Back to Seafloor Mapping
Grades 6-8

Wet Maps

Grade Level:

6th-8th grade (Earth Science/Technology)

Lesson Description:

High resolution bathymetric maps are essential for finding and exploring geological, archaeological,and biological features in the ocean. In this lesson, students develop and use models to explore seafloor features; analyze and interpret data to explain how multibeam sonar is used to identify patterns of ocean floor structures; construct three-dimensional maps; and learn how multibeam sonar technology extends the measurement and exploration capacity of modern ocean exploration.

Lesson Components:

Standards:

Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS): 

  • Performance Expectation: MS-ETS1-3
  • Disciplinary Core Ideas: ETS1.B: Developing Possible Solutions

Ocean Literacy Essential Principles: 

  • Principle 7: FCs d, e

 

Supporting Images/Videos:

Wet Maps Demonstration: Building a Wet Maps Box

Video courtesy of NOAA Ocean Exploration, University of Rhode Island – Inner Space Center. Download HD version (mp4, 766.8 MB)

Wet Maps Demonstration: Modeling Seafloor Mapping

Video courtesy of NOAA Ocean Exploration, University of Rhode Island – Inner Space Center. Download HD version (mp4, 871.5 MB)

 

Supplemental Materials:

Fact Sheets

Exploration Notes – stories from the field