Estuaries are critically important ecosystems, yet they are also some of the most impacted by human activities. In this module, students will use real data to investigate the water quality characteristics of an estuary (water temperature, salinity and oxygen), the relationship between these parameters, and the effect that water quality has on estuarine organisms. Explore the Water Quality activity and download the Teacher's Guide.

Inspired by the growing public interest for marine micro-plastics and by the lack of specific teaching activities in our country (Italy), we developed a vertically articulated curriculum on micro-plastics for students aged 5-15 years. Our proposal is based on a number of practical activities realized with different language and communication styles to be suitable for different age groups.

There has been a growing of public awareness of plastics found in the ocean environment. Plastics are found at the top and within the water column, in ocean floor sediments, and within beach material. This activity will demonstrate the ease of movement of plastics from your home directly into the ocean environment. Students will explore the typical products which contain plastics and learn how to calculate the concentration of plastics found in a chosen personal care product.

There has been a growing of public awareness of plastics found in the ocean environment. Plastics are found at the top and within the water column, in ocean floor sediments, and within beach material. This activity will demonstrate the ease of movement of plastics from your home directly into the ocean environment. Students will explore the typical products which contain plastics and learn how to calculate the concentration of plastics found in a chosen personal care product.

This activity guide introduces the topic of hide and seek and the activities allow you to explore the importance of complex environments for marine life.

Why teach about estuaries? This suite of estuary education resources help educators bring estuarine science into the classroom through hands-on learning, experiments, fieldwork, and data explorations. These specially designed lessons, activities, data explorations, animations and videos can be used independently or as a supplement to existing curricula and can be adapted to meet any grade level.

Turning the Tide' and this companion educational guide encourage students to think about what is at stake in terms of crucial wetland ecosystems, Gulf seafood populations, North American migratory bird and waterfowl populations, the nation's energy infrastructure and national security, interior navigation and water transport for American produce and goods, and a totally unique American culture.

Teaching environmental issues in your classroom is a critical component of providing your students a Meaningful Watershed Educational Experience (MWEE). Discover a wealth of environment-related books, multimedia, curriculum guides, individual lesson plans and online data sources

Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences (MWEEs) are learner-centered experiences that actively engage students in building knowledge and meaning through hands-on investigation of local environmental issues." This guide is designed to help educators plan, evaluate, and sustain MWEEs

Accumulation studies provide information on the rate of deposition (flux) of debris onto the shoreline. These studies are more suited to areas that have beach cleanups, as debris is removed from the entire length of shoreline during each site visit. This type of survey is more labor-intensive and is used to determine the rate of debris deposition (# of items per unit area, per unit time).