Students will explore the Nitrogen Cycle by modeling the movement of a nitrogen atom as it passes through the cycle.

The title of this unit is Future Temperature Projections and will allow students to analyze and evaluate future temperature projections up to the year 2100 from the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies Global Climate Model called GISS-ModelE2.

Students review Earth System phenomena that are affected by soil moisture.  They analyze and evaluate maps of seasonal global surface air temperature and soil moisture data from NASA satellites. Building from their observations, students will select a location in the U.S.

Students will practice constructing claims using evidence and reasoning.

This unit plan is published by the NASA Climate Change Research Initiative's (CCRI) Applied Research STEM Curriculum Portfolio.  The CCRI Unit Plan, called “Urban Surface Temperatures and the Urban Heat Island Effects,“ has the purpose to educate students how climate is changing in urban settings