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.

In this StoryMap lesson students will learn how living with a star can teach us about our universe. Through a series of learning activities, students will examine the benefits and hazards of living with a star, describe and/or demonstrate how we use eclipses to study the Sun and its features, and investigate how our Sun may be used to learn about other stars and our universe. 

Students will examine air temperature data collected through The GLOBE Program during the 2017 US solar eclipse.

Students move through a series of short activities to explore and evaluate global solar radiation data from NASA satellites.  In this process, students make qualitative and quantitative observations about seasonal variations in net energy input to the Earth System.

Students analyze surface air temperature anomalies to identify change with respect to different latitudes across the world.

Students analyze a graph that illustrates the change in global surface temperature relative to 1951-1980 average temperatures.

The extreme temperatures during July 2022 prompt students to investigate a model that displays historical heat wave frequency data to discover the importance of defining terms when interpreting data.

Examine (daytime) surface temperature and solar radiation received at locations found near similar latitudes using NASA Data.

Students will watch and examine a NASA animation of Earth’s rising surface temperatures over an almost 150 year period.

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