If you’re looking for a novel topic of study that involves exploring MYSTERIES and UNANSWERED QUESTIONS, you might like to introduce your students to the ocean’s twilight zone! Some are calling it the next frontier because so little is known about this ecosystem. What has been discovered so far will fascinate and perhaps surprise your students.
I’ve had students who’ve been obsessed with giant squids and scary-looking fish like the viperfish (you probably have, too). And there is an instant awe at the beauty and grace of bioluminescent and translucent creatures gliding through the water. But there’s so much to discover about this ocean layer beyond the fascinating marine life. Did you know, for example, that creatures living in the twilight zone actually help to keep carbon out of the atmosphere? This has motivated scientists to learn more. In addition, there are many connections to biomimicry (learn more here) that bring hope for the future.
I’ve been in a deep dive to find videos, activities, and experiments that I think would make a great introduction to this mysterious world. These resources can also lead into further study if you want to dive even deeper into this topic with your students. (Note: You may want to watch this webinar to acquaint yourself with the latest research and unanswered questions. I found it fascinating, and some students would enjoy it, too, but it’s not for all students).
INTRODUCE with a PERPLEXING POEM
Rather than reveal the topic right away, it can be fun to make it a bit of a guessing game. If you choose, you can use this hidden-words poem. Read the poem with students, and tell them it hints at a topic of study you want to introduce to them. They may guess right away, or they may guess cosmology, astronomy, or even speleology. It’s likely that one of your students will think about the ocean depths, but they may not say “twilight zone.” The answer is hidden in the first letter of each line of the poem! When they’ve discovered it, ask if anyone knows where and what the twilight zone is. Tell them it is one of the largest habitats on the earth, and new technologies have made it possible for scientists to explore the zone as never before.
INTRODUCTORY VIDEOS
After brainstorming what students already know about the twilight zone of the ocean, I would share these two very short videos to get them excited about learning more.
THINK LIKE A ______?
One of the components of the Depth and Complexity Framework is Thinking Like a Disciplinarian, and your students may be interested in learning about the many different types of experts involved in studying the twilight zone including marine robotics engineers and microbiologists. You can find a list of ocean career occupations HERE. One problem that scientists are working on is how to learn more about the creatures in the depths without disturbing or killing them. Pulling up samples of creatures through nets is an age-old method for examining marine animals, and twilight zone animals have been netted this way. However, many are so delicate in structure that they fall apart in nets. So, more recently, special cameras have been developed that can capture detailed photographs for scientists to study. Shown here are some sample photographs shared by The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute.
BIOLUMINESCENCE
There’s so much to learn about this fascinating phenomenon! The video below presents a very good explanation of bioluminescence and the role it plays in the ecosystem. Here’s another one from TEDEd goes further to explain how scientists are using cells in the DNA of bioluminescent creatures to create bioluminescent plants! This is biomimicry, one of my favorite concepts to teach because – I can’t say this enough – it provides so much hope for the future and connects to so many other fields of study.
Before showing the video, I would ask students to listen for and note the many uses of bioluminescence (to attract prey, alarm predators, confuse predators, camouflage themselves, etc.). This information will be important for them to know if you have them engage in the science/design project below.
GOING DEEPER
The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute has wonderful web resources your students can use to explore the twilight zone further. There are “creature features“, videos, and webinars on various topics. If you plan on doing the science/design project below, you might also have students take notes about special features that certain creatures have and how they use them. One of the most fascinating to me is the two eyes of the strawberry squid!
KEEP IT WEIRD is a campaign for kids sponsored by WHOI with the sole purpose of teaching them about the twilight zone. Your students would probably enjoy taking the WHICH WEIRD CREATURE ARE YOU? personality quiz. Many of our students can embrace the idea of being WEIRD!
SCIENCE / DESIGN PROJECTS
This activity from Teach Engineering would be a great mini-project to reinforce the purposes of bioluminescence and the structures of the creatures. It could also be fun to have students use the WHOI creature features and videos to explore, learn, and then create their own twilight zone creatures with original body shapes and movement, color, body parts (eye, tentacles, etc.), and bioluminescent features. This is much like an activity I use with students in 3rd to create their own “alien creatures” as a way to understand animal taxonomy. This twilight zone project requires them to incorporate into their design all that they’ve learned about adaptations and the role of bioluminescence. There are so many species not yet discovered, your creature designs should be preserved to see if any come close to new ones found!
These materials, optional for the project, are inexpensive. Here are some links I found:
Here is another set of investigations from NOAA with detailed directions for teachers and links to wonderful videos and resources. Students learn about how color visibility changes as you go deeper into the ocean. The set includes a simulation in which students take turns assuming the role of a deep ocean predator. In the photo below, the colored squares represent the prey. The student “predator” looks through blue transparent gel filter sheets, which simulate the lack of penetrating light at greater depths, and uses a thumb and forefinger to capture the prey as a parter watches a timer. I enjoyed testing this one out!
There is plenty of math to explore as well. Here is one problem to pose, and perhaps students could create their own Fermi problems related to the deep sea.
I had so much fun learning about the twilight zone that I decided to create a “Mysteries of the Deep Sea” progressive puzzle (link coming). If you have time for a mini-unit, you can use this as part of your introduction or as an extension. If you don’t have time for an entire mini-unit, you can use this puzzle anytime.
Finally, don’t miss the Deep Ocean Education Project created by the NOAA. There are many other lessons you could adapt for use with your students. Let us know if you explore this topic with your students and, if you try the mini-project above, definitely share pictures of your students’ bioluminescent creatures! If you’re new here, please check out this 4-minute video tour and consider joining our Facebook group.
I did the Mysteries of the Deep progressive puzzle with my groups for the first time and we really enjoyed it! The students loved seeing all the creatures in the videos and it inspired a lot of discussion. Thank you for another awesome resource!
Thank you for sharing that feedback, Victoria. So glad that you and your students enjoyed the puzzle and the videos. I think it’s fascinating and the “Keep it Weird” website is great!