The Secret Life of Corals: Dominican Republic Adventure

Lesson Plans

Grades3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8Biology

Scientist Reviewed

Provided by Nature Lab by the Nature Conservancy

Open Resource

What it is

This teacher's guide provides discussion questions with answers about coral reefs, as well as many links to resources for learning about coral reefs and the threats they face from warming oceans and ocean acidification.
The resources linked include videos, experiments, data exploration tools, maps, and lesson plans and activities for the classroom.

Teaching tips

Positives

This teacher's guide provides engaging resources for covering warming oceans and ocean acidification.
Interactive data maps and experiments allow students to explore in a hands-on way the effects of climate change on the ocean.

Prerequisites

There are many different links to choose from, and teachers should preview this resource in advance in order to make a decision about what to use in the classroom.
This guide is a companion for The Secret Life of Corals: A Dominican Republic Adventure virtual field trip, which is not linked in the resource. Teachers can find the video for this guide and prerequisite lessons for this teacher guide HERE.
If teachers are playing the virtual field trip video, they can skip to 2:50, as the portion before this is for the live event. Teachers can also stop the video at about 42:00, as the rest of the video is acknowledgments.
The links to resources on cisanctuary.org are broken.

Differentiation & Implementation

This teacher's guide can be used in science classes for units about human impacts on the environment and biodiversity.
Teachers can use this resource in a flipped classroom format, having students watch the virtual field trip as homework to prepare for an in-class discussion.
These resources can be used along with our high school biology lesson on ocean acidification.
This teacher's guide can be used in a social studies class to discuss how different parts of the world are affected by the effects of climate change on the ocean.
This video can be used to discuss solutions and what we can do to protect coral reefs.

From the scientist review

This resource is for a live session virtual field trip in 2019. However, the links for additional resources contain well-sourced and reliable information. The "Real-time Data" section provides up-to-date data and a useful interactive data exploration tool to visualize the effects of climate change; this data is also available to download for additional data analysis. This resource is a great addition to a classroom discussion on climate change.

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At a glance

Grades: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
Subjects: Biology
Other types: Activity - Classroom, Worksheets
Format: PDF
Language: English
Location: Earth
Provider: Nature Lab by the Nature Conservancy
Authors: Nature Lab by The Nature Conservancy
Published: March 30, 2025
Last updated: July 16, 2026
: Reviewed by our climate scientists How we review

Standards alignment · D2.Geo.4.6-8 + 12 more

Core

College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Standards

D2.Geo.4.6-8Explain how cultural patterns and economic decisions influence environments and the daily lives of people in both nearby and distant places.
D2.Geo.10.6-8Analyze the ways in which cultural and environmental characteristics vary among various regions of the world.
D2.Geo.5.3-5Explain how the cultural and environmental characteristics of places change over time.

Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)

MS-LS2-C.1.Ecosystems are dynamic in nature; their characteristics can vary over time. Disruptions to any physical or biological component of an ecosystem can lead to shifts in all its populations. (MS-LS2-4)
MS-LS2-C.2.Biodiversity describes the variety of species found in Earth’s terrestrial and oceanic ecosystems. The completeness or integrity of an ecosystem’s biodiversity is often used as a measure of its health. (MS-LS2-5)
MS-LS4-D.Changes in biodiversity can influence humans’ resources, such as food, energy, and medicines, as well as ecosystem services that humans rely on— for example, water purification and recycling. (secondary to MS-LS2-5)
MS-ESS3-A.Humans depend on Earth’s land, ocean, atmosphere, and biosphere for many different resources. Minerals, fresh water, and biosphere resources are limited, and many are not renewable or replaceable over human lifetimes. These resources are distributed unevenly around the planet as a result of past geologic processes. (MS-ESS3-1)
MS-ESS3-C.1.Human activities have significantly altered the biosphere, sometimes damaging or destroying natural habitats and causing the extinction of other species. But changes to Earth’s environments can have different impacts (negative and positive) for different living things. (MS-ESS3-3)

New Jersey Climate Education Hub

English Language Arts

SL.II.6.2Interpret information presented in diverse media and formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively, orally) and explain how it contributes to a topic, text, or issue under study.
SL.PE.8.1Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 8 topics, texts, and issues, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly.

Science

5-ESS3-1.Obtain and combine information about ways individual communities use science ideas to protect the Earth’s resources and environment.
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.

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