LESSON 8:

CYCLES IN THE OCEAN

INTRODUCTION

Scientific drawing can often help students 

understand science ideas in ways that 

examining a figure does not. In this lesson, 

students will have an opportunity to 

develop a scientific drawing as a model to 

explain the ocean cycles that affect global 

climate. 

LESSON SUMMARY

In this lesson, students use a directed 

drawing to develop a model of how water 

moves around the world. Students read a 

scientific reading that describes one major 

ocean current system and how it may be 

slowing down. They consider what the 

impacts would be if this system were to 

slow significantly or stop moving water. 

77

OBJECTIVES

• Students will use scientific drawing 

to understand how water moves in 

the ocean and the impacts of that 

movement.

• Students will explain how changes to a 

major ocean current would impact the 

Earth.

ESTIMATED TIME

60 minutes. If you wish to complete this 

lesson over multiple days, divide the lesson 

to do steps 1 through 7 on day 1 and the 

remainder of the lesson on day 2. 

STANDARDS ADDRESSED

Science (NGSS): 5-ESS2-1. Develop a 

model using an example to describe ways 

the geosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, 

and/or atmosphere interact.
78

OCEAN LITERACY 

PRINCIPLES

3 The ocean is a major influence on weather 

and climate.

Geography: Standard 7 The physical 

processes that shape the patterns of Earth’s 

surface.

Standard 15 How physical systems affect 

human systems.

Standard 18 How to apply geography to 

interpret the present and plan for the 

future.

English Language Arts (CCSS): W.5.2 Write 

informative/explanatory texts to examine 

a topic and convey ideas and information 

clearly.

FOCUS QUESTION

What impact would there be on plants and 

animals if a major ocean current slowed 

down or stopped?

MATERIALS

• Paper, one or two pieces of light blue 

(preferred) or white paper for each 

student

• Colored pencils, one set per student 

(see Preparation)

• Chart paper

• Markers

• Scientific Drawing: Ocean Currents 

master, one copy to use for facilitation

• Rulers, a few for the class

• Ocean Conveyor Belt master, one copy 

to display

• Science News, one copy per student

PREPARATION

In this activity, it will be difficult for 

students to share sets of colored pencils 

because the scientific drawing will ask 

them to use certain colors for some parts 

of the drawing. It will save time if each 

student has a set of colored pencils, so 

students do not have to wait on each other 

to finish with a color.

Lesson 4 “Ocean Currents” is also about 

thermohaline circulation. Consider 

previewing the activities and resources in 

that lesson to determine if you would like 

to use any of them in conjunction with this 

lesson.
79

FACILITATION

Step 1. Share with students that 

sometimes people think that if you like 

science, you cannot like things like art or 

music or that you must grow up and be a 

doctor or a scientist. But that is not true! 

In this activity, they are going to have 

an opportunity to learn science while 

exploring an area that combines science 

and the arts. This activity focuses on 

scientific illustration to learn about some 

processes that happen in the ocean. 

Step 2. Distribute one piece of light blue 

or white paper and a set of colored pencils 

to each student. Place chart paper in a 

landscape orientation in a place where 

everyone can see it. Ask students to turn 

their paper in a landscape orientation. 

Step 3. Tell students that they are going to 

have a chance to do a scientific drawing 

to show how large ocean currents work to 

affect the whole planet. Share that you will 

take them through the scientific drawing 

step-by-step because they will be learning 

and illustrating at the same time. 

Step 4. Use the Scientific Drawing: Ocean 

Currents master to guide students through 

the drawing. The left column describes 

a possible narrative for the steps. The 

right column has an example of what the 

drawing might look like. As you go through 

each step, students should add to their own 

drawings on the blue or white paper. 

At the same time, complete a drawing 

of your own on the chart paper. In some 

cases, such as step 1 of drawing the 

horizontal line, you might do the drawing 

first. In other cases, such as drawing 

arrows, you might wish to have students 

come to consensus on where/how to draw 

on the chart paper or you might have a 

student come up to draw at that point. 

Step 5. Share with students that the type 

of current that they have illustrated is an 

example of thermohaline circulation. This 

is a process which drives large masses of 

water throughout the ocean on a current 

known as “The Great Ocean Conveyor Belt.” 

