Acting as the ICESat-2 satellite, students investigate the reflection of light photons off Earth's surface by catching and recording a number of photons. Using bouncy balls to represent the photons, students drop, let bounce once and try to catch in... (View More) one hand as many balls (photons) as possible. Drops occur on carpeted and non-carpeted areas, and with and without the presence of cardboard buildings, to represent different Earth surfaces. The lesson includes background information, instructions and concluding questions. Related Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) are listed. (View Less)

Twice each day, once during daytime and once at sunset, students observe sky color, visibility, and sky conditions over a one week period. Each observation is recorded on a sky report form (included) for follow-up discussions and comparisons. This... (View More) lesson is one of four in the GLOBE program storybook entitled, "What's Up in the Atmosphere? Exploring Colors in the Sky." GLOBE (Global Learning and Observation to Benefit the Environment) is a worldwide, hands-on, K-12 school-based science education program. (View Less)

Using water to represent the atmosphere and milk droplets to represent aerosols, students make predictions and conduct investigations to discover how different aerosol concentrations affect atmospheric color and visibility. This lesson is one of... (View More) four in the GLOBE program storybook entitled, "What's Up in the Atmosphere? Exploring Colors in the Sky." GLOBE (Global Learning and Observation to Benefit the Environment) is a worldwide, hands-on, K-12 school-based science education program. (View Less)

Through the use of prisms and glue sticks, this activity introduces students to a fundamental property of light: white light is made up of colors representing different wavelengths. Students use the results of the activity to explain the variation... (View More) in sky color from daytime (blue) to sunset (red). This lesson is one of four in the GLOBE program storybook entitled, "What's Up in the Atmosphere? Exploring Colors in the Sky." GLOBE (Global Learning and Observation to Benefit the Environment) is a worldwide, hands-on, K-12 school-based science education program. (View Less)

Working in groups, students use contact paper to make samplers to collect local data on aerosols - the small particles found in the atmosphere. Students then analyze, interpret and make predictions based on their data. Both the instructions for... (View More) making the aerosol sampler and the data sheets are included. This lesson is one of four in the Elementary GLOBE storybook entitled, "What's Up in the Atmosphere? Exploring Colors in the Sky." GLOBE (Global Learning and Observation to Benefit the Environment) is a worldwide, hands-on, K-12 school-based science education program. (View Less)

This activity demonstrates optical properties of water: that different constituents in water affect the transmission, absorption, and scattering of different colors in the visible light spectrum. Inexpensive, off-the-shelf components are used to... (View More) build a light sensor and source, creating a simple spectrophotometer that can measure light absorption. In the second part of this activity, principles of ocean color remote sensing are applied to measure reflectance. Using components that are clearly visible allows students to configure them in different ways. Playing with the instrument design gives students a practical understanding of spectrophotometers, in-water optics, and remote sensing. As an extension of this concept, students are encouraged to think about how ocean color is used to estimate the concentration of chlorophyll to infer phytoplankton abundance, colored dissolved organic matter, and suspended sediments. (View Less)

In this science-based storybook, students Anita, Simon, and Dennis want to know why the sky isn't always blue. They learn that there's a lot more than air in the atmosphere, which can affect the colors we see in the sky. Four activities accompany... (View More) the book. The book is one of a series in the Elementary GLOBE unit designed to introduce students to the study of Earth system science (ESS). Each book has companion learning activities that complement the science covered in each story. Together, the books form an instructional unit that addresses ESS and related subjects (e.g., weather, water, seasons, soil, and aerosols). The GLOBE Program is a worldwide, hands-on, K-12 school-based science education program. (View Less)