List of all Earth as a System Lesson Plans

Select a Sphere:

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Atmosphere
black biosphere icon
Biosphere
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Cryosphere
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Geosphere
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Hydrosphere
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Earth as a System


Select a Grade Band:
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3-12
elementary grade icon
3-5
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6-8
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9-12
Grade Level: 3-5, 6-8, 9-12

The activities in this guide will help students understand variations in environmental parameters by examining connections among different phenomena measured on local, regional and global scales.

Grade Level: 6-8

Students will analyze surface temperature and solar radiation data to construct explanations about the relationship of seasons and temperature to the amount of solar energy received on Earth’s surface.

Grade Level: 6-8, 9-12

Students analyze historic plant growth data (i.e., Peak Bloom dates) of Washington, D.C.’s famous cherry blossom trees, as well as atmospheric near surface temperatures as evidence for explaining the phenomena of earlier Peak Blooms in our nation’s capital.

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Grade Level: 6-8, 9-12

The Earth System Poster activity walks learners through global patterns and illuminates how each of the spheres is interconnected across the world. We will divide into small groups to look at maps of different parts of the earth system that have been observed by NASA satellites.

These NASA lessons support Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and three dimensional learning of the Earth System. These include activities where students interact with NASA maps, graphs, and datasets from the atmosphere, biosphere, cryosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere and the earth system.