool for Fish Detectives |
6-8 |
Life science / Biology
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Jackson Martinez (VIMS) | |
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DNA Detectives: Protecting Endangered Species |
9-12 | Biology / Environmental Science / Oceanography | Samantha Askin (VIMS) | |
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Feeding Time: How Nutrients Drive Phytoplankton Growth |
9-12 | Biology / Environmental Science / Oceanography | Brianna Stanley (VIMS) | Student Handouts (PDF) |
| Isotopes in the Estuary: Conception and Application of Stable and Radioactive Carbon In this interactive estuary-focused activity, students will examine stable and radioactive isotope data which provide information about the source and age of environmental samples such as plant and soil matter. Students will calculate average isotope ratios from five reference land types (forest, wetland, agriculture, industry, aquatic) and an unknown site within an estuary. Students will graph their calculated ratios and determine the land type that most impacts their estuary based on reference-to-unknown comparisons. Click here for a video summary (YouTube). |
9-12 | Chemistry / Environmental Science / Oceanography | Derek Detweiler (VIMS) |
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Old MacDonald Had an Aquaculture Farm |
6-8 | VA 6th Grade Science | Shantelle Landry (VIMS) | |
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Tiny Killers |
9-12 | Biology / Environmental Science / Oceanography | Sarah Pease (VIMS) | |
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Trees of the Seas |
6-8 |
Life science / Biology |
Michelle Woods (VIMS) | |
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Wave Fever: The Climate Induced Range Expansion of the Atlantic Marsh Fiddler Crab |
9-12 | Biology / Environmental Science / Oceanography | Kayla Martinez-Soto (VIMS) | |
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What's In the Muck? Benthic Sediment Characterization and Community Structure |
9-12 | Biology / Environmental Science / Oceanography | Cristin Wright (VIMS) | |
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Zoop Soup (and Poop!) |
6-12 |
Life science / Biology / Environmental Science / Oceanography |
Kristen Sharpe (VIMS) |
2019 Lesson Plans
| Lesson Title / Thumbnail | Grades | Subject(s) | Author | Download Files |
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Expedition Sediments: Mud's Journey through the Watershed |
9-12 |
Earth Science / Environmental Science |
Jessie Turner (VIMS) | |
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One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Whose Fish? |
9-12 |
Life science / Biology Environmental Science Marine / Ocean Science |
Shelby White (VIMS) |
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Prismatic Little Plankton |
9-12 |
Life science / Biology Physical Science / Chemistry Marine / Ocean Science |
Kristen Sharpe (VIMS) |
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Sequence CSI: The Nitrogen Cycle |
9-12 |
Life science / Biology Environmental Science Marine / Ocean Science |
Stephanie Wilson (VIMS) |
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| Trawling through the Five Gyres: A Microplastic Research Study This activity challenges students to help researchers understand what types of plastics are polluting the oceans! Teachers will prepare samples of microplastics that were collected in each of the 5 ocean gyres, mimicking plastic concentrations actually found in the oceans! Working as a group, students will count the items of plastic and graph their results. They will share their results with the class to compare their gyre to the other four gyres. Finally, students will understand the link between ocean microplastic pollution, and our use of single-use plastics. This activity can be completed in 45 minutes in the class. An additional challenge activity is included, that can be used as a 30-45 minute in-class activity or homework assignment. |
6 |
VA 6th Grade Science Life Science / Biology Earth Science |
Meredith Seeley (VIMS) |
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Wolffish: A Tale of Missing Teeth |
6-8 |
Life science / Biology Marine / Ocean Science |
Kate Bemis (VIMS) |
2018 Lesson Plans
| Lesson Title / Thumbnail | Grades | Subject(s) | Author | Download Files |
| Counting Blue Crabs in the Bay! This lesson plan invites students and teachers to ponder the question: How many blue crabs are in the Chesapeake Bay, and where do we find them? Through hands-on activities and the use of real data, students will discover the excitement and grapple with the challenges faced by marine scientists as they try to quantify the use of different habitats by marine animals and estimate the size of marine animal populations. |
6-8 | Life Science / Biology Environmental Science Marine / Ocean Science |
Bruce Pfirrmann (VIMS) |
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| Dissecting Data This lesson plan encourages students to become scientific investigators to determine which fish species are important predators of juvenile blue crabs in Chesapeake Bay. Students will have the opportunity to practice using triple-beam balances and draw conclusions based on their data. |
6-8 | Life Science / Biology | Amanda Bromilow (VIMS) |
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| Marine Parasites and Fish: How to Sample and Analyze This lesson plan provides a hands-on way for students to investigate the impacts of an invasive parasitic nematode which has been targeting the American eel. Students will first “infect” pipe cleaner eels with parasitic nematodes (beads), which will then be used to simulate real-life research efforts through collecting multiple random samples of “eels” and counting the amount of parasites. They will then use this data to calculate prevalence, mean intensity, and mean abundance. |
6-8 | Life Science / Biology Environmental Science Marine / Ocean Science |
Zoemma Warshafsky (VIMS) |
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| Microscopic Hitchhiking: Taking a Trip with Microbes and Plankton This lesson plan develops concepts on food webs and ecological relationships, giving special attention to microorganisms and Chesapeake Bay species and dynamics. Students will conduct investigations, generate their own data and find out more about species they constantly see! |
