Curated OER
Regents High School Examination: Living Environment 2009
Emerging ecologists need a full understanding of life, from the inner workings of a cell to the complex relationships among organisms. This examination is meant to assess high schoolers after an entire year course on the living...
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
The Making of the Fittest: Got Lactase? The Co-evolution of Genes and Culture
Got milk? Only two cultures have had it long enough to develop the tolerance of lactose as an adult. Learn how the responsible genes evolved along with the cultures that have been consuming milk. This rich film is supplied with a few...
Curated OER
El Nino Lesson
Students compare graphs of weather occurrences. In this environmental lesson plan, students will being using the website to gather weather related information for a certain time period. The students will then graph the data that will be...
Curated OER
Studying Snow and Ice Changes
Students compare the change in snow and ice over a 10 year period. In this environmental science lesson plan, 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...
Channel Islands Film
Human Impact on the Food Web of Santa Cruz Island
What happens when a non-native species is introduced onto an island? Santa Cruz Island, part of the Channel Island chain located off the coast of southern California, provides the perfect laboratory for young environmental scientists to...
Curated OER
Bacteria: Friend or Foe?
Students examine a variety of environmental and industrial roles of bacteria. explore where bacteria can be found and distinguish bacteria from other organisms.
Curated OER
Solar Cell Energy Availability From Around the Country
Students determine areas that are the most likely to produce solar energy by using NASA data. In this solar energy lesson students analyze plots and determine solar panel use.
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Radiation Comparison Before and After 9-11
Using the NASA website, class members try to determine if changes could be detected in cloud cover, temperature, and/or radiation measurements due to the lack of contrails that resulted from the halt in air traffic after the attacks of...
Curated OER
Earth's Energy Budget - Seasonal Cycles in Net Radiative Flux
Students attempt to understand seasonal variation by viewing images of the energy received by the earth. In this weather lesson, students view images from NASA of the influx of energy from the sun and make predictions about resulting...
Curated OER
Analyzing Tree Rings to Determine Climate Change
Students examine how to locate and access data sets. For this climate change lesson students import data into Excel and graph it.
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Comparing the Effects of El Nino and La Nina
Students examine the differences between an El Nino and La Nina year. For this investigative lesson students create maps and graphs of the data they obtained.
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Phytoplankton in the Gulf of Maine
Students use satellite data to see the correlation between sea temperature and sunlight in the Gulf of Maine. In this phytoplankton lesson students use Excel to analyze data.
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Ocean Impacts of an El Nino Event
High schoolers study sea surface height and temperature and other characteristics of an El Nino. In this ocean impacts lesson students examine the factors that influence an El Nino or La Nina.
Population Connection
The Carbon Crunch
Carbon is in the air; should we care? Teach the class why it is important to pay attention to carbon levels and how the world population and various countries across the globe affect the carbon levels in the atmosphere. High schoolers...
Curated OER
Make a Statement!
Students discuss a class collection of bumper stickers dealing with an environmental issue. They discuss whether or not the bumper sticker have a positive effect or could change a person's viewpoiint.
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Scientist Tracking Network
Students correlate surface radiation with mean surface temperature of several geographic regions. They observe how these parameters change with latitude and construct an understanding of the relationship of solar radiation to seasonal...
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Using Vegetation, Precipitation, and Surface Temperature to Study Climate Zones
Middle schoolers begin their examination of the climate zones found around the world. Using a software program, they identify the relationship between the vegetation, climate and temperatures of the different zones. They also plot...
Curated OER
Surface Air Temperature Trends of the Caribbean
Students investigate the seasonal changes to sea surface and near-surface air temperatures near the equator. They use actual satellite data to track and graph the differences in air and sea temperatures during different seasons in the...
Curated OER
Climate and Periodic Functions: Science & Math Integration
Students complete a lab that introduce the scientific concept of climate on Earth. Following the lab, they complete further research on climate. Using average monthly temperatures students construct a mathematical model and analyze the...
Curated OER
Global Warming: Life in a Greenhouse
Students examine the evidence that scientists have used to support the existence of global warming and the greenhouse effect. How the concepts have been developed and evaluated form the focus of this lesson plan.
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Pesticides and Eggshell Thinning.
Students analyze the calcium content of egg shells as an introduction to the toxic effects of pesticides on biological systems.
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Biodiesel: An Alternative Fuel Source
Learners explore the advances that are being made in alternative fuels.In this biodiesel lesson students evaluate different petroleum and alternative fuels.
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Micro-Ecosystems
Students create a sustainable, self-contained ecosystem in a ten-gallon aquarium.