In this lesson students will observe some objects that they see in the daytime sky and discuss reasonings to changes and movement of features in the day and night sky.
This video segment produced for Teachers' Domain features a time-lapse video of clouds forming, changing, and moving across the sky.
This brief video segment produced for Teachers' Domain features time-lapse video of a sunrise and a sunset.
In this activity, students are presented with a satellite image of ocean temperature, and examine the map to determine whether ocean temperature is influenced by latitude. Students graph each temperature value as a function of latitude and write a linear equation that best fits the points on their graph. A student worksheet is provided. Summary background information, data and images supporting the activity are available on the Earth Update data site. To complete the activity, students will need to access the Space Update multimedia collection, which is available for download and purchase for use in the classroom.
This page is part of NASA's Earth Observatory website. It features text and a scientific illustration to describe how the ocean interacts with the atmosphere, physically exchanging heat, water, and momentum. It also includes links to related data sets, other ocean fact sheets, and relevant satellite missions.
Secondary educators across Lebanon County, Pennsylvania developed lesson plans to integrate the Pennsylvania Career Education and Work Standards with the content they teach. This work was made possible through a partnership between the South Central PA Workforce Investment Board (SCPa Works) and Lancaster-Lebanon Intermediate Unit 13 (IU13) and was funded by a Teacher in the Workplace Grant Award from the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry. This lesson plan was developed by one of the talented educators who participated in this project during the 2018-2019 school year.
This video segment adapted from NOVA follows the clean-up effort after the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill off the coast of Alaska. Also featured is a marsh where an oil spill occurred 20 years earlier; analysis suggests that environmental damage may last for decades.
Free Open Educational Resources for the Geosciences. The landing page provides links to three textbooks designed for use with introductory courses in Physical Geology, Historical Geology, and Mineralogy. Content contained within each of these books can be utilized across many related courses. The text is written as much as possible at a high school level. Interactive content and quizzes are sprinkled throughout for a better student experience.
The purpose of this resource is to observe seasonal migration patterns, feeding habits, and nesting behavior of Ruby-throated Hummingbirds (Archilochus colubris) in North and Central America. All students will learn about hummingbird natural history and ecology. Students will learn how to identify and age male and female Ruby-throated Hummingbirds and to observe migration and feeding behavior. Students will learn how to make connections among hummingbird behavior and weather, climate, food availability, seasonality, photoperiod (day length), and other environmental factors.
Students work in engineering teams to optimize cleaner energy solutions for cooking and heating in rural China. They choose between various options for heating, cooking, hot water, and lights and other electricity, balancing between the cost and health effects of different energy choices.
This video segment adapted from NOVA explains the origin of the elements and how scientists use unique element profiles to identify supernova types.
This video segment adapted from NOVA follows the Apollo 15 astronauts as they collect samples of ancient rock from the Moon's crust, whose discovery helps lead to a radical new theory about the Moon's origin.
This booklet is meant to engage young children in learning about the Sun, its relationship to the Earth, and to stars. Activities are included that are designed to assist teachers and students in active inquiry.
This two-sided poster presents images and information about ozone. The front features a series of color Earth images; each image reflects total ozone readings taken every October from 1979 to 2012. The poster back contains information about ozone under the following headings: What is Ozone?, Chemistry of the Ozone Layer, Measuring Ozone in the Earth's Atmosphere, Timeline of Stratospheric Ozone Depletion and Observations, How the Ozone Hole Forms, and A World Avoided. In addition, the back contains two activities: Visualizing the Ozone Hole and a Color by Number worksheet.
This ChemMatters article provides a history of the study of ozone, a description of an experimental simulation called "The World Avoided," a brief introduction to the chemistry of ozone, an explanation of how ozone is measured, and the difference between "good" ozone in the stratosphere vs "bad" ozone in the troposhere. ChemMatters is an educational magazine published by the American Chemical Society.
What we see on Earth’s surface is a complex and dynamic set of interconnected systems that include the geosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, cryosphere and biosphere. Earth’s processes are the result of energy flow and matter cycling within and among these systems. Understanding Earth’s systems is important for many decisions made in communities today such as where to build a road, where a salmon can successfully build a redd to lay eggs, and how to ensure air quality. Erosion involves all five spheres giving students an excellent example of the interconnectedness of these large systems. Students may begin the storyline by hearing a story about the relationship between the land and plants from an Indigenous perspective, a local tribe elder or expert if possible. This perspective can be woven throughout the storyline while students explore different types of erosion: wind, water and ice in sand and soil. For real life experiences, students visit their schoolyard or nearby area to find examples of erosion. They may find examples from very small to larger examples of places where soil has eroded. They may find places where human foot traffic has made pathways through a previously planted area.
This is a printable poster resource developed by a collaboration of educators in the POSOH Project for teaching about systems and scale. This poster correlates with an excerpt from the video Cosmic Voyage about systems and scale, narrated by Morgan Freeman. A debrief discussion of that video excerpt in the context of "What is Air?" is supported by a PowerPoint. Then, those concepts are applied(also supported by a PowerPoint) to the question: "What are plants at the molecular and atomic scale?"These additional resources are available free online (Cosmic Voyage excerpt, editable PowerPoints) and the lessons in which they were used are well described in the downloadable unit (which is a great unit about matter & energy transformations in the context of bioenergy): http://posohproject.org/grade-9-unit
Users can choose a time in geologic history, select the link, and see what the Earth looked liked in the far distant past. Each map features a brief written description of the events occurring at that time, and a link to additional information on the geologic era or period being shown. There are also maps that show what the Earth might look like in the future, 50, 100, and 150 million years from now.
This activity will show students how to determine rate of evaporation and the atmospheric factors that can affect this rate. Laboratory equipment needed for this investigation includes: a digital balance or triple beam balance, metric ruler in millimeter graduations, level, 2 metal pans, barograph (or barometer), hydrograph (or hygrometer), thermograph (or thermometer), anemometer, rain gauges and quart jar. Teacher background information, assessment suggestions, and a scoring rubric are included. This is Activity 1, in the learning module, Water: Here, There and Everywhere, part of the lesson series, The Potential Consequences of Climate Variability and Change.
Oceans play a significant role in determining and moderating the effects of energy imbalances. Students will begin this lesson by working with temperature data to reinforce the importance of protocols, practice computing statistical measures of data and interpreting their significance. The lesson continues with investigations into daily and annual energy cycles. Using a sea surface environment visualizer, students then identify patterns of sea surface current and temperature data. Note that this is lesson five 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.