6-8 | Life Science / Biology Environmental Science Marine / Ocean Science |
Lucia Safi (VIMS) |
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| The Mystery of Ocean Acidification This lesson plan invites middle-school students to solve a mystery: what is ocean acidification and how is it affecting marine life in the Antarctic? To solve the mystery, students will participate in an ocean acidification scavenger hunt, and propose hypotheses and arrive at their own conclusions with interpretation of real-time data from the Antarctic. |
6-8 |
Life Science / Biology Physical Science / Chemistry |
Tricia Thibodeau (VIMS) |
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| Plastic as a Habitat for Bacteria and Human Pathogens This lesson plan invites 7th grade life science students to investigate marine plastic pollution as a habitat for bacteria and human pathogens. Students will examine the hazards of marine plastic pollution and learn about current science. They will have the opportunity to use data to create graphs and discuss patterns. |
6-8 | Life Science / Biology | Amanda Laverty (ODU) |
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| Sea Turtle CSI: A Graphing Activity This lesson plan invites seventh grade students to take on the role of detective to determine the time of death of the stranded turtle that washed up on shore. Students will make observations and use evidence-based reasoning to turn qualitative data into quantitative data |
6-8 | Life Science / Biology Environmental Science Marine / Ocean Science |
Bianca Santos (VIMS) |
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| Seagrass Survivor This role-play and decision-making game allows students to simulate predator-prey interactions between fish and blue crabs in a seagrass bed. Students will then make inferences about the influence of habitat and body size on juvenile blue crab survival. |
6-8 | Life Science / Biology Environmental Science Marine / Ocean Science |
Amanda Bromilow (VIMS) |
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| Sexual Dimorphism in Shrimp Best suited for advanced high school students, this lesson offers an example of how a biologist uses morphometrics to test hypotheses about sexual selection and evolution in snapping shrimp. Students use software (ImageJ) to measure carapace and claws of two shrimp species with contrasting lifestyles. Students can take measurements themselves using ImageJ, and then analyze using Excel. |
9-12 AP/IB | Life Science / Biology | Solomon Chak (VIMS) |
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| Stakeholders of the Chesapeake: Curse of the Eastern Oyster How do we decide how to manage oysters and who has a stake in that management decision? Students are placed in the role of a stakeholder group who cares about what happens to the Eastern oyster and asked to rank management priorities from the perspective of their group and others. Through viewing oyster management through a single perspective, students can begin to understand that balancing stakeholder’s views in setting policy and management is challenging. |
6-8 | Life Science / Biology Environmental Science Marine / Ocean Science |
Taylor Goelz (VIMS) |
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| Can’t Catch My Breath! A Study of Metabolism in Fish This lesson plan invites high school students to ask questions and formulate hypothesis regarding the drivers behind observed differences in metabolism in different fishes. Students will practice calculating metabolic rate, making biologically relevant inferences about the lifestyles of different fishes based on their findings, and formulate questions that would guide future studies. |
9-12 | Environmental Science Marine / Ocean Science Life Science / Biology |
Gail Schwieterman (VIMS) |
Lesson Plan (PDF) |
| The Watershed Game: Land Use & Water Quality This lesson plan is a hands-on activity that allows students to explore how water and nutrients are transported from a watershed with three different land cover types and eventually ends up in a nearby stream. |
9-12 | Environmental Science Marine / Ocean Science Life Science / Biology |
Shanna Williamson (VIMS) |
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| Wonderful Wetlands: Why do we need them and what can they do for us? This lesson plan introduces students to a variety of different types of wetlands and how they function in the coastal environment. Students will work through activities that illustrate the economic importance of wetlands and the services wetlands provide, as well as building conceptual models of wetlands to illustrate these points. |
9-12 |
Environmental Science |
Amanda Knobloch (VIMS) |
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| Earthquakes, Glaciers, and Sediments, Oh My! This lesson plan is developed for 9th-grade earth science classrooms, but can be scaled up or down. Students will explore how marine sediments serve as a history book for geologic activity. They will collect mock cores and developing conclusions about earth history. |
9-12 |
Earth Science Environmental Science Life Science / Biology |
Elisabeth Clyne (VIMS) |
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| Keeping Up with Sea-Level Rise: Salt Marsh Accretion This lesson uses a hands-on demonstration to give students an understanding of how this critical ecosystem can keep pace with sea-level rise. Students will have the opportunity to make and test hypotheses about how different animals can affect salt marsh resilience, after learning about simple ecological interactions. |
9-12 | Earth Science Marine / Ocean Science |
Bethany Williams (VIMS) |
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| How Green Is It? Learning Light and Electromagnetic Spectrum Properties By Measuring Algae This lesson plan allows students to apply knowledge of light absorption and reflectance to reveal information about an invasive species in the environment. Students will incorporate art and quantitative analysis to form and test a hypothesis through plotting provided data, interpreting graphs, and answering discussion questions that require deeper thinking. |
9-12 | Physical Science / Chemistry Environmental Science Life Science |
Alice Besterman (UVA) |
Lesson Plan (PDF) Powerpoint Student Handouts (PDF) |
Questions? Contact:
Sarah Nuss
[email protected]
804-684-7878