In this video, Jonathan joins Charlie Donilon on his shark charter boat in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and learns about how shark tagging has shed light on the biology of and behavior of Blue sharks. Tagging has shown that these incredible swimmers actually migrate completely across the Atlantic ocean. Jonathan tries his hand at tagging a shark and then swims with Blue sharks. We also learn that Blue sharks are not nearly as vicious as they have been reputed to be, and the divers are actually able to pet the sharks! Please see the accompanying study guide for educational objectives and discussion points.

In this activity, student teams create a knowledge map of the essential characteristics or factors of a planet with a habitable climate, identifying range of inputs, outputs and variables of a planetary environmental system. Identified characteristics are compared to extreme environments on Earth, such as the Antarctic or the Sahara desert, and are used to consider the real life challenge of searching for life in extreme environments. The resource includes a student data sheet, questions, teacher's guide and scoring rubric. This is Activity B of two activities in the first module, titled "Temperature variations and habitability," of the resource, Earth Climate Course: What Determines a Planet's Climate? The course aims to help students to develop an understanding of our environment as a system of human and natural processes that result in changes that occur over various space and time scales.

This activity is a set of student-centered exercises that enable students to learn about the individual stories of Goldman environmental prize winners, the activism and organizing that grounds their work, and the underlying political and social contexts from which their struggles emerge. The lesson inspires critical reflection about justice, power, and democracy in green politics, and encourages ways to make personal connections to activism and environmental work.

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This visualization is a collection of maps, by continent, that project the impact on coastlines of a 216-foot rise in sea level, which is assumed to be the result of melting all the land ice on Earth.

Perhaps best known for its role as the antagonist in the film Jaws, the Great White shark is probably the world‰ŰŞs most feared animal, and easily the most fearsome of the sharks. In this video, Jonathan travels to Mexico to meet a Great White up close and personal. Nothing can prepare him for the sheer size and strength of a fully grown Great White shark! He learns how white sharks are being studied and how they react to both people and sea lions. Please see the accompanying study guide for educational objectives and discussion points.

This video features the remarkable discovery Jonathan made in 1998 about Basking sharks, the second largest fish on Earth. While diving with Basking sharks in the frigid waters of the Bay of Fundy, Jonathan saw parasitic lampreys on the backs of the sharks. This had never before been documented, so he returned the next year with a shark biologist and a lamprey biologist to attempt to recover living lampreys from the backs of Basking sharks. They didn't think Jonathan could do it. Wait until you see what happens! Please see the accompanying lesson plan for educational objectives, discussion points and classroom activities.

In the warm and blue waters off Hawaii, Oceanic White Tip sharks often follow behind pods of Pilot whales. For the longest time, biologists have had no idea what is going on. Are they eating the whales? Are they stealing food from the whales? In this video of an expedition to follow the sharks and observe them, Jonathan finally figured out what is going on, and you won‰ŰŞt believe the disgusting truth! Please see the accompanying study guide for educational objectives and discussion points.

When manatees were first seen by Columbus, he thought they were mermaids..but he had been at sea for a long time! Today these gentle marine mammals are threatened by loss of habitat and collisions with boats. This video segment explores the endangered manatees of Florida and their struggle to survive, as well as some of the people who are working to save them. Please see the accompanying lesson plan for educational objectives, discussion points and classroom activities.

Of all the animals in the oceans, the hammerhead shark may be one of the strangest looking. The exact purpose of the wide, flat head is a mystery, but several theories abound. In this video, we travel to the shark-infested waters of the Galapagos in Ecuador and to a research station in Hawaii to learn about the unusual habits of these sinister-looking sharks. Jonathan swims in schools of hundreds of hammerheads, and yet the sharks ignore him. What are the sharks up to? Please see the accompanying study guide for educational objectives and discussion points.

Students will learn about magnification and how a magnifying lens works. They will examine a variety of different objects, first without a magnifier and then with a magnifier, and compare what they observe. They will practice observing details of these objects with magnifying lens. The purpose of this activity is for students to learn about observation skills and how tools can help people make observations, what "magnification" means, and to learn that scientists use tools, such as magnifying lenses, to examine objects. Students will be able to identify a magnifying glass and its purposes. They will be able to describe how the same object looks different when using the unaided eye versus a magnifying lens.

View the video ̢ĺŰĺĎTrash on the Spin Cycle̢ĺŰĺ to discover what causes huge quantities of garbage to end up on the most remote islands in the world and how this garbage affects wildlife.

Learn about the effects of a changing climate on the Arctic ecosystem and four of its well-known mammals: the polar bear, the walrus, the Arctic fox and the beluga whale.

Not all students live on an ocean coast, but no matter where they live, all students are connected to the ocean via their local watershed. The Watershed Quest Unit is an integrated-curriculum unit that culminates with the creation of a watershed quest, a treasure hunt centered on a watershed in your community. The quest involves sharing and learning information about watersheds in general and about the watershed in the region where the students live.

In this one-hour program, Jean-Michel Cousteau travels with his team to the Arctic and sub-Arctic to discover why some beluga groups are thriving and others are disappearing. The relationship between people and belugas is ancient. For more than 4,000 years, hunters of the north have depended on these whales for their own survival in a land with little to offer. These traditional cultures have now partnered with scientists and modern technology to protect the beluga, which, in turn, ensures their own future. Yet these efforts are only a small part of the story as new discoveries have raised troubling questions about the health of belugas and their long-term survival.

The theme of this guide is the education and investigation of whale adaptations to natural and man-made migration obstacles.

Students study the vocalizations, hunting techniques and social behaviors of four communities of orcas and discuss whether, due to their differences, they can be considered different cultures.

Just because you can̢ĺŰĺŞt see it doesn̢ĺŰĺŞt mean it isn̢ĺŰĺŞt there. Whether it sinks or floats, plastics in the sea spell trouble for all the animals in the ocean. By matching animal cards to plastic risks, students find out the many ways marine life can be affected by plastics in their aquatic home.

" This class examines tools, data, and ideas related to past climate changes as seen in marine, ice core, and continental records. The most recent climate changes (mainly the past 500,000 years, ranging up to about 2 million years ago) will be emphasized. Quantitative tools for the examination of paleoceanographic data will be introduced (statistics, factor analysis, time series analysis, simple climatology)."

Students will be exposed to an engineered solution to the current issue of excessive algae growth that is inhibiting the health of Staghorn and Elkhorn coral populations. Students will then use their knowledge, as well as conduct research, that would allow them to aid in the effort to protect this crucial living element to the oceanic environment. Students will collaborate with their group to apply their knowledge and create an Animoto presentation that consists of at least five slides. This lesson results from the ALEX Resource Gap Project.