University Corporation for Atmospheric Research
Ucar: Paleoclimates and Pollen
In this extensive lesson, students examine and investigate pictures of pollen grains to determine the likely climate at the time the pollen was shed.
University Corporation for Atmospheric Research
Ucar: Atmospheric Science Explorers: Global Climate Change
A detailed overview of global climate change, with explanations of Earth's climate change, the carbon cycle, ecosystems, and greenhouse gases, and how the movements of matter and energy impact on climate. All information is reinforced...
University Corporation for Atmospheric Research
Ucar: The Sun Earth Connection: Sunspots and Climate
Through graphing data and interpretation, students learn about sunspots and their effect on the climate of our planet.
University Corporation for Atmospheric Research
Ucar: The Systems Game
Systems thinking is an important concept across the Earth sciences. In this game, students either are a part of a system or serve as scientists tasked with observing and making sense of the system moving in front of them.
University Corporation for Atmospheric Research
Ucar: Catching Snowflakes
Are you in a place where snow falls in winter? If so, try catching snowflakes. Then take a close look. Can you find two snowflakes that look alike?
University Corporation for Atmospheric Research
Ucar: Air on the Go
Students observe that air under high pressure will move toward a low-pressure area and certain objects in the air's path may move in the same direction.
University Corporation for Atmospheric Research
Ucar: Thermal Expansion of Water
Students investigate how thermal expansion of seawater impacts sea level.
University Corporation for Atmospheric Research
Ucar: Weather and Climate Data Exploration
Students explore the relationship between weather and climate by graphing weather temperature data and comparing with climate averages.
University Corporation for Atmospheric Research
Ucar: Field Projects: Science in Action
In this activity, students gather information about atmospheric scientific field projects in order to understand how a research question about the Earth system can be answered by collecting data using many different research platforms...
University Corporation for Atmospheric Research
Ucar: Cycles of the Earth System: Make Convection Currents!
For this lesson, students will understand that temperature changes can cause density changes in water and in air.
University Corporation for Atmospheric Research
Ucar: The Sun Earth Connection: The Magnetic Sun
Students will build a simple version of a magnetometer and use it to discover the types of areas of the Sun that have very strong magnetic fields. Students will then describe what the types of features associated with the Sun's strongest...
University Corporation for Atmospheric Research
Ucar: Elementary Globe: To Spread or Not to Spread
Students will explore the difference between the three types of contrails. Then they will make observations of contrails outside, record their observations, and then make follow-up observations 15 minutes later to see how the contrails...
University Corporation for Atmospheric Research
Ucar: Tree Rings Simulation Dendrochronology
Tree rings help scientists learn about past climates by decoding tree ring patterns. Use this interactive simulation to learn how tree ring patterns tell us about climate conditions in the past.
University Corporation for Atmospheric Research
Ucar: Tree Rings and Climate Timeline Simulation
In this online interactive activity, you will align tree ring cores to build a long chronology of climate history.
University Corporation for Atmospheric Research
Ucar: Whole Body Ozone Chemistry
In this activity, students will play the roles of various atoms and molecules to help them better understand how ozone is formed in the earth's stratosphere.
University Corporation for Atmospheric Research
Ucar: Comparing Planetary Gases
Use jelly beans to compare the compositions (amounts of different gases) of the atmospheres of Earth, Mars, and Venus.
University Corporation for Atmospheric Research
Ucar: Climate
The climate where you live is called regional climate. Global climate is a description of the climate of a planet as a whole, with all the regional differences averaged. Includes links to additional resources on climate and climate change.
University Corporation for Atmospheric Research
Ucar: Wind
Wind is air moving from a place that has higher pressure to one that has lower pressure. Sometimes wind is just a light breeze and other times it is strong enough to blow the roofs off buildings.
University Corporation for Atmospheric Research
Ucar: Weather Glossary
A glossary of common weather related words.
University Corporation for Atmospheric Research
Ucar: Humidity
The amount of water vapor in the air is called humidity.
University Corporation for Atmospheric Research
Ucar: Clouds Images
Photos of various types of clouds and diagrams to help you understand clouds.
University Corporation for Atmospheric Research
Ucar: Greenhouse Gases Sorting Game
Sort these molecules as greenhouse gases, borderline cases or not greenhouse gases.
University Corporation for Atmospheric Research
Ucar: Clouds Memory Game
Test your memory while you learn about clouds. Click on tiles to reveal photos of clouds and try to find a matching pair.
University Corporation for Atmospheric Research
Ucar: The Photosphere: The "Surface" of the Sun
The photosphere is the visible "surface" of the Sun. View pictures and read a description of the photosphere in this article.