This is a task neutral proficiency scale for 1-ESS1-1. Resources used to make this: NGSS.NSTA.org, Appendix E from the NextGenScience site and the actual performance expectations. This scale was created through collaboration with five elementary teachers.
This NOAA visualization on YouTube shows the seasonal variations in sea surface temperatures and ice cover from 1985 to 2007. The visualization is based on data collected by NOAA polar-orbiting satellites. El NiÃo and La NiÃa are easily identified, as are the trends in decreasing polar sea ice.
This is a task neutral proficiency scale for 5-ESS1-1. Resources used to make this: NGSS.NSTA.org, Appendix E from the NextGenScience site and the actual performance expectations. This scale was created through collaboration with five elementary teachers.
The goals of OpenSciEd are to ensure any science teacher, anywhere, can access and download freely available, high quality, locally adaptable full-course materials. REMOTE LEARNING GUIDE FOR THIS UNIT NOW AVAILABLE!
This unit on weather, climate, and water cycling is broken into four separate lesson sets. In the first two lesson sets, students explain small-scale storms. In the third and fourth lesson sets, students explain mesoscale weather systems and climate-level patterns of precipitation. Each of these two parts of the unit is grounded in a different anchoring phenomenon.
This unit on weather, climate, and water cycling is broken into four separate lesson sets. In the first two lesson sets, students explain small-scale storms. In the third and fourth lesson sets, students explain mesoscale weather systems and climate-level patterns of precipitation. Each of these two parts of the unit is grounded in a different anchoring phenomenon.
This unit begins with students experiencing, through text and video, a devastating natural event that caused major flooding in coastal towns of Japan. Through this anchoring phenomenon, students think about ways to detect tsunamis, warn people, and reduce damage from the wave. As students design solutions to solve this problem, they begin to wonder about the natural hazard itself: what causes it, where it happens, and how it causes damage.
This unit is part of the OpenSciEd core instructional materials for middle school.
How does changing an ecosystem affect what lives there? This unit on ecosystem dynamics and biodiversity begins with students reading headlines that claim that the future of orangutans is in peril and that the purchasing of chocolate may be the cause. Students then examine the ingredients in popular chocolate candies and learn that one of these ingredients--palm oil--is grown on farms near the rainforest where orangutans live. This prompts students to develop initial models to explain how buying candy could impact orangutans.
This unit is part of the OpenSciEd core instructional materials for middle school.
This video begins in the lush deltas of Bangladesh. The host of the video learns how communities are adapting to changing monsoons and dangerous sea-level rise. Floating gardens and floating schools are just the start of some of the country's innovative strategies.
In this activity, students use the absorption spectra of greenhouse gases to explore the nature of the greenhouse effect.
This course will begin with brief overview of what important current research topics are in oceanography (physical, geological, and biological) and how acoustics can be used as a tool to address them. Three typical examples are climate, bottom geology, and marine mammal behavior. Will then address the acoustic inverse problem, reviewing inverse methods (linear and nonlinear) and the combination of acoustical methods with other measurements as an integrated system. Last part of course will concentrate on specific case studies, taken from current research journals. This course is taught on campus at MIT and with simultaneous video at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
Advanced Igneous Petrology covers the history of and recent developments in the study of igneous rocks. Students review the chemistry and structure of igneous rock-forming minerals and proceed to study how these minerals occur and interact in igneous rocks. The course focuses on igneous processes and how we have learned about them through studying a number of significant sites worldwide.
12.491 is a seminar focusing on problems of current interest in geology and geochemistry. For Fall 2005, the topic is organic geochemistry. Lectures and readings cover recent research in the development and properties of organic matter.
This class presents the application of principles of soil mechanics. It considers the following topics: the origin and nature of soils; soil classification; the effective stress principle; hydraulic conductivity and seepage; stress-strain-strength behavior of cohesionless and cohesive soils and application to lateral earth stresses; bearing capacity and slope stability; consolidation theory and settlement analysis; and laboratory and field methods for evaluation of soil properties in design practice.
