Educator Resource Database
Developed by partners in the Alaska CoastWatch for Action Project
Marine and coastal K-12 educators collaborated to create this database. It is designed to help teachers and informal community educators engage youth in community resiliency, climate change adaptation, and mitigation of coastal hazards.
Search and filter
- Next Generation Science Standards—NGSS alignments are available for most lesson plans and activities
- Grade level
- Topic—coastal hazard types and other topics
- Resource type—lesson plan, citizen science data collection protocol/data sheet, poster
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Partners and funding
How Do We Observe and Measure Weather?
Students build working weathervanes for use to measure wind direction. UAF REACH Up program
NGSS PE(s): K-ESS2-1
Grade Band(s): K-2
Topic(s): Weather
Lesson Type(s): Activity
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NGSS PE(s):
Grade Band(s): 3-5, HS, MS
Topic(s): HABs, Marine Invertebrates
Lesson Type(s): Activity, Teacher Background, Tools
Human Impact Survey
Students plan and carry out a survey of human impacts to a local aquatic environment. They analyze their findings and prepare to share them with the community.
Link: Visit websiteNGSS PE(s):
Grade Band(s): 3-5
Topic(s): Science & Engineering Practices
Lesson Type(s): Activity
Intertidal Discovery Hike (CACS CoastWatch Curriculum)
Field trip activity to introduce studnets to beach ecosystems and engage them in basic surveys of the biodiversity.
NGSS PE(s): 2-LS4-1, 3-LS4-3
Grade Band(s): 3-5, HS, K-2, MS
Topic(s): Marine Invertebrates
Lesson Type(s): Activity, Field Trip
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Intertidal Sampling (CACS CoastWatch Curriculum)
Lesson plan for a field trip activity for beach monitoring focused on sampling of various intertidal organisms. Includes directions for multiple different sampling protocols.
NGSS PE(s): 3-LS4-3
Grade Band(s): 3-5, HS, MS
Topic(s): Marine Invertebrates
Lesson Type(s): Activity, Field Trip
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Inupiat Work to Preserve Food and Traditions on Alaska’s North Slope
Article describes the challenges of preserving food in ice cellars as temperatures warm and describes innovative solutions involving science principles, technology and engineering.
NGSS PE(s): HS=ESS3-4, MS-ESS3-3
Grade Band(s): HS, MS
Topic(s): Adaptations to Increase Food Security, Climate Change, Marine Mammals
Lesson Type(s): Article
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Kachemak Bay CoastWalk
A community-based program in Kachemak Bay that can be adapted for other coastal communities or for RiverWalks. Students join or organize other citizen volunteers to adopt a section of a shoreline and walk it annually, surveying changes, collecting data on marine life and human impacts, and cleaning up beach litter and marine debris. The beach survey form and biodiversity checklist for Kachemak Bay Center plus the International Coastal Cleanup data form can be downloaded. Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies.
Link: Visit websiteNGSS PE(s): MS-ESS3-3
Grade Band(s): All Ages
Topic(s): Making Observations, Marine Debris, Pollution
Lesson Type(s): Activity, Citizen Science, Data Sheet/Protocol, Field Trip, Lesson Plan
KBNERR Plankton Coloring Book
Coloring book from Kachemak Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve featuring the plankton of Kachemak Bay.
Link: Visit websiteNGSS PE(s): Foundational
Grade Band(s): 3-5, K-2
Topic(s): HABs, Marine Invertebrates
Lesson Type(s): Activity, Student Book
Legend and Science of the Bidarki
Lesson plan for classroom and field-trip based activities that introduce students to the community-based research on Bidarki chitons (Katharina tunicata) and the different factors that impact Bidarki abundance, distribution, and size. Includes a field trip for collecting data about Bidarki size and abundance.
NGSS PE(s): 5-ESS3-1, MS-LS2-4
Grade Band(s): 3-5, HS, MS
Topic(s): Community Involvement, Food Security, Marine Invertebrates
Lesson Type(s): Activity, Field Trip
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Local Environmental Observer (LEO) Network
Educators can join the statewide and international network of local observers and topic experts who share knowledge about unusual animal, environment, and weather events. You can post and share student observations with the network, raise awareness, and find answers about significant environmental events. You can also assist students in reviewing observations that have been posted on the website and engage them with responses frm topic experts in many different organizations who are part of a broader observer community. Three lesson plans guide your students in building their observation skills, identifying community concerns, and posting observations to the LEO network website.
Link: Visit websiteNGSS PE(s): MS-ESS3-3
Grade Band(s): 3-5, HS, MS
Topic(s): Changes in Biodiversity, HABs, Invasive Species, Making Observations, Phenology, Weather
Lesson Type(s): Citizen Science, Data Set, Lesson Plan
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