In this activity, students pose several hypotheses for what will happen if you continue heating or supplying energy to the hot and cold planet models (Mercury, Mars, Venus, and Earth) and then test their hypotheses using a spreadsheet based radiation balance model. The activity supports investigation of a real world challenge, experimenting with life support conditions for Mars at an Arctic outpost. The interactive model runs are conducted using a Java applet. This resource includes student worksheets, assessment questions and a teacher's guide. This is Activity B in module 2, Modeling hot and cold planets, 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.

This activity starts by introducing students to the ways industries in the United States use water and asking students to predict how much water is used to produce a variety of common goods. After presenting the true water footprints of the common goods, the activity introduces and explains a simplified production and supply system for an apple. Together, the class first practices brainstorming all the ways water is used to produce an apple through a structured systems brainstorming approach. In small groups, students then apply that structured systems brainstorming to assess how water is used to supply an apple to a school cafeteria. Lastly, students reflect on why less water is needed to produce certain common goods as compared to others.

This video is simple in its appearance, but it contains a wealth of relevant information about global climate models.

The heart of this activity is a laboratory investigation that models the production of silicon. Students learn about silicon and its sources, uses, properties, importance in the fields of photovoltaics (solar cells/renewable energy) and integrated circuits industries, and, to a limited extent, environmental impact of silicon production.

In this activity for undergraduate students, learners build a highly simplified computer model of thermohaline circulation in the North Atlantic Ocean and conduct a set of simulation experiments to understand the complex dynamics inherent in this simple model.

In this activity, students compare carbon dioxide data from Mauna Loa Observatory, Barrow, Alaska, and the South Pole over the past 40 years. Students use the data to learn about what causes short-term and long-term changes in atmospheric carbon dioxide. This activity makes extensive use of Excel.

Join our team of young explorers on their mission to save nature from pollution! When this group of friends discovers the impact people have on their environment, they embark on a quest for justice and answers that quickly throws them into a whirlwind of adventures. Their goal: to find powerful molecules capable of solving the pollution problem. Get ready for an exciting journey through unexplored territories and discover the microscopic power hidden all around us. Be part of our quest for a greener world!

This inquiry lab is useful for monitoring water pollution in a freshwater system using direct and/or indirect methods.

In this lesson, students will be amateur mycologists--collecting and analyzing various mushrooms. Through observation and discussion, students will gain knowledge of the basic anatomy of mushrooms, their life cycle, and their method of reproduction through spores. Students will learn to create spore prints of mushrooms and label and preserve their spore prints, just like a mycologist. Students also will learn that by comparing spore prints, they can identify different mushroom species.

Of all the animals in the oceans, the hammerhead shark may be one of the strangest looking. The exact purpose of the wide, flat head is a mystery, but several theories abound. In this video, we travel to the shark-infested waters of the Galapagos in Ecuador and to a research station in Hawaii to learn about the unusual habits of these sinister-looking sharks. Jonathan swims in schools of hundreds of hammerheads, and yet the sharks ignore him. What are the sharks up to? Please see the accompanying study guide for educational objectives and discussion points.

This activity is a longer project that involves using inquiry to find out what kinds of aquatic animals live in our school pond. Students use direct observation, journaling, outdoor classroom techniques, research skills, collaboration, and service learning to learn about their question.

Join Anita, Simon and Dennis and the rest of Ms. Patel's class as they research when the hummingbirds have gone and when they might return. Download the Seasons Module storybook and learning activities!

The NOAA Sea Level Trends map illustrates U.S. regional and some international trends in sea level, with arrows representing the direction and magnitude of change. Students can investigate sea level changes around the U.S. and some worldwide using an interactive map interface with supporting data plots and tables.

This video describes why tropical ice cores are important and provide different information than polar ice cores, why getting them now is important (they are disappearing), and how scientists get them. The work of glaciologist Lonnie Thompson is featured, with a focus on his work collecting cores of ice from high mountain glaciers that contain significant data about past climate change.

This is a extensive collection of maps, data, and tools that students can use to research drought and its impacts on agriculture, wildfires, water supply, vegetation, soil moisture, temperature and precipitation.

This online directory focuses on national parks throughout the country that offer educational opportunities. Where possible, it includes the following information for each: the type of support offered, including educational materials, access to a naturalist or specialists, and classes/workshops; and mailing address and contact information. In addition, a link to the National Park Service's Web site is included.

In this video segment adapted from Haskell Indian Nations University, student filmmakers explain why it is important to them to make a video about climate change.

This video is one of a series produced by the Switch Energy project. It reviews the pros and cons of natural gas as a source of energy.

This homework problem introduces students to Marcellus shale natural gas and how an unconventional reservoir rock can become an attractive hydrocarbon target. It is designed to expand students' understanding of hydrocarbon resources by introducing an unconventional natural gas play. Students explore the technological factors that make conventional source rocks attractive reservoir rocks and how this advance impacts both U.S. energy supply and the environment.

This article provides background information related to natural resources of the poles, and renewable and non-renewable energy.