Students explore hurricanes, the factors that contribute to them, and the role warmer sea surface temperatures may have on them. They perform experiments to observe energy transfer. Students explore the possible causes and effects of...

A professional-quality PowerPoint, which includes links to footage of actual landslides in action, opens this moving lesson. Viewers learn what conditions lead to erosion and land giving way. They simulate landslides with a variety of...

Complete teacher narrative and presentation slides for teaching about Earth's water make up the bulk of this lesson. Embedded within the slide show, you will find videos about the water cycle, keeping track of the limited supply of fresh...

Yeast and sugar go beyond the pantry and into a fuel experiment. Use these common baking ingredients to assist your class in creating ethanol, a natural fuel. Pupils observe the process and gather information to elaborate...

Just as no man is an island, no country is totally independent of other countries. To understand the impact of individual consumer decisions on the global natural environment, class groups consider how the stuff they...

Students investigate recycling at several scales, including local, state, national and global. They become aware of recycling, re-use, reduce efforts and policies. Students read the article Where Does Your Garbage Go. They look up where...

Is global warming all smoke and mirrors? Find out what your scholars think with this handout, which has them analyzing two political cartoons on the topic. Background information gives context, detailing the computer hacking during the...

How can both individuals and governments respond to climate change and take responsibility to reduce its effects on our environment? Here you will find three lessons filled with discussion, debate, and role-playing...

Viewers of the short documentary Santa Cruz Del Islote consider how changes in climate and overfishing impact the life style of the 1,200 residents of a small island off the coast of Cartagena, Columbia.

With the abundance of food products we can easily access in our society today, it is easy to forget the toll this can take on our global environment. Young learners will discover how the transition to agriculture and domesticated living...

The fourth activity in a series of five has classes participate in a jigsaw to learn about global impacts of climate change and then share their new information with a home group. Groups then research impacts of climate change (droughts,...

The Mars Global Surveyor spent two years creating a mineral map of the planet Mars using thermal emission spectrometry. To help young astronomers understand this remote sensing instrument, have them simulate how data is collected and...

Learn how ocean currents are vital to humans and marine life. The eighth installment of a 23-part NOAA Enrichment in Marine sciences and Oceanography (NEMO) program, focuses on ocean currents and how they affect global climate. The...

You know global warming is real when your squirrel feeder is full of popped corn instead of kernels! Activity two in a series of five allows learners to explore climate change through the eyes of another. After briefly analyzing their...

The final lesson in the R.E.S.PE.C.T series asks eighth graders to expand their vision beyond the walls of the classroom and to consider how they can promote acceptance and respect of others within in the global community. "A Stranger...

Students survey the impact of racial, cultural, and/or socio-economic intolerance in their own lives in relation to other individuals. They develop written and oral proposals to solve inequality and intolerance on a local, state,...

Students examine aesthetic movement known as modernism, discover why organizers chose modernism as World Fair's design pattern, interpret photographs of modernist fair buildings and identify artifacts that reflect modernist ideas, and...

Seventh graders give examples of local sources of pollution and postulate reasons as to why local sources of pollution can harm the ecosystem. They address the following question in short answer form: "Why is litter/chemical pollution...

An overview of deforestation is the focus of this resource, which present the reader with a list of facts. Ten comprehension questions follow; learners can write their answers on a separate piece of paper. Have your environmental...

As scholars examine a simple political cartoon, they consider some of the crises of 2009: oil, foreign wars, energy, global warming, Swine Flu, etc. A list is provided for background information, and 3 talking points (or writing points)...

Camille Seaman's photoessay, "Witnessing Icebergs" documents just a tip of the problem of climate change through images of icebergs in both the Arctic and Antarctic polar regions. After viewing the haunting images, viewers respond...

Sama Maydani and Sarah Kuck's film, Even the Walls, that explores the benefits and drawbacks of gentrification in downtown Seattle, asks viewers to consider how houses, apartment buildings, and outdoor spaces can be designed to build a...

What happens when ice melts? Well ... water happens. When that melting ice is a glacier, the amount of water that results produces change throughout the world. Middle school science sleuths uncover the truth about global...

What role does trust play in diffusing a tense situation? Young social scientists explore trust on a personal and global level during a lesson on peace and conflict. After participating in a trust sit, participants work in groups to...