![The 4 spheres: Different parts of Earth](https://img.oercommons.org/160x134/oercommons/media/courseware/lesson/screenshot/courseware-lesson-52354.png)
The student wil read the material, then take a quiz with questions from the material.
- Subject:
- Environmental Science
- Material Type:
- Lesson Plan
- Author:
- Jack Hudson
- Amy Pace
- Date Added:
- 03/14/2019
The student wil read the material, then take a quiz with questions from the material.
This video segment adapted from First Light explains why the highest peak in the Pacific, Mauna Kea, is an ideal site for astronomical observations. Featured are new telescope technologies that allow astronomers to explore the universe in more depth.
Selected resources provide three web-based activities to complement science lessons in an issue of Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle. The free, online magazine for Grades K-5 teachers explores the essential principles of climate literacy.
In this video from Nature, geological detectives use ancient diamonds to learn more about Earth's inner layers.
In this video adapted from Storyknife Productions, Alaska Native pilots share how they use traditional knowledge to read the landscape and predict the weather.
This resource provides an explanation of two number/magic puzzles that can be demystified and explained by using algebra. This resource is from PUMAS - Practical Uses of Math and Science - a collection of brief examples created by scientists and engineers showing how math and science topics taught in K-12 classes have real world applications.
The Amazing Mundo is part of OLogy, where kids can collect virtual trading cards and create projects with them. In this interactive comic strip (also available as a printable PDF), kids are challenged to determine the composition of everyday objects. They learn the variety of things made from materials like sand, metal, bauxite and oil.
In this activity, students examine a photograph of the night sky and answer questions about their observations. The picture, taken by a high school student in upstate New York, offers insight into the Earth's rotation, apparent star motion, the location of Polaris (the North Star), circumpolar constellations, and pointer stars.
This video segment adapted from NOVA explains why ice sheets move. To find out how fast they move, scientists carve a tunnel through a glacier.
What would happen if a portion of the Antarctic Ice Sheet were to melt? This video segment adapted from NOVA uses animations to show the effect of a 6-meter sea-level rise on coastal cities across the world.
What happens when the ground under your feet is ice and it's moving? This video segment adapted from NOVA features some of the dangers faced by scientists conducting research in Antarctica.
This video segment adapted from NOVA uses microwave images to reveal how sea ice doubles the size of Antarctica each winter. Rare footage shows how sea ice crushed the famous ship Endurance in 1914.
This classroom activity introduces students to Antarctica's organisms, landscapes, and seascapes. After examining the images in the photo gallery, students work in small groups to discuss their conclusions about the living conditions on this continent. The printable three-page handout includes a series of questions to help students structure their thoughts while viewing the gallery images and a group worksheet that guides students through a discussion of their evolving hypotheses and conclusions.
This video segment adapted from NOVA features a variety of scientific perspectives on the age old question, "Are we alone in the universe?" Animations make vivid the improbability that we could intercept a radio wave signaling extra terrestrial intelligence.
Students will complete this survey that determines their personal and household contributions to atmospheric Carbon dioxide by using information about their previous year's consumption. They will understand that Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas produced by the combustion of fossil fuels, and that its production can be minimized by taking personal steps to conserve.
Survey of atmospheric and oceanic phenomena including the discussion of observations and theoretical interpretations. Topics covered include: monsoons; El Nino; planetary waves; atmospheric synoptic eddies and fronts; gulf stream rings; hurricanes; surface and internal gravity waves; and tides. In this course, we will look at many important aspects of the circulation of the atmosphere and ocean, from length scales of meters to thousands of km and time scales ranging from seconds to years. We will assume familiarity with concepts covered in course 12.003 (Physics of the Fluid Earth). In the early stages of the present course, we will make somewhat greater use of math than did 12.003, but the math we will use is no more than that encountered in elementary electromagnetic field theory, for example. The focus of the course is on the physics of the phenomena which we will discuss.
The impact of natural disasters is made vivid in this video segment adapted from NOVA. A small town in Iceland, prepared for recurrent avalanches, is devastated when one takes a new and damaging path.
Students explore static electricity by rubbing a simulated balloon on a sweater. As they view the charges in the sweater, balloon, and adjacent wall, they gain an understanding of charge transfer. This item is part of a larger collection of simulations developed by the Physics Education Technology project (PhET). The simulations are animated, interactive, and game-like environments.
This experimental activity is designed to develop a basic understanding of the interrelationship between temperature and pressure and the structure of a device made to examine this relationship. Resources needed to conduct this activity include two canning jars, two large rubber balloons, a heat lamp or lamp with 150 watt bulb, and access to freezer or water and ice. The resource includes background information, teaching tips and questions to guide student discussion. This is chapter 5 of Meteorology: An Educator's Resource for Inquiry-Based Learning for Grades 5-9. The guide includes a discussion of learning science, the use of inquiry in the classroom, instructions for making simple weather instruments, and more than 20 weather investigations ranging from teacher-centered to guided and open inquiry investigations.
This video segment describes how the Australopithecus afarensis skeleton known as Lucy could have been fossilized. Footage courtesy of NOVA: "In Search of Human Origins."