Display the Ocean Conveyor Belt master 

and have them compare what they drew to 

the image of the thermohaline circulation 

process. Students should recognize that 

there are places where warm water is rising 

and cool water is sinking as it traverses the 

globe.

Step 6. Once students have completed 

their initial drawing, have them work in 

pairs or small groups to share the “story” of 

their drawing with a partner or small group. 

Ask each student to use the scientific 

drawing to explain how ocean currents 

move water around the world and why 

they function the way they do. After each 

student explains the process, have the 

small group share any feedback that could 

make the drawing clearer or more accurate.
If students are not used to offering 

feedback to one another, you may need 

to give examples and non-examples of 

constructive feedback to help them. 

Sentence stems may help guide students in 

giving feedback. 

Step 7. Give students a few minutes to 

make any revisions to their drawings based 

on the feedback they received. Share that 

the drawing they have is a model of how 

water and heat move around the world, 

and there are different kinds of currents 

and water “conveyor belts” around the 

globe so they are going to have a chance 

to learn more about a real system in the 

ocean.

Step 8. Distribute copies of the handout, 

Science News, to students. Ask them 

to read the brief article. Support them 

by suggesting a reading strategy if your 

students would benefit from using one. 

Step 9. Ask students to summarize the 

article. This could be in small groups or as a 

class. Then ask them to use their models to 

show why the Earth getting warmer would 

keep the current from flowing. 

If you would like additional information 

about thermohaline circulation to help you 

lead the discussion, two resources that 

may be useful are

• The Global Conveyor Belt, a clickable 

animation with descriptions of the 

stages of water movement (https://

oceanservice.noaa.gov/education/

tutorial_currents/05conveyor2.html) 

and

• What is a Current, a video which 

presents the thermohaline circulation 

process in its third section (https://

oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/current.

html).

Step 10. Ask students to develop an 

explanation to answer the question, 

“What impact would the AMOC slowing 

or stopping have on plants and animals?” 

(Atlantic Meridional Overturning 

Circulation, or AMOC for short) Encourage 

students to think about the different points 

in the article, such as salt, temperature, 

nutrients, and other substances, such as 

waste. Each student can pick one area, 

but across the class encourage different 

focuses for the explanations. 

If students have done claim-evidencereasoning before, ask them to use the 

format they have used. If they have not 

created explanations previously, offer more 

guidance to help them with the process. 

The following points may support them in 

developing their explanations.

• A claim is an answer to a question. It 

should be specific, such as, “If the AMOC 

stopped flowing, the Earth would be 

too cold in some places for plants and 

animals to live and too warm in other 

places,” rather than a general statement 

such as, “If the AMOC switched to weak 

circulation it would affect plants and 

animals.” 

• Explanations use evidence. Students 

should be able to point to specific 

points on their drawings that would be 

different. Describing what they see on 

the drawings that would be different 

represents evidence. 

• Reasoning links the evidence to 

science ideas. Students should be able 

to explain the impacts each piece of 

evidence would have on the Earth. 

80
81

EXTENSION

NOAA has many resources about the impacts of climate change. Preview the information and 

resources at Climate Change Impacts (https://www.noaa.gov/education/resource-collections/

climate/climate-change-impacts). Decide if you would like students to use any of the lessons, 

videos, or other resources to further explore how climate may change and affect global currents.
SCIENTIFIC DRAWING: OCEAN CURRENTS

Possible Narrative Example of Drawing

With your page landscape (the long side going 

from left to right), draw a horizontal line near the 

center of the page. This represents where the 

ocean meets the atmosphere. The line does not 

have to be perfect, because the ocean does not 

have a straight, flat surface. Do not draw waves or 

ripples, though because we are looking at a side 

view across thousands of miles. Above the line, 

write a label that says “air” and below the line 

write a label that says “water.”

Next, we need to orient people to where we 

are on Earth and what they are looking at. Often, when we are looking at a representation of 

thousands of miles along the Earth’s surface, we 

are looking at something like a globe or a world 

map. In this case, so far we just have the air and 

the water. Let’s make sure we are helping people 

know what they are looking at. I am going to have 

you draw a rough sketch of the Earth in the upper 

right corner.

