In this activity, students act as engineers to determine which type of insulation would conserve the most energy.

The Core Mantle Boundary (CMB) represents one of the most important physical and chemical discontinuities of the deep Earth as it separates the solid state, convective lower mantle from the liquid outer core. In this seminar course, the instructors will examine our current understanding of the CMB region from integrated seismological, mineral physics and geodynamical perspectives. Instructors will also introduce state-of-the-art methodologies that are employed to characterize the CMB region and relevant papers will be discussed in class. Topics will include CMB detection and topography, D’’ anisotropy, seismic velocity anomalies (e.g., ultra-low velocity zones), temperature, chemical reactions, phase relations, and mineral fabrications at the core-mantle boundary. These results will be integrated to address the CMB’s fundamental role in both mantle and core dynamics.

This article provides elementary school teachers with background knowledge about science concepts needed to understand the first of seven essential principles of climate literacy--the sun is the primary source of energy for our climate system. Graphs, diagrams, and oneline resources provide more background for the teacher. The article appears in a free online magazine that focuses on the seven essential princples of the climate sciences.

This book list contains children's books that have been screened for accuracy in depicting scientific concepts. Each book's content is briefly described and its cover pictured. The topics of the books support learning in Grades K-5 about the issue's theme. The list appears in the free, online magazine Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle, which focuses on the essential principles of climate literacy.

Students explore how the efficiency of a solar photovoltaic (PV) panel is affected by the ambient temperature. They learn how engineers predict the power output of a PV panel at different temperatures and examine some real-world engineering applications used to control the temperature of PV panels.

In this activity, student teams design and conduct a scientific investigation in which they explore the conditions necessary for life. They conduct observations of environmental conditions both indoor and outdoor, and determine the range of variation they see. They compare these data with published temperature data for Earth, Mars, Pluto and Venus. The activity supports inquiry into the real world challenge of searching for life in extreme environments. The resource includes several student data sheets, data table and images, and a teacher's guide. Materials needed for this activity include weather instruments (e.g., thermometers, barometers, anemometers). This is Activity A of two activities in the first module, titled "Temperature variations and habitability," of the resource, "Earth Climate Course: What Determines a Planet's Climate?" The course aims to help students to develop an understanding of our environment as a system of human and natural processes that result in changes that occur over various space and time scales.

This nonfiction article, written for elementary students, discusses the unique characteristics of the North and South poles. The student article is available as a text-only document, illustrated book, and electronic book. Related lesson plans are included for teacher use.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"The microbes found in topsoil are a vital part of the Earth’s ecology. While several recent studies have explored these microbiomes on a global scale, their data on sub-Saharan Africa was sparse, despite the looming threat of climate change to the region. To close this gap, researchers recently examined the microbial ecology of 810 sites across 9 sub-Saharan African countries. The topsoil microbiomes were shaped by a broad range of environmental factors, particularly pH, precipitation, and temperature, and each nation had a quantifiably distinct topsoil microbiome. Computer models based on the data also predicted how country-specific microbiomes might respond to climate change. In Kenya, for example, higher temperatures and lower rainfall could diminish microbial diversity, whereas in Benin, the predicted increase in precipitation is likely to boost fungal biodiversity..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"The interactions between viruses and prokaryotes play a key role in shaping microbiomes. However, little is known about the factors influencing host-virus interaction networks, especially when it comes to host factors. To close this gap, researchers constructed a host-provirus network out of over 7,000 species-level prokaryote genomes from many environments. Proviruses are virus genomes that have been integrated into the host genome, allowing researchers to detect them from available genomic datasets. Using this host-provirus network, the researchers then calculated the host interaction specialization, which quantifies how specialized a given host is in relation to the available interacting virus partners. Broadly, fast growing prokaryotes showed less virus specificity than slow growers. This negative growth rate-specialization relationship was widespread across the Earth’s microbiomes..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This list of children's books recommends nonfiction titles that supplement basic information found in lessons and activities of this themed issue of the online magazine Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle. The books are grouped by topic -- water, weather and climate, and atmosphere. Each book is described by its content, reading level, and possible uses in the classroom. Covers are pictured. The online magazine is produced for elementary school teachers and is structured around the essential principles of climate sciences and climate literacy.

