Originally produced in support of the 2016 Earth Science Week theme of “Our Shared Geoheritage,” this collection of articles and images from NASA’s Earth Observatory looks at over 60 of America’s National Parks. Learners can explore three... (View More) facets of our parks from the vantage point of space: geology, ecology and/or cultural history. Each of the three includes an introduction and guiding questions. The articles can be used to engage and generate student interest in a related phenomenon or topic at the beginning of lessons or units, or used throughout as supplemental activities. The “Educators” link at the top of each section provides additional strategies and suggestions for using the articles. (View Less)

The complexity and interconnectedness of Earth’s systems become evident through these visualizations created by NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio. Each entry in this collection is designed to encourage student questioning and conversation... (View More) – especially related to the cross-cutting topics commonly found in middle and high school curricula (cause and effect; systems and system models; scale, proportion and quantity; patterns; similarities and differences; stability and change; energy and matter). Video interviews with mission scientists and a NASA visualizer as well as links to sample K-12 lessons are included. (View Less)

The student-produced introductory video presents two common misconceptions related to the ozone hole. The accompanying lesson uses the 5E and the Frayer model to develop student understanding of ozone and ozone holes. Links to additional videos and... (View More) activities allow students to further investigate this phenomenon. (View Less)

Learners will use an inexpensive, simple spectrophotometer to test how light at different visible wavelengths (blue, green, red) is transmitted, or absorbed, through four different colored water samples. Clear water is used as the “control,”... (View More) characterizing the light source and normalizing the other samples. The blue water represents the open ocean water with few plants—conditions you might find far from land in the middle of the ocean. The green water represents productive water with a high concentration of phytoplankton, i.e., a phytoplankton bloom. The tea water represents coastal water or river outflow that contains decaying organic material such as leaves. (View Less)