This lesson is taken from NASA's Phytopia: Discovery of the Marine Ecosystem written in partnership with Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Science with funding from the National Science Foundation.

My NASA Data has recently released several new resources, StoryMaps, for use in educational settings.

Students identify patterns in chlorophyll concentration data to formulate their explanations of phytoplankton distribution. 

Students identify patterns and describe the relationship between chlorophyll concentration and incoming shortwave radiation. 

This graphic organizer may be used to help students analyze the processes and components of Earth System phenomena.

Students will identify and describe the relationship between watersheds and phytoplankton distribution. 

Use the Data Literacy Cube to guide students’ exploration of mapped data of the Earth System to enrich their observations and inferences.  This is a flexible resource that may be used with a variety of mapped images.  This activity requires a map of Earth data for students to evalu

The Earth System Satellite Images help students observe and analyze global Earth and environmental data, understand the relationship among different environmental variables, and explore how the data change seasonally and over longer timescales.  

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/.

The Earth System Satellite Images, along with the Data Literacy Cubes, help the learner determine relationships among variables.