Phase 1: Definition of Projects and Research Teams (Homework +1 Class)
Each student is assigned the task of proposing a site to investigate within the city and the surrounding region. Students are encouraged to discuss the assignment with community members for suggestions and inspiration. Each student will produce an easel-size poster of their proposal highlighting the following:
Site location;
Reasons for selecting this site;
Potential interest to the community;
Potential logistical problems associated with the proposed site/project.
Posters will be hung in a gallery-walk format, and each student will mark the location of their proposed study site on the classroom map of New York City. The class is given time to read and comment on each of their peers' proposals, after which the instructor will lead a class discussion of the interests, merits, and obstacles associated with each proposal, with the goal of having the class settle on the set of projects on which to move forward.
Students will define groups of 2 to 4 students per project. If more than 4 students are interested in the same site, then multiple groups may develop parallel projects.
Phase 2: Data Collection and Analysis (5 weeks)
In consultation with the instructor, teams develop and implement a sampling protocol, including the documentation of terrain, human activity, and weather conditions (wind speed and direction) at the time of collection. Sample stations and prevailing wind direction are plotted on Google Earth to determine likely sources of particulates. Using binocular microscopes students document size distribution, form, color, and abundance of particulates. This data is analyzed using statistical functions in Excel. Teams use SEM-EDS analysis to determine the composition of particles, and more fully describe their form. Teams submit weekly progress reports, including personal work reports for each team member.
Phase 3: Communication of Results (1 Week)
Teams submit to their instructor a formal laboratory report: Purpose, Equipment, Method, Data Tabulation, Data Analysis, and Conclusions.
Teams prepare an oral presentation, or visual information campaign, targeted at an audience of their choice (e.g., neighbors, church group, community activist group, college administration) using discourse appropriate to that audience. Teams present in an in-class dress-rehearsal prior to their formal presentation. Teams invite members of their desired audience to the presentation (official invitations sent). On the last day of class, the instructor leads a debriefing and critique of the presentations, highlighting results and effective communication techniques.
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Students are introduced to measuring and identifying sources of air pollution, as well as how environmental engineers try to control and limit the amount of air pollution. In Part 1, students are introduced to nitrogen dioxide as an air pollutant and how it is quantified. Major sources are identified, using EPA bar graphs. Students identify major cities and determine their latitudes and longitudes. They estimate NO2 values from color maps showing monthly NO2 averages from two sources: a NASA satellite and the WSU forecast model AIRPACT. In Part 2, students continue to estimate NO2 values from color maps and use Excel to calculate differences and ratios to determine the model's performance. They gain experience working with very large numbers written in scientific notation, as well as spreadsheet application capabilities.
In this module, students engage in a visual demonstration on the causes & effects of air pollutants on air quality and kinesthetic activities on particulate matter & visibility.
Students are introduced to air masses, with an emphasis on the differences between and characteristics of high- versus low-pressure air systems. Students also hear about weather forecasting instrumentation and how engineers work to improve these instruments for atmospheric measurements on Earth and in space.
How much of an impact does air travel have on climate change? What can be done about it? Through a hands-on demonstration and a short literature review, students consider the impacts and future of aviation. With data, students consider why climate communicators and scientists focus on carbon dioxide. This guide is an extension of the TILclimate episode "TIL about planes."
This video production is a part of a four-panel report from the National Academies' America's Climate Choices project. The video maps out the realm of our accumulated knowledge regarding climate change and charts a path forward, urging that research on climate change enter a new era focused on the needs of decision makers.
This lab activity is designed for science students in an introductory climatology course. Upon successful completion of the activity, students will have demonstrated an ability to:
Independently navigate and download climate data from online data libraries.
Work with different file types (NetCDF and CSV).
Write appropriate MATLAB code to read and manipulate climate data, and create plots (time series and maps) as instructed.
Extract meaningful information from large 3-dimensional datasets.
Understand and apply fundamental climatology concepts, such as:
Climate statistics (temporal and spatial mean and anomaly; trends; baselines)
Ice-albedo feedback resulting in disproportionate sensitivity to climate change in polar regions
(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)