This textbook chapter presents a real case study involving the the logging of an old stand forest from three perspectives, that of the environmentalists, the wood products industry, and a politician. An associated writing activity engages students... (View More) in reviewing the different viewpoints, and writing a "letter to the editor" for or against the logging of old growth forest. This is chapter 3 in the unit, A New World View, which introduces global systems science, emphasizing the concepts of environmental diversity, Earth as a system, and sustainability. The resource includes a textbook chapter, integrated hands-on and inquiry activities, 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)

Students will learn about satellites that gather data about Earth systems by reading a NASA press release and viewing a NASA eClips™ video segment. Then students will practice dividing multi-digit numbers using satellite data related to the... (View More) Earth's ozone layer. Common Core State Standards for Mathematics and English Language Arts are identified. This activity is part of the Space Math multi-media modules that integrate NASA press releases, NASA archival video, and mathematics problems targeted at specific math standards commonly encountered in middle school textbooks. The modules cover specific math topics at multiple levels of difficulty with real-world data and use the 5E instructional sequence. (View Less)

In this field activity, students observe clouds, and are introduced to dichotomous key to classify cloud types. Students also make weather observations of current weather and record and track changes in weather over time. Materials/equipment needed... (View More) include weather instruments (thermometers and barometers) and graph paper. A student self-assessment rubric, vocabulary linked to an on-line glossary, a list of elementary level trade books on weather, and teacher notes and class management suggestions are provided. This hands-on activity is related to NASA CERES Students' Cloud Observations Online (S’COOL) project. (View Less)

In this problem set, students calculate precisely how much carbon dioxide is in a gallon of gasoline. A student worksheet provides step-by-step instructions as students calculate the production of carbon dioxide. The investigation is supported the... (View More) textbook "Climate Change," part of "Global System Science," 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 activity, students compare and analyze lapse rates (rate of decrease in atmospheric temperature with height) for two U.S. locations. It requires the use of atmospheric temperature data downloaded from the Internet into a student developed... (View More) Excel spreadsheet. A detailed instructional tutorial (with sample screen images) for importing data from the Internet and downloading it into Excel spreadsheets is included. This lesson uses student- and citizen science-friendly microsets of authentic NASA Earth system science data from the MY NASA DATA project. It also includes data analysis tools. (View Less)