Outline for
Gulf of Maine program from Ocean Adventure!|
I. Introduction - who I am and why we are here II. Gulf of Maine map and chart A. Major features and why this area is so unique B. Major Maine rivers and their watersheds C. Why Georges Bank is a lot more important than Key Bank III. Biological productivity or why are there so many fish here? A. Why so much algae is produced here B. Food chains - how the big’uns eat the little’uns C. Some of the fish harvested in Maine are really weird IV. Physical oceanography can be fun A. Why is the ocean salty? B. How salty is it? (density demonstration) C. What are tides and how do they work? D. Importance and significance of tides here in Maine
Follow-up materials provided - Gulf of Maine book and poster, watershed map activity
Maine Learning Results Standards covered for Science & Technology: Grades K-2/ B.1-5; E.2; F.3; H.1,2; L.3; M.3 Grades 3-4/ B.1-4; C.2; E.1,4; G.1-4; H.1; I.3; L.2; M.3 Grades 5-8/ B.1,4,5; E.1,3,6; F.4; L.4; M.1,2,7 |
Vocabulary List for Gulf of Maine Program from
Ocean Adventure!(Please refer to Gulf of Maine map for place names (map enclosed)
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island - a piece of land surrounded by water peninsula - a piece of land with water on 3 sides gulf - part of an ocean extending into the land (land on three sides) bay - water extending into the land but smaller than a gulf harbor - a small area of water extending into the land continental shelf - the underwater edge of a continent, often forming a large flat plain bank - a large undersea elevation of the continental shelf (if it was a little more elevated, it would be a large island) ledge - an undersea elevation, smaller than a bank, usually rocky basin - a large, depressed area of the continental shelf food chain - a sequence of organisms in which each uses the next lower one as a food source (sun - algae - plankton - small fish - medium fish - large fish - us) top predator - the top of the food chain, usually a large carnivore like man gyre - a large body of water moving in a circle current - a part of a water body moving in a certain direction, not unlike a river in the ocean watershed - an area of land that drains into a particular body of water (a lake’s watershed is all the land that drains into that lake) tides - the twice daily rise and fall of the ocean surface caused by the gravitational pull of the moon and sun. spring tides - extra high and extra low tides caused when the sun and the moon pull in the same direction neap tides - smaller high and smaller low tides caused when the sun and moon pull in different directions salinity - the amount of salt in salt water density - how heavy or light water is gravitational force - the pull of any large body on surrounding objects |