How do chains of islands form? Young oceanographers explore the mountains of the deep in the final installment in a 13-part series. The interactive compares types of seamounts based on their overall height and height under the water, as well as discusses the diverse organisms that call these places home. Learners practice using half-life to determine the age of corals and examine how ocean currents around seamounts affect the success rate of sponge reproduction.

Concepts

the sea floor, volcanoes, topography, plate tectonics, biodiversity, ocean currents, ocean habitats, evolution, islands

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Additional Tags

science

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Instructional Ideas

• Provide bathymetric maps of the areas around seamount island chains to show how plate tectonics drives their creation
• Project images of the seamounts featured in the interactive so learners can get a better idea of their features

Classroom Considerations

• Teachers can pair middle schoolers that are unfamiliar with the concept of half-life for the activity

Pros

• Pupils can check their answers as they work through the questions that accompany each activity
• The interactive is easy to use and contains printable resources

Cons

• None