In this lesson, students will come to understand the different types of energy sources and how they affect the people living around them by looking at energy use in Japan and the United States. Students will also compare and contrast the nuclear events at Fukushima and Three Mile Island. Then, students will write essays on energy options and effects.

These supplemental materials are meant to be used in conjunction with the activity "Estuary and the Watershed." In this activity, students investigate a large watershed, look for sources of pollution in the watershed, and study the impacts of a rain storm on a watershed and estuary, without going on field trip. Students begin by examining the San Francisco Estuary using Google Maps (Part 1), identifying possible sources of pollution and contamination along the major rivers that feed into the estuary (Part 2). Students also examine graphs of water quality data from the estuary and identify changes that occur due to a storm event (Part 3).

In this activity, students investigate a large watershed, look for sources of pollution in the watershed, and study the impacts of a rain storm on a watershed and estuary, without going on field trip. Students begin by examining the San Francisco Estuary using Google Maps (Part 1), identifying possible sources of pollution and contamination along the major rivers that feed into the estuary (Part 2). Students also examine graphs of water quality data from the estuary and identify changes that occur due to a storm event (Part 3).

As part of this activity, students learn about geologic processes on Earth in order to interpret surface features recently seen on Europa by NASA's Galileo spacecraft. Materials presented here include a vocabulary list, geology jigsaw puzzle, review questions, and links to related sites.

This is a hands-on lab activity about evaporation. Learners will conduct experiments to observe the process of evaporation. They will then describe the process of evaporation, and the general water cycle, through discussion and pictures. Background information, common preconceptions, a glossary and more is included. This activity is part of the Aquarius Hands-on Laboratory Activities.

In this activity, student teams conduct a quantitative exploration of the connections between parts of the Earth system, through examination of a time series of environmental data maps. By investigating the connections between environmental data, they see how Earth processes interact on varying time and spatial scales.This is one of six interrelated learning activities in the student activity guide associated with the GLOBE Earth System Poster, “Exploring Connections in Year 2007.” A series of assessment and extension activities are included.

Student teams explore atmospheric aerosols, dust, and fires and their impact on the Earth's albedo using NASA Earth Observations (NEO) website. This is an extension activity in the student learning activity guide accompanying the GLOBE Earth System Poster, Exploring Connections in Year 2007. A series of six learning activities and associated assessment activities are included.

In this two-day lesson, students will be introduced to several water sustainability issues, including access to clean freshwater, groundwater depletion, agricultural water use, and water waste.

In this activity, student teams explore connections between parts of the Earth system, by examining a time series of environmental data maps. By examining scientific visualizations of a data pair in two time slices, they will see that the environment is the result of the interplay among many processes that take place on varying time and spatial scales. This is one of six interrelated learning activities associated with the GLOBE Earth System Poster, Exploring Connections in Year 2007, which also includes a series of assessment and extension activities. GLOBE (Global Learning and Observation to Benefit the Environment) is a worldwide, hands-on, K-12 school-based science education program.

In this activity, student teams explore the connections between parts of the Earth system by examining a time series of environmental data maps. They observe that the environment is the result of the interplay among many processes that take place on varying time and spatial scales, by looking at different six different variables during a single month: insolation, surface temperature, cloud fraction, aerosols, precipitation and biosphere (surface vegetation). This is one of six interrelated learning activities in the student activity guide associated with the GLOBE Earth System Poster, Exploring Connections in Year 2007. A series of assessment and extension activities are included. GLOBE (Global Learning and Observation to Benefit the Environment) is a worldwide, hands-on, K-12 school-based science education program. GLOBE (Global Learning and Observation to Benefit the Environment) is a worldwide, hands-on, K-12 school-based science education program.

In this activity, student teams explore the connections between parts of the Earth system by examining a time series of environmental data maps. Each student teams examines images for two variables and determines if there is a direct or inversely proportional relationship exhibited between them throughout the year. The variable pairs that student groups are observing include: insolation and surface temperature; cloud fraction and precipitation; aerosols and biosphere. This is one of six interrelated learning activities associated with the GLOBE Earth System Poster, "Exploring Connections in Year 2007," and includes a series of assessment and extension activities. GLOBE (Global Learning and Observation to Benefit the Environment) is a worldwide, hands-on, K-12 school-based science education program.

