This page explains the purpose of interactives in My NASA Data and how they can be incorporated into instruction and support learning.

Helping students build their understanding of Earth's spheres and how they are connected is difficult.  Review the graphics to help identify the parts of the Earth System and the processes that connect them at the local, regional, and global scales.

My NASA Data StoryMaps provide an engaging and interactive way to explore Earth science topics using real NASA data. By integrating storytelling with interactive technology, these resources make complex scientific concepts more accessible and relevant to students.

Earth System Approach

The Quick Start Guide lists examples of NASA datasets and imagery that could be used for student investigations related to content and practices in the Framework for K-12 Science Education.    This Guide is part of an educator toolkit that features resources for grades K-12 that can support and frame student investigations with NASA data and content. Check out the toolkit and samplers for elementary, middle, and high school at https://www.strategies.org/education/educators-toolkit/.

A system is an organized group of related components that work together to carry out functions that the individual parts cannot do alone.  The Earth System, like the human body system, are similar in that they comprise diverse parts that interact in complex ways.

Earth is made up of five major parts or subsystems: the Atmosphere, Hydrosphere, Biosphere, Cryosphere, and Geosphere. Each major part is connected to the other parts in a complex web of processes.

This page explains the purpose of mini lessons in My NASA Data and how they can be incorporated into instruction and support learning.

Our Earth is a dynamic system with diverse subsystems that interact in complex ways. Questions that scientists have about the Earth as a System may include the following. As you learn more about the Earth System, reflect on these questions. 

The Earth's system is characterized by the interaction of processes that take place on molecular (very small) and planetary (very large) spatial scales, as well as on short and long time scales. Before scientists may begin their work with these data, it is important that they understand what the data are.