GRADE: Fourth

CONTENT STANDARDS: Earth and Space Science

CONTENT TOPIC: Oceanography

CONCEPT: Oceans are important to life on earth.

CONTENT OBJECTIVE: 4M3.00 To understand resources provided by the oceans

INSTRUCTIONAL OBJECTIVES: The learner will:

3.01 list resources provided by the ocean.

I. Ocean resources
II. Discuss resources

TN COMPONENT OF SCIENCE: Science In Society

TN GOAL:

To enable students to demonstrate attitudes toward science in solving problems and making personal decisions about issues affecting the individual, society, and the environment.

4.5 ECONOMICS - Scientific knowledge should provide a premise for understanding the economic value of applied technology as it relates to society.

4.5c Limited resources dictate a need for prioritization.

BENCHMARK: Resources are generally allocated according to the perceived needs of a society.

TIME REQUIRED:

Three instructional periods

Recipe for algae cookies on page T33 of Holt Elementary Science, Grade 5., 4 tablespoons concentrated chlorella "algae", 2 cups flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 4 tablespoons shortening, 3/4 cup milk, 3 tablespoons baking powder - Combine the ingredients. Place teaspoon-sized drops of the dough of a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes.

Colored sentence strips and markers; paper; pictures featuring resources from the ocean; picture of desalination plant.

Experiment supplies for desalination: candles, matches, beakers (one with small neck), salt water, glass tubing, stoppers, ice.

(You may have to go to a specialty shop to purchase the chlorella, or possibly switch recipes. Another set option would be for the students to make the cookies themselves.) Boys and girls, do you like cookies? Would you like to eat some cookies that I baked yesterday? (Yes!!) (At this point, pass out cookies which have been made from chlorella, or algae. After the children have enjoyed the cookies, spring the following information on them - "These cookies were made from algae!" (See "Materials" for ingredients.) After the children get over the shock of learning the ingredients of the cookies, state this: (Today we will be learning about how oceans are important to us.)

(Put a colored sentence strip on the bulletin board which says "A resource is a useful material taken from the earth." Children will read this definition silently and then orally in unison.)

Let us focus on resources taken from the oceans. (Put different colored sentence strip cards on various parts of the bulletin board - 1. food, 2. minerals, 3. oil, 4. fresh water, 5. energy.) Under these categories, we will list specific resources that come from the ocean. Let us begin with 1. food. Can you think of any foods that come from the ocean? List these on a piece of scrap paper. We will add correct responses under the food category of our bulletin board. Tell me some of things you wrote. (response) Food from the sea is also an important resource. People eat fish and also feed fish to livestock. Seaweed has many uses. Did you know that seaweed is used to increase creaminess when making some types of ice cream, candy, medicines, jellies, and cosmetics? Seaweed is popular in Japan and Wales.

(Point to the 2. minerals category marker on the bulletin board.) Valuable minerals are found in small black rocks on the ocean floor called nodules. (Put a nodules card underneath the minerals bulletin board marker.) Manganese, cobalt, and nickel can be found in nodules. (Show some examples of these if possible.)

(Point to the 3. oil poster marked on the bulletin board. Place a picture of an offshore oil well underneath the word oil.) Natural gas and oil are resources that can be found beneath the ocean floor. Here is a THINK question - When our oil and gas supplies on land are used up, where will we get more?

(Answer: We will need to use the oil and gas under the oceans.)

(Again, point to the bulletin board.) Let's discuss how we can get fresh water from ocean water. In some parts of the world, there is a shortage of fresh water. Fresh water is needed to grow crops. Ocean water can be used if the salt is taken out. (Show a picture of a desalination plant. Put it on the bulletin board also.) Ocean water can be desalinated by heating it until the water evaporates. The evaporated water is then cooled until it becomes a liquid again. The process of desalination of ocean carried out in desalination plants.

Desalination experiment: (Students in groups of five) Place salt water in a beaker over a lighted candle. Heat the salt water. The steam will escape through the glass tubing set in the stopper in the top of the burner. The other end of the glass tubing is placed in a beaker set in a tray of ice. The salt will evaporate. Then the ice will cool the fresh water that is formed in the beaker.

(Note to Teacher: If possible, take your class to the Jr. High chemistry lab for this section.)

(Keeping students in their groups of five, have them buzz over this question:) Can you name four resources we get from the ocean? (response)

(A group leader for each group will write down the responses and share them.)

Ocean Study at the Grocery Store
1. Visit your local grocery store.

2. Make a list of all the ocean products you can find in the store. Also, look for seaweed ingredients (algin, carrageenan) in such products as ice cream, salad dressing, jelly sauces, toothpaste, soap, creamy candy, cosmetics and medicines.

3. How many products did you find?

4. Do you use any of these regularly?

5. Share your results with the class.

Bring an empty box of the products or magazine pictures for the bulletin board.

This is the time this file has been accessed since 07/01/97.

The University of Tennessee at Martin is not responsible for the information or views expressed here.

Fourth Grade Science Home Page

Last Modified