California Academy of Science
Climate Change Impacts
Getting kids thinking about climate change now, will hopefully push them into action when they become adults. Young environmentalists discuss the evidence and causes of climate change seen in the state of California. They brainstorm ways...
Curated OER
Whales and Sea Ice: Investigating Insulation
Students investigate the properties of insulation as it relates to whales and sea ice. They research whales and examine the atmospheric changes that occur when there are changes in sea ice.
Curated OER
The Future of Arctic Sea Ice
Students research about the importance of sea ice to world climate and sea organisms. In this earth science lesson, students create a model of present and future Arctic sea ice communities. They discuss how ice melting affects...
Curated OER
Graphing Sea Ice Extent in the Arctic and Antarctic
Students graph sea ice data and predict long term trends in the data. In this climate change lesson, students use sea ice data from the Arctic and Antarctic to construct line graphs. They use their graphs to predict the effects of global...
Curated OER
Studying Snow and Ice Changes
Students compare the change in snow and ice over a 10 year period. In this environmental science activity, students use the live data on the NASA site to study and compare the monthly snow and ice amounts on a map of the entire Earth. ...
National Wildlife Federation
I Speak for the Polar Bears!
Climate change and weather extremes impact every species, but this instructional activity focuses on how these changes effect polar bears. After learning about the animal, scholars create maps of snow-ice coverage and examine the yearly...
Curated OER
March of the Polar Bears: Global Change, Sea Ice, and Wildlife Migration
Learners study global change and how these changes impact wildlife. In this polar bears lesson students analyze maps and data to understand climate change.
Curated OER
Scientists Track the Rising Tide
In this tracking the rising tide activity, learners use the data in a graph showing the seal level change versus time from 1900 to 2000 to answer 3 questions about the rising tides. Students determine the slope of a line drawn from 1920...
Space Awareness
Oceans on the Rise
Temperature rises and land disappears! Through a lab exploration, learners understand the effect of temperature increase on water similar to the effect of global warming on our oceans. As they heat the water in a flask, they measure the...
Curated OER
Bering Sea Buffet - A Foodweb Activity
Life in the Bering Sea, food webs, and the ocean ecosystem are introduced with a map activity. The lesson starts as kids explore maps and images of the Bering Sea, then it kicks into high gear as they start to discuss the types of...
It's About Time
The Changing Geography of Your Community
Lead your class in exploring their local communities as well as the general environment. As they determine continental distributions by investigating minerals, rocks, and fossils located in their local region, pupils construct a...
Curated OER
Global Warming - The Heat is On: Global Climate Change Revisited
After listening to your lecture on climate change, young scientists access NOAA's database listing Mauna Loa's carbon dioxide data. They graph the monthly means and then compare their graphs to NOAA's. This is a concise plan that could...
Curated OER
Life in the Crystal Palace
Marine biologists research sea ice communities. Assign some groups to construct paper models of sea ice communities in winter, and some to construct models of them in summer. The lesson is simplistic, but the Internet resources provided...
Polar Trec
Sea Ice Impact
The arctic seas contain currents that are both warm (with high salinity) and cold (relatively fresh water) that circulate throughout the year. Through discussion, a lab, and a web quest, participants explore the impacts of melting and...
Polar Trec
Who Will Melt First?
If the Greenland ice sheet melted, sea levels would rise by about 20 ft; if the Antarctic ice sheet melted, sea levels would rise by 200 ft. Scholars explore ice melting through the analysis of different ice samples, clean and dirty ice....
Curated OER
History's Thermometers
Ancient coral beds give scientists clues to past ocean temperatures in much the same way that tree rings indicate historical weather conditions. High school scientists examine coral oxygen isotope ratios and plot the data as a function...
Curated OER
Glaciers: Then and Now
A large data table is given to your elementary earth scientists in which they record observations that they make while viewing pictures of Alaskan glaciers. They compare and contrast recent photos with older photos. Hold a discussion...
Global Change
Impact of a Changing Climate on the Pacific Walrus
How many of us can say they've seen a Pacific walrus? Not many and one of the reasons is the impact of climate change on their aquatic environment. Children get to think about the food web of the Bering Sea by creating an actual web with...
Curated OER
Real World Investigation- Math and Geography- Elevation Changes
In this math and geography real world investigation, 6th graders plan a driving trip to a city that is located several states away from their home while recording the elevations of three cities that are included in the trip. They use...
NASA
Climate Change Online Lab
What are the key indicators that show scientists that our planet is in the fastest warming trend ever? Learners go on a WebQuest to examine the evidence for themselves. Following several links to NASA sites, kids see how the global...
Curated OER
Ozone Hole - Changes in the Stratosphere
Halting the depletion of the hole in the ozone layer has been one of humanity's happy recoveries from previous damage done to the environment. Meteorology masters muse the Montreal Protocol and examine data on changes in the ozone....
Curated OER
Changing Planet: The Warming of Our Large Lakes - Reasons for Concern
Another A+ instructional activity on the impact of climate change comes to you from the National Earth Science Teachers Association. In this installment, learners model the stratification of water in lakes due to temperature differences....
Curated OER
Themes to Encourage Awareness of Environmental Changes on the Shoreline of Connecticut in Elementary School Students: The Case of Kelsey Island
Students begin the lesson by developing a map of Kelsey Island by following specific instructions. In groups, they are given a block of ice in which they tie a rope around and drag over various rocks for different distances. They...
Curated OER
Introduction to Earth's Dynamically Changing Climate
Students identify the most common causes of global warming. In this earth science lesson, students use an interactive website to explore changes over time in sea ice, sea level, carbon emissions, and average global temperature. They take...