Information for Teachers

This web site was created to bring the world of marine research to your classroom. Most students will never have the opportunity to participate in an actual research cruise, so this web site brings you the next best thing...a virtual research cruise!

Scientists at Bigelow Laboratory and high school teacher Polly Wilson recently went on a research cruise to investigate how the food webs in different oceanic habitats vary. They looked specifically at three types of ocean habitat: the open ocean, the continental shelf, and an upwelling area. The researchers were hoping to learn the answers to two questions:

1. How well do the actual marine food webs match our food chain models for the three habitats?
2. How does the microbial community in each food web change with depth?

Through our web site, you and your students will have the opportunity to experience what the researchers experienced, from learning about scientific equipment to seeing amazing marine animals! Your students will be responsible for completing various activities that will guide them through the processes of data collection and analysis. These activities will help your students gain a better understanding of marine food webs and the importance of the microbial community in the marine system. In addition, by going through the research process with the scientists, your students will gain the knowledge to help them answer the researchers' two questions!

Activities and Answer Keys

There are seven activities throughout this web site. Each activity can be accessed from the content page from which it is based, or directly from the Cruise Checklist. Activities 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6 are independent of the others; in other words they can be assigned in any order, or as completely independent exercises as you see fit. Activities 4 and 7, however, are based on data collected in the previous activities, so should be assigned in the order in which their number indicates. All activities on this web site are available as PDF files. If you don't have a way to view PDF files, download the free Acrobat Reader software.

Activity List

If you would like to view the answer keys to the activities, please send an email request with the following information to twysor@bigelow.org.

    • Your Name
    • Your Email Address
    • School Name
    • School Address
    • Grade(s) You Teach

Standards

The activities on this web site are keyed to the science standards developed by Mid-Continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL). McREL surveyed many national and state efforts to identify what K-12 students should know and be able to do in a variety of subject areas. They also consulted over 100 national and state documents that address standards and benchmarks in various subject domains. To see a detailed list of standards that this web site addresses, please click here .

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