Four unit plans provide opportunities for in-depth explorations of important foundational climate concepts -- weather, water as a solid, liquid and gas, and the water cycle -- that are appropriate for K-2 and 3-5 learners. These unit plans incorporate many of the lessons highlighted in other articles in this issue of the online magazine Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle. The magazine is structured around the essential principles of the climate sciences.

In this article, teachers find two unit plans (grades K-2 and 3-5) that use resources featured in the science and literacy articles in the magazine. The unit plans are modeled after the five key steps in the learning cycle: engage, explore, explain, expand, and assess, or evaluate. The plans are aligned with the science content standards of the National Science Education Standards and the English language arts standards of the National Council of Teachers of English and the International Reading Association. The plans appear in the free, online magazine Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle.

Students will collect their own data on urban heat in order to understand how different city design choices change temperatures.

Students learn about homeostasis and create models by constructing simple feedback systems using Arduino boards, temperature sensors, LEDs and Arduino code. Starting with pre-written code, students instruct LEDs to activate in response to the sensor detecting a certain temperature range. They determine appropriate temperature ranges and alter the code accordingly. When the temperature range is exceeded, a fan is engaged in order to achieve a cooling effect. In this way, the principle of homeostasis is demonstrated. To conclude, students write summary paragraphs relating their models to biological homeostasis.

This lesson sought to engage students in data interpretation and to encourage critical thinking about neurophysiology in the context of temperature sensation. A family of receptors called Transient Receptor Potential (TRP) channels are activated in response to specific temperatures. Upon activation, TRP channels can trigger sensory neurons to signal the perception of temperature. In this lesson, that we have tested with nearly 1000 students in 12 class sections over four years, students worked in groups of three to identify a "mystery" TRP channel by interpreting five different sets of data. In this activity, we used an approach that we call Sequential Interpretation of Data in an Envelope (SIDE), where students sequentially analyze primary source-like data that are on folded pieces of paper in an envelope. Students analyzed data and hypothesized which TRP channel(s) might be their mystery TRP channel. Students then analyzed four additional sets of data from different experiments and revised their hypotheses about their mystery TRP channel after each experiment. There are four different mystery TRP channels so different groups of three students each analyzed different data and came to different conclusions. This lesson gave students the opportunity to analyze data from multiple experiments. We assessed learning through an in-class worksheet, which students completed as they interpreted each data set and a post-class homework assignment, which students completed online.

The 11 books selected for inclusion in the issue of Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle devoted to climate studies range from easy readers to biographies. Each book is briefly described; all were reviewed for accuracy and appropriate reading levels for students in grades K-5. Several books deal with careers in meteorology.

This lesson is to help students understand weather, how it changes, and how weather influences what we wear as it changes.

This formative assessment item is used to uncover student ideas about weather at the North and South Poles. It will help to determine whether students understand that weather is different at the North and South Poles and the reasons behind the differences. Teacher resources are provided that give general information as well as instructional suggestions. This probe is aligned with National Science Education Standards.

Learning Goals/Outcomes/Objectives:
Observable features of the student performance by the end of the grade: 1). Obtaining information: Students use books and other reliable media to gather information about: i. Climates in different regions of the world (e.g., equatorial, polar, coastal, mid-continental). ii. Variations in climates within different regions of the world (e.g., variations could include an area’s average temperatures and precipitation during various months over several years or an area’s average rainfall and temperatures during the rainy season over several years). 2 Evaluating information a Student's combine obtained information to provide evidence about the climate pattern in a region that can be used to make predictions about typical weather conditions in that region. 3 Communicating information a Students use the information they obtained and combined to describe*: i. Climates in different regions of the world. ii. Examples of how patterns in climate could be used to predict typical weather conditions. iii. That climate can vary over years in different regions of the world.