3rd-5th Grade

Animal Exploration
Grades PreK-12

Get your hands wet in this 30-minute, educator-led animal exploration class.

After a brief introduction, students will touch and explore live tidepool animals, animal models, and biofacts.

• Supports Next Generation Science Standards:
  • Science and Engineering Practices
    • Asking Questions and Defining Problems
    • Engaging in Argument from Evidence
  • Cross Cutting Concepts
    • Patterns

Plankton Lab
Grades 3-8

Join us as we discover the fascinating world of plankton, the microscopic creatures of the ocean.

Through microscope exploration and hands-on activities, learners will reveal the diversity and importance of these organisms to ocean food webs.

• Supports Next Generation Science Standards:
  • Performance Expectations
    • 3-LS4-3. Construct an argument with evidence that in a particular habitat some organisms can survive well, some survive less well, and some cannot survive at all
    • 4-LS1-1. Construct an argument that plants and animals have internal and external structures that function to support survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction.
    • MS-LS2-2. Construct an explanation that predicts patterns of interactions among organisms across multiple ecosystems.
  • Disciplinary Core Ideas
    • LS1.B: Growth and Development of Organisms
    • LS2.A: Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems
  • Science and Engineering Practices
    • Asking Questions and Defining Problems
    • Engaging in Argument from Evidence
    • Analyzing and Interpreting Data
    • Developing and Using Models
  • Cross Cutting Concepts
    • Patterns
    • Structure and Function

Predator!
Grades 3-8

Ocean predators come in all shapes and sizes and use special adaptations for hunting.

Learners will use hands-on activities to investigate a variety of predators and their important roles in ocean food webs.

• Supports Next Generation Science Standards:
  • Performance Expectations
    • 3-LS4-3. Construct an argument with evidence that in a particular habitat some organisms can survive well, some survive less well, and some cannot survive at all
    • 4-LS1-1. Construct an argument that plants and animals have internal and external structures that function to support survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction.
    • MS-LS2-2. Construct an explanation that predicts patterns of interactions among organisms across multiple ecosystems.
    • MS-LS2-4. Construct an argument supported by empirical evidence that changes to physical or biological components of an ecosystem affect populations
  • Disciplinary Core Ideas
    • LS1.B: Growth and Development of Organisms
    • LS2.A: Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems
  • Science and Engineering Practices
    • Asking Questions and Defining Problems
    • Engaging in Argument from Evidence
    • Analyzing and Interpreting Data
    • Developing and Using Models
  • Cross Cutting Concepts
    • Patterns
    • Structure and Function

Sensational Sharks
Grades 3-8

Discover all that is sensational about sharks!

Learners will explore these fascinating animals, learning what sets sharks, a type of fish, apart from other fish in the ocean. Using live view from the aquarium shark webcams and artifact exploration, students will take a deep dive into the world of sharks, investigating their unique adaptations, including body structure, senses, and shark teeth.

• Supports Next Generation Science Standards:
  • Performance Expectations
    • 3-LS4-3. Construct an argument with evidence that in a particular habitat some organisms can survive well, some survive less well, and some cannot survive at all
    • 4-LS1-1. Construct an argument that plants and animals have internal and external structures that function to support survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction.
    • 5-ESS3-1. Obtain and combine information about ways individual communities use science ideas to protect the Earth’s resources and environment
    • MS-LS2-4. Construct an argument supported by empirical evidence that changes to physical or biological components of an ecosystem affect populations
  • Science and Engineering Practices
    • Asking Questions
    • Engaging in Argument from Evidence
    • Constructing explanations
  • Disciplinary Core Ideas
    • LS4.C: Adaptation
    • ESS3.C: Human Impacts on Earth Systems

Discover Earth
Grades 3-12

Take a new look at the water, weather, continents, currents, tsunamis, and hurricanes that make our Earth a dynamic system.

With an Aquarium educator as a guide, your students will explore beautiful visualizations on the Aquarium’s six-foot spherical display called Science on a Sphere. Discover the wonders of our instrumented earth and the information we can use to learn more about our planet.

• Supports Next Generation Science Standards:
  • Performance Expectations
    • HS-ESS2-4. Use a model to describe how variations in the flow of energy into and out of Earth’s systems result in changes in climate
    • HS-ESS2-6. Develop a quantitative model to describe the cycling of carbon among the hydrosphere, atmosphere, geosphere, and biosphere
    •  HS-ESS3-5. Analyze geoscience data and the results from global climate models to make an evidence-based forecast of the current rate of global or regional climate change and associated future impacts to Earth’s systems.
    •  HS-ESS3-6. Use a computational representation to illustrate the relationships among Earth systems and how those relationships are being modified due to human activity.
  • Science and Engineering Practices
    • Asking Questions and Defining Problems
    • Analyzing and Interpreting Data
    • Engaging in Argument from Evidence
  • Cross Cutting Concepts
    • Analyzing and Interpreting Data
    • Cause and Effect

Downloadable Classroom Kits

• Sensational Sharks
• Amazing Adaptations
• Ocean Drifters