This issue of the free online magazine, Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears, …
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.
This article assembles free resources from the Climate Change and the Polar …
This article assembles free resources from the Climate Change and the Polar Regions issue of the Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears cyberzine into a unit outline based on the 5E learning cycle framework. Outlines are provided for Grades K-2 and Grades 3-5.
This documentary film takes the viewer on a virtual trip around the …
This documentary film takes the viewer on a virtual trip around the world to visit communities in different countries (Asia, Africa, Central America, Australia) taking action on climate change. The documentary weaves together nine inspiring stories, showing that action on climate change is creating jobs, improving lives and turning dreams of a better future into reality.
This course introduces students to climate studies, including beginnings of the solar …
This course introduces students to climate studies, including beginnings of the solar system, time scales, and climate in human history. It is offered to both undergraduate and graduate students with different requirements.
This learning resource will engage you and your colleagues in learning more …
This learning resource will engage you and your colleagues in learning more about the importance of learning and teaching climate science as part of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). You will hear from multiple stakeholders about the importance and impact of learning about climate science, as well as engage with learning tools and reflection questions to deepen your learning and position you to take action in your setting. We envision this professional learning taking place in an ongoing community of practice. We encourage you to determine and proceed at your own pace that reflects the needs of your team.
In this video segment adapted from NOVA: Becoming Human, learn how the …
In this video segment adapted from NOVA: Becoming Human, learn how the analysis of rock layers and ocean sediments supports the theory that rapid climate change may have jump-started human evolution two million years ago.
The purpose of this resource is to have students observe their lilac …
The purpose of this resource is to have students observe their lilac plants and identify the five phenophases (first leaf, full or 95% leafed, first bloom, full bloom and end of bloom) for each lilac plant. During the growing season, students will observe their lilac plants and identify the five phenophases (first leaf, full or 95% leafed, first bloom, full bloom and end of bloom) for each lilac plant.
This interactive resource adapted from the National Park Service describes the different …
This interactive resource adapted from the National Park Service describes the different kinds of sediments that make up coastlines, with a focus on the variety in color, size, and sorting.
This interactive resource adapted from the National Park Service describes the many …
This interactive resource adapted from the National Park Service describes the many forces that affect shorelines, including tides, weathering, erosion, and deposition.
Climographs, graphic plots of monthly temperature and precipitation, allow students to see …
Climographs, graphic plots of monthly temperature and precipitation, allow students to see how differences in insolation at various locations affect rates of heating and cooling. In this activity, students use climographs to plot locations using latitude and longitude, calculate annual temperature ranges, and relate unequal rates of heating and cooling to climate variations. They will also construct climographs for two locations in New York, analyze them, and answer questions about their observations.
This document might be a solid example of how carefully and collaboratively …
This document might be a solid example of how carefully and collaboratively open resources may be curated by teams of educators.
I left the content in as the main example here, because the form itself is very simple. I have found that district leaders are sometimes interested early on in what it "looks like" to have teachers exert this level of agency over the resources they are curating in such an initiative. I think this can also be valuable for teachers new to the work. Knowing that their professional voice could be leveraged in such a way to create custom materials can be empowering.
Specifically, this tool used as a live form between a team of teachers co-editing a text-based resource on CK-12's platform for "flexbook" creation/curation. The work of alignment to standards and local curriculum was done in a collaborative face to face setting, and then the more fine-grained edits for specific content alignment, factual correctness, and vocabulary synchronicity were done asynchronously through forms such as this one.
Finally, it is important to note that a district curriculum and instruction expert in this area was also involved in vetting some of the edits you see suggested here.
There are several different ways to get ants for an ant farm, …
There are several different ways to get ants for an ant farm, depending on when you would like to start the farm and how long you would like for your ant farm to last.
This video from NASA describes the detailed computer modeling used to predict …
This video from NASA describes the detailed computer modeling used to predict that colliding neutron stars can produce gamma-ray bursts similar to those associated with black holes.
Students will observe how potential and kinetic energy relate to the transfer …
Students will observe how potential and kinetic energy relate to the transfer of energy from one marble to another when they collide. Students will introduce different variables (mass and height) and investigate the transfer of potential and kinetic energy in a sled collision online simulation. Students will build a ramp, test it, and measure the distance their cars travel caused by the collision. Students will create a presentation to share their findings with the class. This lesson results from the ALEX Resource Gap Project
In this video segment, members of the ZOOM cast experiment by bending …
In this video segment, members of the ZOOM cast experiment by bending and folding sheets of paper into various shapes to see which shape will support the weight of a heavy book.
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