Curated OER
Natural Records of Change: Working with Indirect Evidence of Past Climates
Students take part in a dice game to better explain the differences between direct and indirect evidence. They apply this knowledge to how scientists have used both types of evidence to determine how climate has changed over time.
American Museum of Natural History
Make Your Own Weather Station
Scholars build a weather station equipped with a wind vane, rain gauge, and barometer. Following an informative page about the weather, learners follow steps to build their pieces then turn into meteorologists to chart the weather they...
Curated OER
Signs of Change: Tree Rings
Students identify and experiment with dendrochronology (the study of tree rings to answer ecological questions about the recent past) and come up with conclusions as to what possible climatic conditions might affect tree growth in their...
It's About Time
How Do Earth's Orbital Variations Affect Climate?
How does Earth's orbit around the Sun affect climate? This third installment of a six-part series looks at how Earth's orbit affects the amount of insolation at locations on Earth involves different experiments used in conjunction...
Beyond Benign
The Big Melt: Arctic Ice Caps
Are the Arctic ice caps really melting out of existence? Junior climatologists examine the statistics of ice decline through four math-based lessons. Each activity incorporates data, climate information, and environmental impact into an...
Space Awareness
Fizzy Balloons - C02 in School
Carbon dioxide is a very important gas; it is present in the air, used in cooking, and supports plant and animal life. Scholars investigate the properties of carbon dioxide with three different activities. They experience a color change,...
Space Awareness
Oceans on the Rise
Temperature rises and land disappears! Through a lab exploration, learners understand the effect of temperature increase on water similar to the effect of global warming on our oceans. As they heat the water in a flask, they measure the...
Curated OER
What Can I Do About Global Environmental Change?
Students complete a unit to evaluate their impact on the environment and greenhouse gas emissions. They conduct Internet research, develop a list of their electrical and energy use, calculate their share of greenhouse gases, and identify...
Curated OER
Puzzle it Out
Students study the Earth's climatic system and construct a puzzle that names all of the pieces of the components involved. In this Climate lesson, students draw a picture on a puzzle piece depicting a specific component. Students then...
Curated OER
Glacier Dynamics
Students create flubber glaciers. In this glacier dynamics lesson, students experiment factors that may affect glacier speed. Factors include slope, ice temperature, and basal conditions. Students develop hypothesis, conduct experiment,...
Curated OER
Climate And the Greenhouse Effect
Learners demonstrate the greenhouse effect. They recognize that relatively small changes to our environment can stimulate significant climate changes. They determine that the "scientific method" is a process of testing hypotheses and...
University of Georgia
Endothermic and Exothermic Reactions
Equip your chemistry class with the tools to properly understand endothermic and exothermic reactions. Young chemists collect, analyze, and graph data to determine how the Law of Conservation of Matter is applied to chemical composition...
Curated OER
Writing about the climate
Learners research the contributing factors to the Earth's paleoclimate. They determine the relevant climate data and use it to construct a science argument. In the process, they access data, capture images of the data plots, and...
PBS
Season Seeking
It's a time of change. A hands-on activity engages young scientists in a lesson highlighting the change of seasons. They brainstorm indicators of season changes in nature and then look for them. Next, they record observations in a field...
Polar Trec
Global Snow Cover Changes
Snow is actually translucent, reflecting light off its surface which creates its white appearance. Pairs or individuals access the given website and answer questions about snow cover. They analyze graphs and charts, examine data, and...
Encyclopedia Britannica
Candidate Position History Research
Climate change. Assault weapons ban. Death penalty. And the list goes on. So many issues are part of a US presidential election that it can be hard to determine a candidate's position on a particular topic and whether their position has...
Will Steger Foundation
The Carbon Cycle - What are its Implications for Climate Policy?
The carbon cycle isn't a bike which produces carbon and this lesson explains why. Through reading and discussion, groups of pupils create visual explanations of the four parts of the carbon dioxide oxygen cycle. Activities...
Curated OER
IceHunters: Welcome to the Cryosphere!
Students complete an online exploration mission assigned by their teacher. In this ecology lesson, students write a newspaper article about their polar mission following certain criteria. They create a PowerPoint presentation that they...
Curated OER
You Do It and You Clean It Up
Students explore pollution. In this pollution lesson students participate in activities to help them better understand industrial pollution.
Curated OER
Cool It! Comprehension: Chart 4
In these reading comprehension worksheets, learners read chart 4 about fixing global warming and then complete several activities that help them understand the things that can be done to reduce the amount of energy wasted.
PBS
Making Change: Revolutionary Tactics of the Civil Rights Movement
The film American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs introduces viewers to the differing philosophies of and strategies employed by 1960s civil rights leaders such as Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. and the debate over...
NASA
Precipitation
Here is a fabulous collection of lessons for your emerging meteorologists! In them, learners will utilize satellite data to determine distribution of rainfall, research global rainfall patterns, and utilize their knowledge to propose new...
Curated OER
Air: Fuel For Thought
Students consider the impact of vehicle use in their family and brainstorm viable alternatives to this use. They calculate the total emissions for their family cars during the week, then compare those totals with Hybrid car totals.
Curated OER
Ride the Arctic Climate Rollercoaster
Students view interactive CD-ROM entitled The Arctic Climate Roller Coaster, research evidence of changes in climate through the years, record ways people responded to changes, and create short presentations to share evidence with...