Curated OER
How Warm is the Water?
Students research how surface sea temperature changes throughout the year. They draw a time series of sea surface temperatures for each month of the year and a depth profile for a summer and winter month using an OceanExplorer Profiler...
Curated OER
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...
Curated OER
Analysis of Atmospheric Conditions for a High Mountain Retreat
Students examine the relationship between altitude, atmospheric pressure, temperature and humidity at a particular location. They practice science and math in real world applications. They write reports detailing their scientific...
Curated OER
Ocean Circulation
Students view and analyze buoy, satellite, temperature vs depth data to study about ocean circulation and how is related to atmospheric circulation. They read and interpret satellite image data related to: Surface wind speeds, Wave...
Curated OER
Fostering Geospatial Thinking: Space to Earth: Earth to Space (SEES)
Students locate and access data to help them with their science inquiry. In this geographical positioning lesson students evaluate and compare data sets.
Curated OER
Linkages Between Surface Temperature And Tropospheric Ozone
Students organize and analyze data regarding changes in tropospheric ozone and then hypothesize about the consequences of these changes.
Curated OER
Annotated Example of Socratic Questioning: Climate: Global Warming
Students compare and discuss short-term and longer-term global temperature data. They evaluate data from three sets of graphs and then participate in a structured whole class Socratic discussion on the possible causes of climate change.
Curated OER
Water Walk
Students follow the appropriate sampling protocol and take two measurements of a local water source. These measurements are Transparency and Temperature. This info about local land use and/or water chemistry issues may require further...
Curated OER
Teaching Modeling Water Quality
Students explore the basics of interpreting RUSS temperature and oxygen profile data. They are introduced to the Geographic Information Systems (GIS), particularly with respect to interpreting maps.
Curated OER
Coral Bleaching in the Caribbean
Students use authentic satellite data on the NASA website to determine when the sea surface temperature meets the criteria to induce coral bleaching.
Curated OER
Science: Hurricanes As Heat Engines
Students conduct Internet research to track the path of Hurricane Rita. They record the sea surface temperature of the Gulf of Mexico during and after the hurricane and draw conclusions about how hurricanes extract heat energy from the...
Curated OER
Heat Transfer and Pollution
Students perform computer simulations on air dispersion. In this chemistry lesson, students calculate energy transfer based on specific heat and temperature change. They explain the causes of smog.
Science 4 Inquiry
Atmospheric Layers
Space diving refers to the act of jumping from outer space and falling through Earth's atmosphere before parachuting to land. Scholars learn about this extreme activity and study the layers of the atmosphere they must conquer in the...
Colorado State University
How Far Away Is Space?
Outer space may be a lot closer than you think! Science scholars model the layers of the atmosphere using transparencies to gain insight into the scale of space. The resource includes ideas to tailor the activity to the skill level of...
Curated OER
Energy and Metabolism
This four-page worksheet queries young biologists about the process of metabolism in the human body. They describe types of energy, laws of thermodynamics, and chemical reactions related to the processing of energy. Plenty of space is...
Virginia Department of Education
Greenhouse Gas Modeling Activity
Why are greenhouse gases called greenhouse gases? Young Earth scientists learn about greenhouse gases though experimentation in the second installment of a 3-part series. They use lamps to model radiant energy as well as warming through...
Global Change
Impact of Climate Change on the Desert Pupfish
A fish that lives in the desert? You and your class can meet the desert pupfish as they examine its habitat, the role humans play in diminishing water supplies, and how climate change might impact this fishy friend. There are four short...
Virginia Department of Education
Mineral Identification
What's the difference between a rock and a mineral? And what properties are used to identify minerals? The first installment of a five-part series on earth materials and processes prompts young scientists to identify a set of...
Virginia Department of Education
Permeability and Porosity
Covering both permeability and porosity, scholars perform a hands-on experiment testing various soil types. The material includes a pre-lesson worksheet to help focus pupils on the task at hand.
NOAA
Biological Oceanographic Investigations – Signals from the Deep
The Deepwater Horizon oil spill directly impacted an area of the Gulf of Mexico the size of Oklahoma. A marine biology lesson looks at the impact of an oil spill on the deeper parts of the ocean. Scholars download actual data collected...
Curated OER
The Tropical Supermarket
Third graders explore the sources of the various foods they eat. They examine how everyone is intricately connected to the ecosystems in which natural resources are produced. Students observe how the lives of people living in those...
Curated OER
Sunlight and Warm Air
Students examine the different ways heat can be felt. In this radiation and conduction lesson plan, students recognize that the sun radiates heat. Students conduct three experiments to find how the sun warms the Earth and how that heat...
Curated OER
WorldWatcher Project: Global Warming Project
Students conduct lab activities, computer visualizations, and other various forms of research in preparation for a role-play activity in which they assume the identities of advisors to various heads of state on the subject of global...
Curated OER
Soil Morphology
Students analyze images of five different soil types from various locations and discuss how climate, vegetation, parent material, topography, and time can contribute to soil characteristics.