Scientists and engineers use and develop models for representing ideas and explanations.

A key practice of successful scientists and engineers is the ability to clearly communicate the ideas and methods they develop. Being able to review and critique the ideas of others are fundamental activities of professional STEM professionals.

Argumentation is an important practice whereas the scientist develops explanations using evidence and reasoning to explain observed phenomena.

MND recognizes that teaching science is about helping students make sense of the world around them, not memorizing facts and principles. MND makes teaching Earth Science easier (and more interesting) by organizing NASA data with the phenomena that they support.

Students are introduced to the Earthrise phenomenon by seeing the Earth as the Apollo 8 astronauts viewed our home planet for the first time from the Moon.  They will analyze a time series of mapped plots of Earth science variables that NASA monitors to better understand the Earth Syste

Students will examine a 2014-2015 El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) event to identify relationships among sea surface height, sea surface temperature, precipitation, and wind vectors.

Students analyze map visualizations representing the amount of Sun’s energy received on theEarth as indicated by the amount that is reflected back to space, known as “albedo”.

This digital GLOBE Earth system poster provides animations of the Earth Systems data for years 2005-2017 to find patterns among different environmental data, understand the relationship among different environmental parameters, and explore how the data changes seasonally and over longer timescale

Students will analyze surface temperature and solar radiation data to construct explanations about the relationship of seasons and temperature to the amount of solar energy received on Earth’s surface.