Coral Bleaching

• In this downloadable animation, students explore the symbiotic relationship between algae and corals, seeing what happens when ocean temperatures get too hot.
• Students will learn how and why coral bleaching happens and see the parts of the algae and coral cells that are involved.
  

Positives

• The animation starts from a satellite image of the Earth and zooms all the way in to see the inner workings of an individual coral and its symbiotic algae cells.
  

Additional Prerequisites

• There is a PDF transcript of the video that can be downloaded and the video is available in a number of different formats (in HD or SD).
• The material is also available in Spanish.
• You must download the video before watching it.
  

Differentiation

• It may be helpful for students to pause the animation at various points to discuss specific parts of the corals or algae, as well as different steps in the process.
• The teacher could ask advanced students to use the video as a basis for a presentation of their own to explain the coral bleaching process to their classmates.
  
• After watching this video, students could graph and analyze ocean temperature data for coral reef sites around the world.
  
• This would be an excellent animation to accompany lessons about photosynthesis, cellular respiration, organelles, cells, symbiotic relationships, heat energy, ocean ecosystems, and chemical reactions.
  
• Other recommended resources include Resistance to Coral Bleaching and Interactive Exploration of Coral Bleaching.

This resource addresses the listed standards. To fully meet standards, search for more related resources.