List of all Geosphere Mini Lessons

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Grade Level: 3-5

This mini-lesson guides students' observations of soil moisture anomalies (how much the moisture content was above or below the norm) for the continental US in May 2018.

Grade Level: 6-8, 9-12

This mini lesson engages students in watching a NASA video related to accumulated dust that makes the trans-Atlantic journey from the Sahara Desert to the Amazon rainforest using NASA's CALIPSO satellite.

Grade Level: 3-5, 6-8

Compare pictures of different volcanoes. Then visit NASA's Space Place to learn about volcanoes and answer questions about volcanic eruptions.

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Grade Level: 3-5, 6-8

Compare images from two volcanic eruptions in the Kuril Islands which occurred ten years apart and complete a graphic organizer for impacts on different Earth spheres. 

Grade Level: 6-8

Students will review the NASA Space Place video, "Tectonic Forces", and answer questions about tectonic plates.

Grade Level: 6-8, 9-12

Learn about volcanic ash and watch a visualization of the Calbuco volcano to see how ash travels around the world. 

Mini lessons are intended to be short engagement activities that teachers may assign as bell-ringers, exit slips, or parts of larger learning lessons. These include activities where students interact with NASA maps, graphs, and datasets from the atmosphere, biosphere, cryosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere and the earth system.