In this module, students will learn how scientists gather data about the depth of the ocean floor and how these data are displayed to indicate the shape of Earth's ocean basins. Students will explore an illustrated timeline that describes ancient through modern methods used to learn about the seafloor. Then, using GeoMapApp, a freely-available software and data access tool to create visual representations of bathymetric data, they will collect bathymetry data and produce a graph that represents the profile of the seafloor beneath a virtual boat. Armed with a clearer understanding of how the bathymetry data were obtained and how they indicate the shape of the seafloor, students will explore new parts of Earth, using GeoMapApp to create high-resolution profiles and contour maps.

In this activity, student teams explore connections between parts of the Earth system, by examining a time series of environmental data maps. Each team examines a single variable displayed on a global data map, and identify the unit of measure, the range of values, and patterns they observe in the data. Variables include: insolation, surface temperature, precipitation, cloud fraction, aerosols, biopshere. This is one of six interrelated learning activities associated with the GLOBE Earth System Poster, "Exploring Connections in Year 2007," and includes a series of assessment and extension activities. GLOBE (Global Learning and Observation to Benefit the Environment) is a worldwide, hands-on, K-12 school-based science education program.

Students will explore time series plots and raw data to understand the role of sea surface temperature increases on arctic ice melt. This is part three of a four-part activity on polar science. The activity builds on the knowledge gained in Using Data and Images to Understand Albedo (part 2). Extension activities examining air and sea surface temperature in relation to changing Earth albedo are included. Information is provided on data access using the NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory Web site. This activity is one of several learning activities connected with the 2007 GLOBE Earth system poster.

Students investigate the amount of waste they produce as an individual, family, class, school, community, and society; then investigate how items decompose in a landfill and develop arguments to support a solution to the problem.

The ocean and atmosphere each react to changes in the other. These reactions and counter-reactions can snowball until the system builds to a point where potentially disastrous effects occur, such as the El Nino events of 1982-83 and 1997-98. This site describes how the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's TOPEX-Poseidon satellite was used to monitor the amount of sea level rise in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, and consequently the amount of heat stored in the water. Sea level and temperature data from TOPEX-Poseidon was used successfully to predict the 1997-98 El Nino event earlier than ever before. It features text, remotely-sensed imagery and a link to JPL's Physical Oceanography website.

In this lesson, students explore recent changes in the Arctic's climate that have been observed and documented by indigenous Arctic residents. Students watch a video, take notes, and create a concept map. Students also examine historical weather data for an Arctic community.

Research physical scientist, Dr. Dalia Kirschbaum, is featured in this short (~3 min.) video. Dr. Kirschbaum explains how the integration of her initial interest in math and her subsequent interest in the science of natural disasters lead to her career focus of landslide modeling. Now part of the NASA Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) team, she communicates about the GPM mission and data to the public and to others who use it in their work and/or research.

This classroom activity gives students an appreciation for the difficulties deep sea researchers must face in order to find hydrothermal vents. Working in small groups, students can complete this Web investigation in a single class period. The printable handout includes a series of inquiry-based questions that prompt students to use what they already know about mid-ocean ridges to hypothesize about how scientists locate deep sea vents, detailed directions for a Web research project that takes them on a virtual deep sea journey investigating hydrothermal vents, and a worksheet that helps students apply their building knowledge to locate a vent in the northern Pacific Ocean.

In this lesson, students learn the importance of forest biodiversity. They discuss and define terms important to the study of biodiversity. They study maps that illustrate how climate and glacial history influence the range of different tree species in Wisconsin. Students discuss how levels of biodiversity differ from forest to forest by studying different forest biomes and different forest characteristics. Students then attempt to answer important questions about forest biodiversity by analyzing case studies of five trees found in Wisconsin. Students work in groups to create a poster about their tree case study and give a short presentation.