This article describes an approach designed to decrease math anxiety and teach …
This article describes an approach designed to decrease math anxiety and teach students about the use of mathematical symbols simplifying radicals. A deck of cards is used in a demonstration, and a problem set using real life examples to master the use of radicals is included. This resource is from PUMAS - Practical Uses of Math and Science - a collection of brief examples created by scientists and engineers showing how math and science topics taught in K-12 classes have real world applications.
Solving the interconnected complex problems that pervade our social, environmental, economic, and …
Solving the interconnected complex problems that pervade our social, environmental, economic, and health systems requires concerted change. To achieve the lasting impact necessary for true change to occur, sustainability needs to be holistically integrated throughout an academic program, leveraging the knowledge of instructors to create a more sustainability-literate population. This resource presents materials associated with a four-week noncredit course intended to provide current and future educators with the knowledge and skills to infuse their lessons and practices with sustainability, along with a link to an online resource library designed to help educators find activities and lessons that align with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
This interactive activity produced for Teachers' Domain shows the relationship between tectonic …
This interactive activity produced for Teachers' Domain shows the relationship between tectonic boundaries and the locations of earthquake events and volcanoes around the world.
In this problem-based learning activity, students are asked to research and make …
In this problem-based learning activity, students are asked to research and make recommendations that balance the benefits of a healthy forest with the economic needs of the people who log it. Students use NIH Image software to analyze satellite imagery from Landsat. This activity is from Exploring the Environment.
In this activity, student teams design and conduct a scientific investigation in …
In this activity, student teams design and conduct a scientific investigation in which they explore the conditions necessary for life. They conduct observations of environmental conditions both indoor and outdoor, and determine the range of variation they see. They compare these data with published temperature data for Earth, Mars, Pluto and Venus. The activity supports inquiry into the real world challenge of searching for life in extreme environments. The resource includes several student data sheets, data table and images, and a teacher's guide. Materials needed for this activity include weather instruments (e.g., thermometers, barometers, anemometers). This is Activity A of two activities in the first module, titled "Temperature variations and habitability," of the resource, "Earth Climate Course: What Determines a Planet's Climate?" The course aims to help students to develop an understanding of our environment as a system of human and natural processes that result in changes that occur over various space and time scales.
In this activity, student teams create a knowledge map of the essential …
In this activity, student teams create a knowledge map of the essential characteristics or factors of a planet with a habitable climate, identifying range of inputs, outputs and variables of a planetary environmental system. Identified characteristics are compared to extreme environments on Earth, such as the Antarctic or the Sahara desert, and are used to consider the real life challenge of searching for life in extreme environments. The resource includes a student data sheet, questions, teacher's guide and scoring rubric. This is Activity B of two activities in the first module, titled "Temperature variations and habitability," of the resource, Earth Climate Course: What Determines a Planet's Climate? The course aims to help students to develop an understanding of our environment as a system of human and natural processes that result in changes that occur over various space and time scales.
Students examine graphical and tabular data to determine whether the evidence suggests …
Students examine graphical and tabular data to determine whether the evidence suggests that becomes CO² concentrations and temperature rise can be linked causally. The resource provides graphs and tabular data for student investigation and a student worksheet. This is an activity from Space Update, a collection of resources and activities provided to teach about Earth and space. Summary background information, data and images supporting the activity are available on the Earth Update data site.
At the core of Terrascope is one basic but important idea: MIT …
At the core of Terrascope is one basic but important idea: MIT students, even in their first year, are ready to take control of their own education and tackle big, important problems. Every year Terrascope explores a different issue, and it’s the students who take command. You will work in teams to develop solutions, drawing on diverse perspectives, interdisciplinary research and the resources of the Terrascope community. Along the way, you’ll develop the real-world skills necessary to address sustainability-related challenges, and you will learn about how to organize teams around complex problems of any kind. In the fall class, Solving Complex Problems, you will develop solutions and present them to a panel of experts. In the spring semester there are two optional classes: Design for Complex Environmental Issues, in which you will design and prototype specific technologies that address aspects of the year’s Terrascope challenge; and Terrascope Radio, in which you will create a radio program to communicate your ideas to the general public.
In this hands-on OLogy activity, kids learn what happens when the rush …
In this hands-on OLogy activity, kids learn what happens when the rush of freshwater from a river collides with the gush of the ocean's tides. The activity begins with introductions to estuaries, salinity, and density. The illustrated, step-by-step directions show how to test the density of water at different levels of salinity and then investigate how a liquid's density affects the objects placed in it. It includes a fun look at the Dead Sea (Super Salty Sea) and why you can float effortlessly in it.
