In this textbook chapter, students examine the data from Mauna Loa to see that the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is increasing. The seasonal signal observed in the data is explained by the growth cycle of plants in the Northern... (View More) Hemisphere. Pre-industrial records of atmospheric becomes CO² are presented as evidence of the role of humans in increasing becomes CO² concentrations. This is the sixth chapter in the unit, Climate Change, which addresses the question of how human activities are changing Earth’s climate. The resource includes three classroom investigations, links to current news articles, and a suite of pre- and post-unit assessments. A teacher's guide supports classroom use. The resource is part of Global Systems Science (GSS), an interdisciplinary course for high school students that emphasizes how scientists from a wide variety of fields work together to understand significant problems of global impact. (View Less)

In this introductory textbook chapter, energy is defined and its sources, forms, and flow are introduced. Students are introduced to the first law of thermodynamics, conservation of energy. The resource includes links to current news articles, and a... (View More) suite of pre and post unit assessments. A teacher's guide supports classroom use. This is the first chapter in the unit, Energy Flow, exploring the flow of energy through the atmosphere, oceans, land, and living things over short and long timescales. The resource is part of Global System Science (GSS), an interdisciplinary course for high school students that emphasizes how scientists from a wide variety of fields work together to understand significant problems of global impact. (View Less)

This textbook chapter describes the processes through which El Niño and La Niña conditions emerge. The resource includes an animation of ocean currents, and links to current news articles, and a suite of pre- and post-unit assessments. A teacher's... (View More) guide supports classroom use. This is the eighth chapter in the unit, Energy Flow, exploring the transfer of energy between the atmosphere, oceans, land, and living things over short and long timescales. The resource is part of Global System Science (GSS), an interdisciplinary course for high school students that emphasizes how scientists from a wide variety of fields work together to understand significant problems of global impact. (View Less)

This online, facilitated course is designed for middle-school educators wishing to teach global climate change using an inquiry/problem-based approach. Teachers access the course by registering with PBS TeacherLine and enrolling in the course. The... (View More) course supports teaching global climate change using a problem-solving approach and STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) methodology to engage middle-school students and help them understand the causes and effects of climate change and learn about the differences between climate and weather and how actions and nature affect the environment. The course includes pedagogic support for educators who are interested in using Web 2.0 tools when teaching about climate change in the classroom. Enhance content knowledge of climate change and learn how to effectively implement STEM instructional strategies using resources from NASA and WGBH’s Teachers’ Domain. (View Less)

Users explore data, using My World GIS, that characterize the dynamic Greenland Ice Sheet. By examining photographs, map views, and tabular data, users gain an understanding of how and why scientists are monitoring the ice sheet and what they are... (View More) finding. Users explore map layers that represent ice sheet thickness, weather station locations, and annual melt extents of the ice sheet. They learn about the working conditions that Arctic scientists must endure to collect their data, and how sensors on satellites are used to gather information from an area as large as Greenland. Finally, users learn about scientists' methods for measuring ice flowing downhill from Greenland, and examine that data to learn how fast the ice is moving. This chapter is part of the Earth Exploration Toolbook, which provides teachers and/or students with direct practice for using scientific tools to analyze Earth science data. Students should begin on the Case Study page. (View Less)

In this activity, student teams explore the connections between parts of the Earth system by examining a time series of environmental data maps. They observe that the environment is the result of the interplay among many processes that take place on... (View More) varying time and spatial scales, by looking at different six different variables during a single month: insolation, surface temperature, cloud fraction, aerosols, precipitation and biosphere (surface vegetation). This is one of six interrelated learning activities in the student activity guide associated with the GLOBE Earth System Poster, Exploring Connections in Year 2007. A series of assessment and extension activities are included. GLOBE (Global Learning and Observation to Benefit the Environment) is a worldwide, hands-on, K-12 school-based science education program. GLOBE (Global Learning and Observation to Benefit the Environment) is a worldwide, hands-on, K-12 school-based science education program. (View Less)

In this activity, student teams explore connections between parts of the Earth system, by examining a time series of environmental data maps. By examining scientific visualizations of a data pair in two time slices, they will see that the... (View More) environment is the result of the interplay among many processes that take place on varying time and spatial scales. This is one of six interrelated learning activities associated with the GLOBE Earth System Poster, Exploring Connections in Year 2007, which also includes a series of assessment and extension activities. GLOBE (Global Learning and Observation to Benefit the Environment) is a worldwide, hands-on, K-12 school-based science education program. (View Less)

Student teams explore atmospheric aerosols, dust, and fires and their impact on the Earth's albedo using NASA Earth Observations (NEO) website. This is an extension activity in the student learning activity guide accompanying the GLOBE Earth System... (View More) Poster, Exploring Connections in Year 2007. A series of six learning activities and associated assessment activities are included. (View Less)

In this learning activity, students compare changes in insolation with changes in surface temperature in the polar regions using scientific visualizations of global data sets. Links to readings related to the shrinking ice cap and albedo are... (View More) included. This is part 1 of a four-part activity on polar science. Extension activities examining air and sea surface temperature in relation to changing Earth albedo are included. This activity is one of several learning activities connected with the 2007 GLOBE Earth system poster. (View Less)

In this activity, student teams explore the connections between parts of the Earth system by examining a time series of environmental data maps. Each student teams examines images for two variables and determines if there is a direct or inversely... (View More) proportional relationship exhibited between them throughout the year. The variable pairs that student groups are observing include: insolation and surface temperature; cloud fraction and precipitation; aerosols and biosphere. This is one of six interrelated learning activities associated with the GLOBE Earth System Poster, "Exploring Connections in Year 2007," and includes a series of assessment and extension activities. GLOBE (Global Learning and Observation to Benefit the Environment) is a worldwide, hands-on, K-12 school-based science education program. (View Less)