Students observe the surface temperatures of a variety of surface types found in a suburban environment.

Watch NASA videos about aerosols and volcanic ash.

Students analyze the stability and change of sea level after watching a visualization of sea level height around the world. 

Students compare climographs for two locations to determine the most likely months to expect the emergence of mosquitoes in each location.

Students track weather over time and create a bar chart to track their data. 

In this lesson, students will explore the effect of aerosols on sky color and visibility by using an interactive virtual model. 

Students synthesize information from My NASA Data maps and texts from the EPA website to determine how levels of criteria pollutants have changed from 2005 to 2021. This research will prepare them to respond to the lesson’s essential questions during a Socratic seminar.

The Great Smoky Mountains have a unique climate and weather pattern. Students will review a Landsat image and read about the history of the area and why Native Americans called the area “Shaconage.” Then they will answer the questions about what caused the unusual “blue smoke.”

Using hourly graphs of PM 2.5 data and HYSPLIT model trajectories, students will collect evidence for the effects of fireworks on air quality.

Students analyze two North Pole orthographic data visualizations produced from soil moisture data. After describing trends in the seasonal thaw of land surfaces, students demonstrate their understanding of Earth’s energy budget by explaining relationships and make predictions about the dataset.