With this interactive resource, students can explore what would happen if the amounts of oxygen, carbon dioxide, and ozone were increased or decreased on Earth.
This resource discusses using a barometer to measure the air pressure and predict weather conditions.
This resource discusses severe weather that can occur around the globe.
In this lesson, students will use Google Earth to explore global temperature changes. They will use Google Earth to determine how the temperature of the Earth has changed during a recent 50-58 year period. They will also explore, analyze, and interpret climate patterns of 13 different cities, and analyze differences between weather and climate patterns.
Within the earth science strand of 7th grade science, students focus on understanding the cycling of matter in and out of Earth’s atmosphere. In this task, students discover the stages that lead to Earth’s current atmosphere, investigate the cycles that maintain the Earth’s current atmosphere, and write a fictional account of one of the cycles from that gas molecule/compound’s point of view. The analytical reading and diagram interpretation, as well as the creative writing nature of this lesson allow students to build content understanding while promoting 21st Century Skills. This lesson was developed by NCDPI as part of the Academically and/or Intellectually Gifted Instructional Resources Project. This lesson plan has been vetted at the state level for standards alignment, AIG focus, and content accuracy.
This resource is an article that answers the question, "Why is the Earth the only known planet to have life?"
This tutorial describes how air moves across the globe in vast currents.
This resource is an article that discusses the different things that cause the earth's weather.
This NASA site explains the three major types of atmospheric aerosols - volcanic emissions, desert dust, and anthropogenic aerosols - and how they affect global climate. The site discusses the generation and atmospheric distribution of these aerosols, as well as the chemical and physical processes by which they create global cooling.
This resource includes a page of images for each cloud type and four simple hands-on activities. In "Heat Up, Rise Up," students will create a basic thermometer from a straw and investigate the temperature differences as air expands and contracts. In "Rise Above It All," students will model cloud formation by observing how hot water/air rises through cold water/air. In "How Wet is the Air?" students will explore relative humidity. In "How Cold is Enough?" students will continue to investigate cloud formation by inducing condensation on a container of water.
This site features a QuickTime animation with audio, a series of Java applets, and an MPEG that illustrate various aspects of atmospheric heating. They explain Earth's radiation balance, show the user how to draw temperature contours, and depict the basic idea of an urban heat island. These resources portray a variety of environments and are suitable for use in lectures, labs, or other teaching activities.
This site features GIFs, Java applets, MPEGs, and Flash animations that illustrate various forms of precipitation and moisture. They include an animation of air parcels and water vapor colliding with condensation nuclei which results in condensation and cloud formation, an interactive precipitation animation applet that allows the user to set wet and dry bulb temperatures to see if snow, ice, freezing rain, sleet, super cooled droplets, raindrops, or drizzle will fall, an animation of lake effect snow over the Great Lakes, and infrared satellite images of water vapor moving across the US. These resources portray a variety of environments and are suitable for use in lectures, labs, or other teaching activities.
Students indirectly measure atmospheric pressure using a plastic drink bottle and a ping pong ball. They will then use this measure to calculate the force acting on the outside of a soft drink can.
Lab for students to understand the factors that influence atmospheric pressure.
Lab for students to understand the factors that influence atmospheric pressure.
This site features Flash and QuickTime animations that illustrate diurnal changes in wind patterns along coasts due to unequal heating of the land and water, the Coriolis Effect on the Earth's surface and in the context of everyday weather patterns, and global circulation, temperature, and wind patterns. The animations can be paused and rewound to stress important points. These resources are suitable for use in lectures, labs, or other teaching activities.
With this resource, students will play 20 questions using the periodic table and a list of common molecules.
Students will: determine the number of protons, neutrons, and electrons for a given element by using the periodic table; construct and draw models and diagrams of atoms; use the concept of the stable octet to predict simple molecular formulas; and distinguish between elements and compounds.
With this resource, students will use what they know about atoms and molecules to decide whether an example is an atom or a molecule.
With this resource, students will use a knowledge check table to analyze their background knowledge about atoms.