Through guided inquiry, students will identify interactions of the four major scientific spheres on Earth: biosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere and geosphere. They will then identify how these systems are represented and interact in their classroom aquarium.
Educational Resources - Search Tool
Students visit a NASA Website called "Eyes on the Earth" to view satellite missions in 3D circling the Earth and learn to navigate to specific satellites to learn about their capability of analyzing our changing planet and air quality.
Students will watch and examine a NASA animation of Earth’s rising surface temperatures over an almost 150 year period.
These six graphs show Ocean Chlorophyll Concentrations from 1998 - 2018 in a variety of locations: East Bering Sea, Gulf of Alaska, California Coast, Southeastern US/Gulf of Mexico, Northeastern US and the Scotian Shelf, and the Hawaiian Islands.
Students watch a 28-minute video on NASA's involvement in fighting wildfires.
This video addresses the following question: "We know that there are a number of ways that data can be visualized. Would you please describe your process for looking at the same data as represented by different graph types and how this helps inform your meaning making from the data?"
Students will practice the process of making claims, collecting evidence to support claims, and applying scientific reasoning to connect evidence to claims.
This video addresses the following question: "We know that the science you do is driven by the big questions around Earth System Science. Could you please describe how you shape the questions that you ask before, during, and after you have collected data, how do you initially look at these data to help explore your initial set of questions?"
Students use albedo values of common surfaces along with photographic images of Earth taken from the International Space Station to make an argument about specific anthropogenic activities that impact Earth’s albedo.
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.