This story map allows students to explore the urban heat island effect using land surface temperature and vegetation data in a 5 E-learning cycle. Students investigate the processes that create differences in surface temperatures, as well as how human activities have led to the creation of urban heat islands.
Educational Resources - Search Tool
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 changi
Students interpret a graph of surface temperatures taken from city districts and other types of communities.
Students will analyze a line graph that shows how the surface temperature and air temperature values change over the course of 24 hours.
Students observe the surface temperatures of a variety of surface types found in a suburban environment.
Students analyze Landsat images of Atlanta, Georgia to explore the relationship between surface temperature and vegetation.
Students analyze a graph that illustrates the change in global surface temperature relative to 1951-1980 average temperatures.
Students analyze surface air temperature anomalies to identify change with respect to different latitudes across the world.
Students identify and classify kinds of land cover (such as vegetation, urban areas, water, and bare soil) in Landsat satellite images of Phoenix, Arizona taken in 1984 and 2018.
Students will analyze and interpret maps of the average net atmospheric radiation to compare the flow of energy from the Sun toward Earth in different months and for cloudy versus clear days. Students will draw conclusions and support them with evidence.