Teaching young mathematicians about collecting and analyzing data allows for a variety of fun and engaging activities. Here, children observe the weather every day for a month, recording their observations in the form of a bar graph....

Scientists monitor seasonal changes in plants to better understand their responses to climate change, in turn allowing them to make predictions regarding the future. The last activity in the series of six has scholars analyze BudBurst...

Ground-truthing ... is it even a word? The last installment of a five-part series analyzes how scientists collect sea surface temperature data. Scholars use government websites to compare temperature data collected directly from buoys...

Statistically, waste may become a problem in the future if people do not take action. Using their knowledge of statistics and data representation, pupils take a look at the idea of waste generation. The four-part unit has class members...

Students gather historical snow cover and temperature data from the MY NASA DATA Web site. They compare this data to data gathered using ground measurements from the ALISON Web site for Shageluk Lake. They graph both sets of data and...

An environmental factor, such as a drought, sometimes speeds up the rate of natural selection. Scholars analyze data on the beaks of birds around the time of the drought. They compare those that survived to those that perished and find...

Desert regions are hotter for multiple reasons; the lack of vegetation causes the sun's heat to go straight into the surface and the lack of moisture means none of the heat is being transferred into evaporation. This concept, and other...

Students observe clouds. In this deep convective clouds lesson plan, students analyze cloud data recorded over one month and draw conclusions based on results.  Students predict "Thunderstorm Season" and prepare to defend their...

Looking for a hot date? Pick any day in August, statistically the hottest month in the United States. The 15th instructional activity in the series of 21 instructs pupils to investigate the August 2007 heat wave through NASA data, daily...

Students play the role of a Ranger with the Department of Forestry.  In this forest fires lesson, students examine data on biomes and images to determine high risk areas for forest fires to develop.  

Did you know the hole in the ozone is seasonal and filled by January every year? The lesson uses scientific measurements of the ozone over the South Pole to understand patterns. Scholars learn that the hole grew bigger annually before...

As of 2015, there are 53,481 oil wells in the Gulf of Mexico. Scholars determine how species diversity is impacted based on the ecosystem's distance from a drilling platform.  It focuses on finding the mean of data sets...

Model and explore osmosis using squash and potatoes. Young scientists expose chunks of potatoes to different concentrations of a squash solution. They compare the weights of the chunks before and after exposure to the solution and use...

What better way to make predictions about future weather and climate patterns than with actual climate data from the past? Young climatologists analyze data from 400,000 to 10,000 years ago to determine if climate has changed over...

Students swab different sections of the tongue to identify taste buds. In this sense of taste instructional activity, students make predictions and conduct an experiment. Students experiment with a variety of flavors and...

Take your biology class' understanding of biodiversity to a whole new level! Ecology scholars use data to calculate three different diversity indices based on the organisms in the Gorongosa National Park. The four-part activity uses an...

In the sixth lesson in a series of 21, scholars use NASA data to graph and interpret albedo seasonally and over the course of multiple years. This allows learners to compare albedo trends to changes in sea ice with connections to the...

Young scholars use NASA satellite data to compare water vapor over the United States.  In this data analysis lesson students use an Excel spreadsheet to map their data. 

Viewers learn about three different weather measurement tools in installment five of the 10-part Discover Your Changing World series. They build weather vanes to collect data on wind speed, barometers to determine air pressure, and...

Space shuttles traveled around Earth at a speed of 17,500 miles per hour, way faster than trains, planes, or automobiles travel! In the 13th installment of 22, groups graph different speeds to show how quickly spacecraft move through...

Liquids, gases, and solids are the states of matter in which scholars investigate in a lesson plan that offers in-depth information and engaging activities that look into the three states and the changes their properties make when mixed...

This is the grown-up version of the classic "float an egg in salt water" experience, plus an experiment in soap making. High schoolers explore density, but more importantly, practice accuracy, precision, and the use of significant...

Access local temperature data online, graph averages, and critique it. Learners listen to a scenario where weather and climate are confused, and then answer questions to differentiate the two. The lesson itself is compact, but there is a...

Your class can practice collecting and analyzing data. They extrapolate information and derive data from fire season statistics. They also choose the most appropriate format to display collected data.