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Under Water

101 SUBVERSIVE ACTIVITIES...

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...TO TEACH OCEAN LITERACY

"If we want children to flourish, to become truly empowered, let us allow them to love the earth before we ask them to save it."   

—David Sobel, Author and Educator

TEACHING GUIDE

This Teaching Guide provides a foundation in the knowledge, skills, values, and creative arts needed to build an actual underwater city... and to save our ocean in the bargain.

  • There are 10 Units in this Teaching Guide...enough for an entire academic year.

  • There are 10 Lessons in every Unit (plus Activity #101 at the end!)

  • Please feel free to use any or all of the teaching ideas that are included here.

  • Modify, or substitute any lessons you choose.

  • There are lots of resources included within the lessons. Of course, you should use your own resources as well.

  • This curriculum is structured around the 7 Principles of Ocean Literacy:          

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"Ocean Literacy is an understanding of the ocean's influence on you-- and your influence on the ocean."

--National Marine Education Association, 2005

UNIT 1: The Blue Planet

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  • A Pale Blue Dot

  • Ocean Literacy Defined

  • One Big Ocean

  • Watershed

  • The 8 Scientific Practices

  • Sea Level Rise

  • The Tides

  • Observing Phenomena

  • The Great Garbage Patch

  • Sustainability

UNIT 2: “Mni Wiconi"
 

  • Fundamental Concepts

  • The Water Cycle

  • Properties of Ocean Water

  • The Ocean is Huge…(but not Infinite)

  • Water Scarcity

  • United Nations Goal #6

  • 8 Scientific Practices: Investigations

  • Environmental Justice

  • Standing Rock, Over and Over

  • A Sea of Plastics

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UNIT 3: San Diego and the Sea

  • Every Human Life

  • Ocean Safari

  • Three Ships

  • Gone Fishin’

  • Aquatics

  • What on Earth is the Blue Economy?

  • Careers in the Blue Economy (1)

  • Design Thinking

  • Ghost Gear: The Art Project

  • Gallery Walk

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UNIT 4: The Force of Nazaré 

  • Ocean Shapes

  • The Carbon Cycle

  • Erosion

  • 8 Scientific Practices: Data

  • Mauna Kea

  • Sea Level Rise

  • 100′ Waves

  • Mapping the Ocean Floor

  • Eleven San Diego Watersheds

  • Toxic Water: The Tijuana River Crisis

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UNIT 5: Life Below Water

  • Life Below Water

  • 16 Goals

  • Earth’s Report Card

  • 5 Challenges

  • The 8 Scientific Practices: Argument

  • The Socratic Seminar

  • Life on Land: UN Goal #15

  • Return to Pristine Waters (1)

  • Return to Pristine Waters (2)

  • Return to Pristine Waters (3)

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UNIT 6: Finding Nemo

  • An Abundance of Life

  • The Documentary

  • A Fragile Balance

  • Blackfish

  • Marine Bio 101

  • From the Shoreline to the Deep Blue Sea

  • 8 Scientific Practices: Communication

  • Saving the Great Whales

  • The Living Sea

  • “My Octopus Teacher”

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UNIT 7: Taking Out the Trash

  • The Ocean and Humans…

  • 8 Scientific Practices: Human Behavior

  • Acidification and the great Barrier Reef

  • Climate Solutions: Carbon Capture 

  • Hurricane Katrina

  • The Catalina Dump Sites

  • Shipwrecked

  • All Hands on Deck

  • Who Can Save the Ocean?

  • Hell or High Water: Students Who Lead

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UNIT 8: Storm Clouds

  • A Call for Climate Action

  • Inconvenient Truths

  • The Ocean Makes the Weather

  • The Role of Carbon

  • 8 Scientific Practices: Allow Me to Explain

  • The Six-Sector Solution

  • A Climate Plan

  • Climate Policies of the United States

  • Be the Change

  • The Aspen Plan

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UNIT 9: The Blue Economy

  • Ocean STEM

  • “We Shall Not Cease From Exploration…”

  • The Nautilus Mission

  • The 8 Scientific Practices: STEM

  • The Maritime Alliance

  • Innovation and Tech

  • Careers in the Blue Economy (2)

  • One Mission…Many Pathways

  • B Corps

  • Design a Better Business Model

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UNIT 10: Ocean Decade

  • The Ocean Decade

  • Habitable Earth

  • The Air We Breathe

  • Cradle of Life

  • The Ocean Provides

  • Activists and Advocates

  • Innovators: Seaweed

  • Innovators: Plastics

  • Innovators: Fresh Water

  • Personal Action Plan

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If you would like a preview copy of this entire working draft: 

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"101 Subversive Activities to Teach Ocean Literacy" 

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...including all 10 Units and working links to the cited resources, please feel free to download it from the button below.   

Also, if you have a moment, please let me know how these activities are working in your classroom!

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Thanks, Kevin

kriley1919@gmail.com

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