Students are introduced to the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) satellite mission and its role in studying the water cycle. This webquest provides links to eight websites, allowing middle school students to explore the water cycle and its... (View More) impacts on Earth's weather and climate. Through online videos and articles, students follow a water molecule through the cycle, discover the connection between the water cycle and global water/heat distribution, examine the role of solar energy, and assess the importance of fresh water. (View Less)

This lesson was developed to give participants an understanding of Earth's water cycle. In this one-hour long activity, students participate in a webquest to learn about the water cycle, and then build a mini-model of the water cycle to observe how... (View More) water moves through Earth's four systems. The activity uses the 5E instructional model and is part of the "Survivor Earth" series of one-hour lessons. (View Less)

In this field activity, students learn about the five soil-forming factors and their influence on soil properties such as moisture, temperature, color and texture. They identify factors such as slope, shade, plants and compaction, and investigate... (View More) how these factors affect the a soil's appearance and moisture holding ability. This is a learning activity associated with the GLOBE soil investigations and is supported by the Soil chapter of the GLOBE Teacher’s Guide. (View Less)

Students create a physical model illustrating soil water balance using drinking glasses to represent the soil column, and explain how the model can be used to interpret data and form predictions. Using data from the GLOBE Data Server, they calculate... (View More) the potential evapotranspiration, average monthly temperatures and precipitation for their model. This is a learning activity associated with the GLOBE hydrology investigations and is supported by the Hydrology chapter of the GLOBE Teacher's Guide. (View Less)