This STELLA modeling and writing assignment helps students confront and replace common misconceptions about chemical equilibrium.
In this exercise students utilize data from geochemistry databases to analyze inputs and outputs associated with arc volcanism.
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In this video produced for Teachers' Domain, learn about MIT professor Cathy Drennan's research into microorganisms that remove carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, from the atmosphere.
The push to modernize Mexico's water and sanitation systems not only saved human lives, it also spurred economic growth, as illustrated in this video segment adapted from Rx for Survival.
This article continues an examination of each of the seven essential principles of climate literacy on which the online magazine Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle is structured. Principle 2 covers the complex interactions among the components of the Earth system. The author discusses the scientific concepts underlying the interactions and expands the discussion with diagrams, photos, and online resources.
The video offers a simple and easy-to-understand overview of climate change. It poses basic questions such as 'What is it?' and 'How will it effect us?' and effectively answers those questions.
This video adapted from KTOO takes a look at Earth's warming and cooling cycles and the current atypical trend of warming that is impacting the glaciers in Alaska's Inside Passage.
SYNOPSIS: This lesson educates students on the impact that climate change has on national parks.
SCIENTIST NOTES: This lesson demonstrates the impact of climate change on national parks and lets students investigate and communicate through infographics the best solutions for building climate resilience in the parks and other ecologically sensitive habitats. All materials embedded in the lesson are factual, and this lesson has passed our scientist review.
POSITIVES:
-Students are introduced to the causes and effects of climate change.
-Students are able to make real-world connections on how climate change impacts national parks across the United States.
ADDITIONAL PREREQUISITES:
-Students should have a basic understanding of climate change vocabulary in order to comprehend the reading material.
-Students should be comfortable using technology to be able to create the infographic.
DIFFERENTIATION:
-The Warming Up to Adaptation: Everglades National Park video can be paused midway to discuss with students and assess their understanding of the impacts and mitigation solutions.
-Students with lower level reading skills can be paired with a peer with higher comprehension skills.
-If a student is not comfortable creating the digital infographic, they can be paired with a more tech-savvy peer.
-Students can also create infographics on paper or posters.
-Infographics can be printed and placed around the room for a gallery walk. Students can walk around the room, observe the different infographics, and discuss their observations with their classmates.
Video presents a broad overview of what (NASA) satellites can tell us about how climate change is affecting oceans.
This issue of the free online magazine, Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears, highlights resources that help elementary teachers learn about climate change and teach their students important foundational concepts.
SYNOPSIS: This lesson focuses on how climate change impacts agriculture. Students focus on how heat extremes and changes in precipitation will affect crop yields.
SCIENTIST NOTES: This lesson details ways that climate change can affect farmers — both those who grow plants and those who take care of cattle. The provided video links to more information from Rutgers University. This lesson also has students think about how changes in temperature and precipitation affect crops and leads them in designing an experiment to test their ideas. This resource is recommended for teaching.
POSITIVES:
-Students are actively engaged in how differences in temperature and precipitation may affect crops grown in New Jersey.
-Students practice the skill of designing a scientific investigation.
ADDITIONAL PREREQUISITES:
-This lesson requires one block of 50 minutes for setting up the experiments and writing hypotheses. Students will need to observe their plants growing every few days. The students should have a final 50-minute block to write up the results of their experiment.
-Teachers should have the supplies to grow the crops in the classroom, including:
-Seeds
-Pots
-Soil
-Access to a water source
-Access to a window or heat lamps or ability to plant outside
-Teachers should have ways to control water. Students can individually water their own plants with either more or less water.
-The type of seed that could be used in the classroom is radishes.
-It is easy to grow, germinates relatively quickly and can be grown inside to control the weather conditions for the variables in the experiment.
-If the school has an outdoor garden, the radishes can be planted outside in the spring or fall.
-Peas are another recommended option.
DIFFERENTIATION:
-Students may need help with designing the experiment. The teacher can assign specific hypotheses to students in order to help facilitate the investigation.
-If materials are difficult to acquire, a non-lab resource could be Food and Farming.
This site lists the necessary supplies, along with the step-by-step directions, to turn a t-shirt into a carry-all bag. Also included are links to two iron-on transfers - the Climate Kids banner and the Leaps and Flutters game - for use in decorating the bag. The Climate Kids website is a NASA education resource featuring articles, videos, images and games focused on the science of climate change.
Some bird species appear to respond to extreme weather changes in their native habitat by moving to more hospitable environments. This article discusses the role of NASA satellites, along with field and citizen scientists, in studying that movement. The article also includes an activity on constructing a bird feeder. The Climate Kids website is a NASA education resource featuring articles, videos, images and games focused on the science of climate change.
These animated stories follow the adventures of a polar bear and a fish. In the two episodes here, one just over four minutes, the other just over five, the duo come face to face with worldwide environmental changes. This lesson is part of the Climate Kids website, a NASA education resource featuring articles, videos, images and games focused on the science of climate change.
The brief introduction to El Niño presented in this article also offers insights into its role during the quiet 2009 hurricane season. This article is part of the Climate Kids website, a NASA education resource featuring articles, videos, images and games focused on the science of climate change.
In this career-oriented interview, readers are introduced to the manager of several farmer's markets in Portland, Oregon. Following a brief description of his job and the general operations of a farmer’s market, he explains why these venues are beneficial to the vendors, the customers and the environment. The Climate Kids website is a NASA education resource featuring articles, videos, images and games focused on the science of climate change.
This series of 7 captioned images depict sources, causes and results of carbon dioxide and greenhouse gas emissions. This lesson is part of the Climate Kids website, a NASA education resource featuring articles, videos, images and games focused on the science of climate change.
This series of 28 captioned images depict some the positive and some of the negative influences on the global carbon cycle, including industrial pollution, deforestation, waste disposal, transportation, and recycling. The Climate Kids website is a NASA education resource featuring articles, videos, images and games focused on the science of climate change.
This series of 11 captioned images depict the harnessing of three types of alternative energy sources: tidal, wind and solar. In contrast, several images of fossil fuel usage are included. The Climate Kids website is a NASA education resource featuring articles, videos, images and games focused on the science of climate change.
This series of 16 captioned images depict representative plant and animal species threatened by climate change. In contrast, images of healthy plants are also shown to emphasize their role in removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The Climate Kids website is a NASA education resource featuring articles, videos, images and games focused on the science of climate change.