• It should start with a circle that is about 1 1⁄2 

inches in diameter. 

• Draw a line across the middle to (equator).

• Draw a rough outline of North and South 

America—it does not need to be perfect, but 

just show land that crosses the equator and 

spans from north to south. 

• Sketch in a few lines of blue in the ocean and 

a few lines of green on the land.

• Now put an A in the ocean near the north part 

of the land and a B near the equator. 

• On the main part of your picture, put an A at 

the far left near the line and a B at the far right 

near the line.

What does this tell us about the orientation of our 

picture compared to the globe? We should also 

add something to show the scale of this drawing. 

It is around 4,500 miles from the equator to the 

Arctic Circle so we will use that as a guide. If we 

say that A is close to the Arctic Circle and B is at 

the equator, and your paper is 11 inches from side 

to side, that means 1 inch is about 400 miles or 

so. Draw a line that is about 1 inch and label it as 

400 miles. 

82
SCIENTIFIC DRAWING: OCEAN CURRENTS

83

Possible Narrative Example of Drawing

Today, we are going to be creating a model for 

the “global conveyor belt” currents in the ocean. 

These are the currents that move water around 

the globe. Our description of the conveyor belt is 

going to start near our “A” label. Make a symbol or 

write the word “start” to show where our description will begin.

In the arctic, it is very cold. That starts to chill the 

water near the surface and sea ice starts to form. 

I am going to draw a thermometer that is blue to 

show how cold the air is and label it, “cold arctic 

air.” Then I am going to draw some sea ice in the 

water and label it with, “sea ice forms.” 

When the sea ice forms, it is only the water that 

freezes. It leaves behind the salt, which stays in 

the water around the ice. Let’s draw some salt 

in the water here to show that there is extra salt. 

Remember we are doing scientific drawing to 

help explain this concept, so we will need to label 

it as, “salt.”

Now we have sea ice surrounded by water that 

has extra salt in it. That water is heavier because 

it does have more salt. It is also very cold from 

being near the surface with the cold air. 

Have you ever heard the idea that hot air rises, 

like with a hot air balloon? The same idea applies to liquids where warm liquids rise, and cold 

liquids fall. Now this water is not only colder than 

the water below it, but it is also heavier. What do 

you think will happen? (The water will start to 

sink toward the bottom of the ocean.) Let’s draw 

a big blue arrow to show that this water is sinking 

toward the bottom.
SCIENTIFIC DRAWING: OCEAN CURRENTS

84

Possible Narrative Example of Drawing

As the water sinks, it pushes the water that was 

already on the ocean floor to the side. The water 

becomes warmer and less salty because it mixes with other water. But, the water on the floor 

begins moving out of the way. Draw a blue arrow 

along the ocean floor to show that this water is 

still cooler and is moving toward B. Which direction is that on our globe up here in the corner? (to 

the south)

At the same time, new water must replace the 

water that sank toward the bottom. This water 

is helped by winds on the surface. It is mostly 

coming from the south, so it is warmer. Let’s draw 

some winds on the surface as well as a red arrow 

to show that warmer water is moving into the 

arctic area.

Now we have water moving near the bottom of 

the ocean toward warmer areas of the Earth, near 

the equator. We also have water moving from 

those warmer areas toward the arctic. As the 

water warms up, it is going to begin to rise toward 

the surface and complete this cycle. Let’s draw 

a red arrow to show warmer water rising toward 

the surface. This is called upwelling so let’s label 

it with that word. We want to remind ourselves 

that the water is not as salty here, so add something to show that the water is salty, but not as 

much as it is near A where we have the sea ice 

forming.

This type of current moves water and heat 

around the world. Let’s add that to the drawing. The other thing we will want to add to give 

people a sense of how this works is to add time. 

Scientists say that if you followed one particle of 

water around through a current like this, it would 

take 1000 years to make it all the way through the 

cycle. It moves a lot of water, but it is not moving 

really fast. Let’s put something on our scientific 

drawing to show that it is roughly 1000 years to 

go through the whole cycle.
85

OCEAN CONVEYOR BELT MASTER
86