In this experiment, students create a "lava lamp" - a beaker on …
In this experiment, students create a "lava lamp" - a beaker on a hotplate, and investigate buoyancy, convection and other fluid and thermodynamic properties using ink, water, vegetable oil and Alka-Seltzer tablets. The activity is from PUMAS - Practical Uses of Math and Science - a collection of brief examples created by scientists and engineers showing how math and science topics taught in K-12 classes have real world applications.
In this course you will learn the three laws of thermodynamics, explore …
In this course you will learn the three laws of thermodynamics, explore concepts like entropy and enthalpy, and investigate the causes and effects of global warming from a thermodynamics perspective. We will also apply these concepts to learning about state-of-the-art energy conversion and storage technologies, for example heat pumps, hydrogen fuel cells, metal-air batteries, artificial photosynthesis, molten salt storage, and concentrated solar power. This course was offered as part of MITES Semester (formerly MOSTEC) in Summer 2022. MITES Semester is a 6-month online program for rising high-school seniors. The program offers students an opportunity to learn about diverse science and engineering fields, strengthen their academic STEM foundation, build 21st-century skills in networking, interviewing, collaboration and presentation delivery, prepare for college, and build a strong community of peers and mentors. MITES Semester is part of MIT Introduction to Technology, Engineering, and Science (MITES), which provides transformative experiences that bolster confidence, create lifelong community, and build an exciting, challenging foundation in STEM for highly motivated 7th–12th grade students from diverse and underrepresented backgrounds.
In this exercise, students use online data, spreadsheets, and graphs to analyze …
In this exercise, students use online data, spreadsheets, and graphs to analyze tidal fluctuations at the Battery in New York. They will be asked to examine and compare the observed and predicted tides, and then make their own predictions.
In this activity, students play the roles of time travelers and travel …
In this activity, students play the roles of time travelers and travel to the Archaean era to learn what early Earth was like during that time. They collect information on the Archaean atmosphere, life forms, and landscape, and write a report that summarizes its characteristics. A scoring rubric for the report is provided.
This resource presents a collection of essays developed from the author’s experience …
This resource presents a collection of essays developed from the author’s experience teaching the course Fluid Dynamics of the Atmosphere and Ocean, offered to graduate students entering the MIT/WHOI Joint Program in Oceanography. The collection includes the following three essays: Essay 1: Lagrangian and Eulerian Representations of Fluid Flow (revised and expanded in 2024)
Part 1: Kinematics and the Equations of Motion Part 2: Advection of Parcels and Fields
Essay 2: Dimensional Analysis of Models and Data Sets: Similarity Solutions and Scaling Analysis Essay 3: A Coriolis Tutorial (revised and expanded in 2023)
Part 1: The Coriolis Force, Inertial and Geostrophic Motion Part 2: A Rotating Shallow Water Model and Geostrophic Adjustment Part 3: Beta Effects and Western Propagation Part 4: Wind-Driven Ocean Circulation and the Sverdrup Relation Part 5: On the Seasonally-Varying Circulation of the Arabian Sea
The goal of this resource is to help each student master the concepts and mathematical tools that make up the foundation of classical and geophysical fluid dynamics. These essays treat these topics in considerably greater depth than a comprehensive fluids textbook can afford, and they are accompanied by data files (MATLAB® and Fortran) to allow some application and experimentation. They should be suitable for self-study.
In this activity, students create two- and three-dimensional maps by using a …
In this activity, students create two- and three-dimensional maps by using a data grid of an imaginary section of Earth's surface. They are challenged to create six different maps of various surface features and answer questions about them.
This unit explores Performance Expectations MS-ESS2-5 and MS-ESS2-6 to engage students in …
This unit explores Performance Expectations MS-ESS2-5 and MS-ESS2-6 to engage students in constructing an explanation through modeling and analyzing data for why so many tornados occur in the United States, and specifically ‘Tornado Alley!
In this activity, students play the roles of consultants in developing a …
In this activity, students play the roles of consultants in developing a geologic 'tour' south od Rochester, New York, near the Pennsylvania border. They will gather information on the local rock types and underlying geology, examine an assemblage of fossils from the bedrock and from glacial erratics, and prepare a report detailing the geology with cross-sections and a timeline based on the fossil occurrences. They will also develop a plan for a walking tour highlighting the geology of the area.
This lesson applies the science and math of the rotation of a …
This lesson applies the science and math of the rotation of a sphere to water and wind movements on Earth. Students are introduced to convection, the Trade Winds and the Coriolis Force. Using an online visualizer, students generate trajectories and then analyze course patterns and latitudinal changes in strength. Note that this is lesson two 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 problem-based learning activity, students will examine opposing views on the …
In this problem-based learning activity, students will examine opposing views on the Amazon Rainforest and will take a position on land-use and species conservation in one of the last areas of biodiversity on Earth. This activity is part of Exploring the Environment.
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