This video gives students a great introduction to estuaries including what they are, where they are located, what animals live there, and their importance as habitat for many species.
Students can see the locations of some estuaries in Oregon, learn a number of new terms, and see a demonstration of density and salinity that can be replicated in the classroom.
Teaching Tips
Positives
This video does an excellent job of defining and explaining nearly every vocabulary term mentioned.
Younger students will enjoy the animated Belted Kingfisher that narrates the video.
Additional Prerequisites
English language learners or younger students may need some terms defined before watching the video, such as nutrients, high tide, low tide, sediment, adapt, dissolve, buoyancy, and transition.
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Differentiation
Science classes can use this video for lessons about habitats, adaptations, and animal behaviors by making a chart of the animal adaptations and behaviors observed in the video for different seasons or conditions.
After watching the video, science classes studying properties of matter can conduct their own experiment with water density when different things (like salt) are dissolved into it.
After watching this video, social studies classes can use maps to determine the different rivers and streams that feed into estuaries on the Oregon coast or in another location near them.
Working in groups, students can construct a model of an estuary habitat using soil and sediment from outdoors and other found objects to represent the animals and plants.
English language learners or students who need more time for auditory processing can slow down the video playback speed and/or turn on the closed-captioning feature.
Scientist Notes
In this video, estuaries are introduced and an overview of what they are, why they are important, how they change over the year, and other basic information is explained. Information about the animals, particularly the fish that live in estuaries, are also discussed. Two examples of estuaries in Oregon are shown. Additionally, an experiment about density that can easily be done in class is demonstrated in the video. In the video description, links to other videos and resources are provided. The narration of the video is geared towards younger students, but the video does provide a good general overview of estuaries for any age. This resource is recommended for teaching.
Standards
Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)
LS2: Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics
MS-LS2-1 Analyze and interpret data to provide evidence for the effects of resource availability on organisms and populations of organisms in an ecosystem.
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.
PS1: Matter and its Interactions
5-PS1-4 Conduct an investigation to determine whether the mixing of two or more substances results in new substances.
College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Standards
Dimension 2: Geography
D2.Geo.2.6-8 Use maps, satellite images, photographs, and other representations to explain relationships between the locations of places and regions, and changes in their environmental characteristics.
