Beach Buckets

Submitted by smileadmin on Tue, 02/16/2010 - 15:18

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Description

In this activity, learners explore a bucket of sand and beach objects. First they sort items using observable characteristics, then they turn hard candy into "candy sand" to model where sand comes from. The lesson plan includes step-by-step facilitation instructions and questions to ask. It's written as a guide for use as an interactive exhibit or cart demo in a museum or aquarium, but it can be done by anyone who can get materials from a beach. The activity aims to get learners looking more closely at sand and other items on a beach, asking questions, and becoming more aware of how beach debris might harm organisms.

Quick Guide

Preparation Time: Under 5 minutes
Learning Time: 10 to 30 minutes
Estimated materials cost: $1 - $5 per group of students
Age Range: Ages 4 - adult
Resource Types:
Language: English

Materials List (per group of students)

Shallow plastic tub or shoe box
Sand
15-20 pieces of beach debris: shells, tests of sand dollars, small rocks, feathers, trash (plastic, paper, corks, toys), coral, driftwood, seaweed, crab parts from a seafood dinner,
Tray
Large white chart or butcher paper
Markers or crayons
Tupperware or plastic peanut butter jar with lid (empty)
Jolly Rancher hard candy or other assorted hard candy (4-5 different colors)
*Optional, but helpful: Globe or world map poster, broom and dustpan, book on shells

Subjects

Informal Categories

Food and Cooking
Nature and Environment

Subjects

Earth and Space Science
- Earth Structure
  - Rocks and Minerals
  - Oceans and Water
Life Sciences
- Ecology
  - Ecosystems
  - Human Impact

Audience

To use this activity learners need to

see
see color
read
touch

Learning styles supported

Involves hands-on or lab activities

Other

Includes alignment to state and/or national standards:

Standards Alignment to Ocean Literacy Standards, on page 1 of PDF

This resource is part of

COSEE California: COSIA Activities

By

COSEE CA, Lawrence Hall of Science

Rights

Funding sources

National Science Foundation, NSF OCE-0731338

Printed Materials

Strang, Craig; Catherine Halverson; Kimi Housoume. 1996. On Sandy Shores. Berkeley: University of California at Berkeley (Find it on WorldCat or Amazon)