Activities in this lesson promote a fundamental understanding of relationships between graphed data. Sample graphs allow students to become familiar with interpreting data and to recognize relationships between variables. Additional microsets of... (View More) atmospheric data (gases, clouds, pressures, temperatures, precipitation) are included. Students will use that data to predict the appearance of a graph, plot the data points, study the data pattern and draw a conclusion. In addition, students will determine if a relationship exists between two variables; leading to an understanding that relationships between variables can be more complicated than simple linear ones. 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 sample graphs, related links, extensions, and an online glossary. (View Less)

El Niño impacts sea surface height, sea surface temperature and wind vectors. In this lesson, data for each of those three characteristics from the 1997-98 El Niño event will be analyzed and compared. Students will work in teams of 3 throughout... (View More) the activity, initially doing a team analysis of a single characteristic, and then jig-sawing into other groups to share information. The lesson culminates in a series of questions, a written summary and a comparison to similar observations done by scientists. 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 related links, extensions, an online glossary, and a list of related AP Environmental Science topics. (View Less)

In this lesson, students investigate the relationship between precipitation, surface temperature and vegetation for four geographic locations. Students will download graphs of each of the three system components (vegetative index, surface... (View More) temperature and precipitation) for a specific latitude and longitude point during the period of January 2002-June 2004. After downloading data for three other locations, students will work with a total of 12 graphs to compare and analyze the data. They will then predict the climate zone and identify the climate type for each location. 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 related links, extensions, an online glossary and a list of related AP Environmental Science topics. (View Less)

In this inquiry exploration, student design an experiment to test the absorption of heat by different earth materials. Materials required include plastic water bottles, soil, sand, water, thermometers, lamp with 60 watt bulb, and stopwatch. This... (View More) activity is part of the MY NASA DATA Scientist Tracking Network unit, designed to provide practice in accessing and using authentic satellite data. (View Less)

In this activity, students use different perspectives to gather information about an area, and discuss the advantages of this approach. It should be conducted in a grassy area, and requires a few pennies. The resource includes a set of images taken... (View More) from several perspectives, teacher notes, and Web links. This is Lesson 1 of Remote Sensing, part of IMAGERS, Interactive Media Adventures for Grade School Education using Remote Sensing. The website provides hands-on activities for the classroom supporting the science content in two interactive media books, The Adventures of Echo the Bat and Amelia the Pigeon. (View Less)