With the award-winning FOR SEA curriculum, you can help your students gain the
information and skills they’ll need to protect the health of the world ocean. Join over 6,000
teachers worldwide who are using these National Science Foundation supported materials as a
springboard to teaching about the fascinating marine world.
Featuring proven hands-on/minds-on lessons, comprehensive curriculum guides are available for
each grade level, 1-12. Each lesson has student activities preceded by a “Teacher Background”
section which contains: key concepts, background information, materials needed, teaching hints
including items for which advanced planning is required, extension ideas, and answer keys.
Important vocabulary terms are listed and defined in the “Key Words” section of each
“Teacher Background”. Most activities require few materials not readily available in
your classroom or in variety or grocery stores. The activities enhance scientific investigation
skills, reading skills, as well as providing practice in math skills.
Select guide title to view its Table of Contents
Life in the Tidal Zone – Grade 1
A look at the animals and plants in the intertidal zone, that area alternately immersed and
exposed by the changing tides, provides students with a framework for activities highlighting
the physical, biological and human impact factors that influence life in this part of the sea.
The Sea Around Us – Grade 2
Activities and experiments treating topics ranging from seawater investigations, to the deep sea,
to the kelp forest environment furnish students with fundamental knowlege of many of the
factors which influence life in the sea.
Life in the Estuary – Grade 3
Estuaries, those areas where the flowing water of rivers and streams meet hte changing tides of
the saltwater environment, provide a focus for study of relationships between animals, plants
and the physical environment.
Beginning in the Watershed – Grade 4
Explorations of fish, aquaculture, marine mammals, and the interaction of people and the water
environment are united by the connections between local watersheds and the world ocean.
Life With Pagoo – Grade 5
The award-winning book Pagoo provides a unifying thread as students deepen their
knowledge of the relationships which exist at the edge of the sea in those areas alternately
immersed and exposed by the changing tides.
Investigating the Ocean Planet – Grade 6
With an emphasis on the global ocean, activities and experiments treating topics ranging from
the deep sea to seawater investigations to physical features of the marine environment provide
students with fundamental knowledge of many of the factors which influence life in the sea.
The Year of the Gray Whale – Grade 7
Students investigate many of the factors which influence life in the sea as they track one of
the most incredible migrations known to humans: the 14,000 mile migration of California gray
whales from their summer breeding grounds in the far north of the Arctic Ocean to their mating
and calving grounds in Baja California, Mexico and back.
Ocean Studies, Ocean Issues – Grade 8
Physical science activities focusing on the formation of the oceans and continents, ocean floor
topography, currents and weather set the stage for investigations of ocean issues including
pollution, global climate change, over fishing, marine mining and oil production, and marine
sanctuaries.
Marine Science – The World of Water Grades 9-12
The Oceans: Historical Perspectives
takes a look at human interacton with the sea in several cultures through time and begins a
study of life in the sea.
Ocean Currents and the Open Ocean
looks at the oceans as if from space, seeing the great patterns of ocean circulation and the
organisms that inhabit those vast expanses of moving saltwater.
The next three units focus on specific habitats that one can find along the edges
where the sea and land meet:
Our Home: the Estuaries
brings students home to the estuaries where rivers meet the sea and where humans find the most
hospitable homes and richest fisheries.
