In this scenario-based, problem-based learning (PBL) activity, students investigate cloud formation, cloud classification, and the role of clouds in heating and cooling the Earth; how to interpret TRMM (Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission) images and data; and the role clouds play in the Earth’s radiant budget and climate. Students assume the role of weather interns in a state climatology office and assist a frustrated student in a homework assignment. Learning is supported by a cloud in a bottle and an ice-albedo demonstration, a three-day cloud monitoring outdoor activity, and student journal assignments. The hands-on activities require two 2-liter soda bottles, an infrared heat lamp, and two thermometers. The resource includes a teacher's guide, questions and answer key, assessment rubric, glossary, and an appendix with information supporting PBL in the classroom.

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 forces that affect shorelines, including tides, weathering, erosion, and deposition.

Visualize how comets carrying chemicals necessary for life could have made their way to Earth billions of years ago in this video segment adapted from NOVA.

Amino acids, essential ingredients for life, may have been delivered to Earth by comets billions of years ago, as visualized in this video segment adapted from NOVA.

In this lesson designed to enhance literacy skills, students learn how the theory that explains the position of Earth's continents was established and later modified, and gain important insights into how science and the scientific community operate.

In this video segment, ZOOM guest Cassie takes us on a tour of the coral reef near her home in Key Largo, Florida, and points out some of its unique features.

In this activity, student teams identify the locations of coral reefs around the world, examine infrared satellite images of the Earth, and research the impacts that are threatening the survival of coral reefs. Each team creates a short oral presentation describing the coral reef they have researched. Students then plot on a composite map the locations where coral bleaching is occurring. Student worksheets, a teacher guide, and assessment rubric are included. This activity is part of Coastal Areas: Coral Reefs in Hot Water, part of the lesson series, The Potential Consequences of Climate Variability and Change.

In this activity, learners use crayons to draw conclusions about rocks and the rock cycle. Learners form crayons ((which can be "weathered"--heated, compressed and cooled--like rocks) into models of sedimentary, metamorphic, and igneous rocks.

In this video segment from Nature, learn the geological process by which the next Hawaiian island will be formed.

This lesson incorporates sea surface data collected by NASA satellites. Data for three surface characteristics- height, temperature and speed- are used for several activities. Students examine the differences in speed of currents relative to distance from the Equator. Sea surface data anomalies are charted and further analyzed. In addition, surface current data is presented to examine patterns related to El Niño. Note that this is lesson three of five on the Ocean Motion website. Each lesson investigates ocean surface circulation using satellite and model data and can be done independently. See Related URL's for links to the Ocean Motion Website that provide science background information, data resources, teacher material, student guides and a lesson matrix.

In this video segment adapted from NOVA, scientists search for carbonized remains of plants preserved in lava flows to find out how long it has taken rain forests on Hawaii to regenerate after a volcanic eruption.

These two hands-on labs are about the role of temperature and salinity in governing the density of seawater, a major factor controlling the ocean's vertical movements and layered circulation. In the first activity students work in groups to determine the density of tap water and of tap water with salt, then compare the densities. The second activity investigates the role of temperature and salinity in determining seawater density. Students use a Temperature-Salinity (T-S) Diagram to examine the effect of mixing on density. A list of key concepts, essential questions, common preconceptions and more is included. These are part of the Aquarius Hands-on Laboratory Activities.

In this problem-based learning (PBL) activity, students take on the role of a student research scientist and explore the role of solar energy in determining climate, focusing on the urban heat island effect. Students conduct research and compare temperatures between two cities, and determine the factors that are responsible for the difference exhibited between them. The lesson is supported by teacher notes, answer key, glossary and an appendix with information about using PBL in the classroom. This is the third of three activities in Investigating the Climate System: Energy, a Balancing Act, and serves as an authentic assessment for all three modules.

Determine the dew point temperature for your classroom through a hands-on experiment. Use humidity and temperature probes to investigate the temperature at which it would rain in your classroom! Learn about water density and the conditions necessary to produce fog or rain.

An expert describes the carbon composition of diamonds, as well as the conditions necessary for diamond formation in this video segment from Nature.

Join Simon, Anita and Dennis as they explore the names of clouds. And what's a Contrail?Download the Clouds Module storybook and learning activities!

In this video adapted from ANDRILL, find out how geoscientists get through more than a dozen football fields of ice and water in order to study the rock and sediment beneath Antarctica.

In this video profile produced for Teachers' Domain, meet teacher Dustin Madden, an IŰ__ŒóíŠupiaq who hopes to inspire students to take an active role in protecting the natural environment by giving them a foundation in math and science.