6-8

Texas Tide Chart

Implement this Lesson:

This lesson is on physical oceanography and can be taught during an ecosystem unit or physical unit.

Learning Objective:

The students will create a tide chart of a Texas coast line and a second coast line such as Bay of Fundy to understand that the Gulf coast is microtidal.

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS)

6.11(A) research and describe why resource management is important in reducing global energy poverty, malnutrition, and air and water pollution

6.11(B) explain how conservation, increased efficiency, and technology can help manage air, water, soil, and energy resources

6.12(A)* investigate how organisms and populations in an ecosystem depend on and may compete for biotic factors such as food and abiotic factors such as availability of light and water, range of temperatures, or soil composition

6.12(B) describe and give examples of predatory, competitive, and symbiotic relationships between organisms, including mutualism, parasitism, and commensalism 

6.12(C) describe the hierarchical organization of organism, population, and community within an ecosystem

6.13(A) describe the historical development of cell theory and explain how organisms are composed of one or more cells, which come from pre‐existing cells and are the basic unit of structure and function

6.13(B) identify and compare the basic characteristics of organisms, including prokaryotic and eukaryotic, unicellular and multicellular, and autotrophic and heterotrophic 6.13(C) describe how variations within a population can be an advantage or disadvantage to the survival of a population as environments change

7.10(A)* describe the evidence that supports that Earth has changed over time, including fossil evidence, plate tectonics, and superposition 7.10(B)* describe how plate tectonics causes ocean basin formation, earthquakes, mountain building, and volcanic eruptions, including super volcanoes and hot spots 

7.11(A)* analyze the beneficial and harmful influences of human activity on groundwater and surface water in a watershed 

7.11(B)* describe human dependence and influence on ocean systems and explain how human activities impact these systems

7.12(A)* diagram the flow of energy within trophic levels and describe how the available energy decreases in successive trophic levels in energy pyramids

7.13(A)* identify and model the main functions of the systems of the human organism, including the circulatory, respiratory, skeletal, muscular, digestive, urinary, reproductive, integumentary, nervous, immune, and endocrine systems 

7.13(C)* compare the results of asexual and sexual reproduction of plants and animals in relation to the diversity of offspring and the changes in the population over time 

7.13(D)*describe and give examples of how natural and artificial selection change the occurrence of traits in a population over generations

7.14(A) describe the taxonomic system that categorizes organisms based on similarities and differences shared among groups

8.10(A) describe how energy from the Sun, hydrosphere, and atmosphere interact and influence weather

8.10(B) identify global patterns of atmospheric movement and how they influence local weather 

8.10(C) describe the interactions between ocean currents and air masses that produce tropical cyclones, including typhoons and hurricanes

8.12(B) describe how primary and secondary ecological succession affect populations and species diversity after ecosystems are disrupted by natural events or human activity

8.12(C) describe how biodiversity contributes to the stability and sustainability of an ecosystem and the health of the organisms within the ecosystem

8.13(A) identify the function of the cell membrane, cell wall, nucleus, ribosomes, cytoplasm, mitochondria, chloroplasts, and vacuoles in plant or animal cells 8.13(C) describe how variations of traits within a population lead to structural, behavioral, and physiological adaptations that influence the likelihood of survival and reproductive success of a species over generations

8.13(B) describe the function of genes within chromosomes in determining inherited traits of offspring

The Texas Coast Is Microtidal

Have you ever been to the beach and watched the waves go in and out? 
That’s called the tide — when the ocean water rises and falls during the day.

The Texas coast is known as microtidal, which means its tides are very small compared to other coasts around the world!

What Are Tides?

Tides happen because of the Moon’s and Sun’s gravity pulling on Earth’s oceans.

Most coasts have big changes in water levels — sometimes several feet between high and low tide!

But not in Texas…

What Does “Microtidal” Mean?

“Microtidal” means small tides — the water doesn’t rise or fall very much.

On the Texas Gulf Coast, the difference between high tide and low tide is usually less than 2 feet (about 0.6 meters)! 😲

Texas Coast- Small 1-2 ft

East Coast (Florida and California)-  Medium 3-6 ft

West Coast (like California)- Big up 8 ft or more

So the Texas coast has gentle tides that move slowly in and out.

Why Is the Texas Coast Microtidal?

There are a few reasons why tides stay small here:

  1. Shape of the Gulf of Mexico – The Gulf is like a big bowl that doesn’t allow strong tidal waves to form.

  2. Flat Coastline – The Texas coast is very flat and wide, so water spreads out easily instead of rising high.

  3. Location – The Gulf isn’t directly open to the big ocean, so tides can’t build up as much power.

How Small Tides Affect the Coast

Because the tides are gentle, they create special coastal habitats like:

  • Salt marshes- Grassy wetlands that flood a little at high tide
  • Seagrass beds- Underwater meadows of plants
  • Mudflats- Flat, muddy areas revealed at low tide

Small tides mean these places don’t flood too deeply — perfect for plants and animals that need shallow, calm water.

Fun Fact!

  • Because the tides are small, the Texas coast changes more from wind and storms than from tides.

  • Birds like herons and egrets love microtidal coasts because they can easily find food in shallow water.

  • The gentle tides also make it easier for estuaries and bays (like Galveston Bay or Corpus Christi Bay) to form.

Why It Matters

Special habitats- Microtidal areas support marshes, seagrass, and oyster beds

Safe for wildlife- Gentle tides create calm nurseries for young fish and crabs

Coastal stability- Less tidal force helps keep sand and sediment in place

So, when we say the Texas coast is microtidal, it means the ocean here moves in small, calm ways — just enough to shape beautiful wetlands, estuaries, and beaches full of life!

Possible Books:

  • The Tide by Nic Pollard
  • The Tide Waits
  • High Tide, Low Tide

 

Materials Needed:

  • Chromebook

Lesson Plan:

Engage:

  • Show video of Bay of Fundy Tide changes (youtube search)
  • Discuss tidal changes in Texas

Explore

  • Students create a tide chart on google classroom
    1. Create a new google Sheets and attach it to Google Classroom
    2. In tile 1A write Tide chart
    3. In the first row write High and Low
    4. Title column 1 as Bay of Fundy 

    https://www.tide-forecast.com/locations/Amherst-Point-Cumberland-Basin-Nova-Scotia/tides/latest

    1. Type in bay of Fundy and enter in the high and low tides
    2. Now you will enter in Texas Tides
    3. Go to https://www.tide-forecast.com/
    4. Choose a Texas beach 
    5. Write the daily high tide and low.  If there is more than one choose the highest and the lowest to record.  You will need to include the ‘ – ’ sign on some
    6. Clink ‘insert’ then ‘chart’ then ‘line chart’
    7. Look up at third location from anywhere in the world and add it to the chart
    8. Repeat step 8 as many times as you want 

Explain:

  • Skip

Elaborate:

  • Skip

Evaluate:

  • Tide chart

 

Lesson by: Matthew Pappenfuss