This article provides ideas and lessons on how elementary teachers can integrate webcams from the Arctic and Antarctica into their teaching. Five webcams are highlighted as well as three lessons on writing poetry and observing animal behavior.

This article describes seven strategies for assisting English Language Learners with science vocabulary development.

This article highlights children's literature about states of matter, phase changes, the water cycle, and glaciers and icebergs for use in the elementary classroom.

This article highlights children's literature about weather and climate, the polar regions, and climate change for use in the elementary classroom.

This nonfiction article, written for students in grades 4-5, explores blue whales, their food chain, and their home in the Southern Ocean. Modified versions are available for students in younger grades.

This is a lesson about the requirements for life on another planet. Learners will grow organisms in one of 12 classroom environments and identify common requirements (such as water, nutrients, and energy). They will also design a mission to identify habitable places by searching for water, nutrients, and energy. A math extension explores measuring calories. This is activity 2 of 5 in "Astrobiology in your Classroom: Life on Earth..and Elsewhere?"

In this classroom activity, young students learn what distinguishes dinosaurs from other animals. The activity opens with background information for teachers about these prehistoric reptiles. Working in small groups, students look through dinosaur books to gather interesting facts to share. As a class, students use their facts to create a semantic map. Then they explore the differences in dinosaur and lizard legs, and examine how these differences affect their stances. The activity concludes with a student worksheet that challenges them to identify the dinosaurs within a collection of animal illustrations.

In this classroom activity, young students explore the differences between bone and trace fossils. The activity opens with background information for teachers about fossils. After describing what a fossil is in their own words, students learn that a fossil is "any evidence of life that is at least 10,000 years old." They then explore the differences between trace and bone fossils by examining pictures. The activity concludes with a student worksheet that challenges them to identify trace and bone fossils.

This article describes research conducted by Dr. Ross MacPhee of the American Museum of Natural History. MacPhee is studying the possible causes behind the extinction of the woolly mammoth.

In this classroom activity, middle school students learn what distinguishes dinosaurs from other animals. The activity opens with background information for teachers about these prehistoric reptiles. As a class, students compare the stance of lizards and dinosaurs in pictures and try to replicate both reptiles' walks. Students then learn that Museum paleontologists classify birds as dinosaurs, and work in groups to compare a T. rex skeleton with pictures of birds.

This is a lesson about characteristics necessary for life. Learners will identify the top candidates for life in the solar system by examining Habitability Cards, which discuss each planet and the six large moons in terms of water temperature, atmosphere, energy, and nutrients. A math extension is provided on the Inverse Square Law. Includes background reading for teachers, student activity guide, reflection questions, and blackline masters. This is activity 3 of 5 in the educators guide, Astrobiology in your Classroom: Life on Earth..and Elsewhere?

In this classroom activity, young students investigate what paleontologists can tell from a dinosaur's teeth. The activity opens with background information for teachers about dinosaur teeth. Students begin by looking at animal photos and describing each creature's teeth. They then conduct an experiment that helps them differentiate between the teeth of meat-eaters and plant-eaters .The activity concludes with a student worksheet that challenges them to identify meat-eating and plant-eating dinosaurs.

This article provides an overview of research-based resources for engaging girls in math and science available from the Doing What Works web site, a site sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education.

This classroom activity helps students understand how the angle of the Sun affects temperatures around the globe. After experimenting with a heat lamp and thermometers at differing angles, students apply what they learned to explain temperature variations on Earth. The printable six-page handout includes a series of inquiry-based questions to get students thinking about what they already know about temperature patterns, detailed experiment directions and a worksheet that helps students use the experiment results to gain a deeper understanding of seasonal temperature changes and why Antarctica is always so cold.

This article provides links to interactive web sites and lesson plans for teaching about paleontology, dinosaurs, and archaeology in the elementary classroom.

This formative assessment item uncovers students' prior knowledge about the distribution of penguin species throughout the world. Teacher resources are given, including information about the content, instructional strategies as well as alignment to The National Science Education Standards. Additional resources include information, pictures, and lesson ideas involving penguin facts.

This article provides a lesson plan that teaches elementary students to write poems about home using sensory language and imagery. Examples of student work are provided.

This article provides ideas for integrating art into a science unit on mammals and discusses how such integration can enhance student engagement and understanding.

This site features World Wind 1.3, a NASA Learning Technologies application that lets the user zoom from any satellite altitude into any place on Earth. It features 3D Engine, Blue Marble, Landsat 7, SRTM, Animated Earth, MODIS, GLOBE, Country & State Borders, Place Names, Visual Tools and Landmark Set. The user can download World Wind, reference an online manual, post to an online forum, view screen shot examples from various satellites, and read press coverage about World Wind.