Earth is a system of systems.

Are you searching for resources to use with your students related to Science and Engineering Practices?  Review these graphics that will help to hone students' attention to the specific practices in science and how they relate to investigating, sense-making, and critiquing of data.

In Earth System Science, underling factors affecting observable phenomena can be difficult to identify and describe.  The Iceberg Diagram diagram uses the metaphor of an iceberg to demonstrate the idea of visible vs hidden as it relates to Earth science phenomena.  This teaching strategy helps students to see beyond the obvious and to develop their awareness of the underlying causes, relationships, and/or conditions that can contribute to phenomenological events. It also provides a framework for digging deeper into phenomena-driven lessons in Earth Science.

NASA Earth Observations (NEO) strives to make global satellite imagery as accessible as possible. Here you can browse and download imagery of satellite data from NASA's constellation of Earth Observing System satellites.

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/.

Students can interact with NASA data to build a custom visualizations of local, regional, or global plant growth patterns over time, using the Earth System Data Explorer to generate plots of satellite data as they develop models of this phenomenon.

Students will identify and describe the relationship between land cover classification and surface temperature as they relate to the urban heat island effect. Students will also describe patterns between population density and the locations of urban heat islands. 

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.

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