This toolkit was designed to help presenters - particularly scientists and engineers - easily present to elementary and middle school audiences and feel confident that the information they are presenting is developmentally-appropriate. The site... (View More) includes PowerPoint presentations on Earth's water cycle, with talking points and suggestions. Best practices are also included for elementary and middle school presentations that provide helpful suggestions before, during, and after the presentation, as well as a list of additional resources. (View Less)

In this lesson students investigate the effects of black carbon on arctic warming and are introduced to a mechanism of arctic warming that is not directly dependent on greenhouse gases in the atmosphere: black carbon deposition on Arctic snow and... (View More) ice. It can also be used to introduce the concept of albedo. Prerequisite knowledge: students understand the concepts of absorption and reflection of light energy. This lesson is designed to be used with either an Earth/environmental science or chemistry curriculum. It may also be used as an enrichment activity in physics or physical science during a unit on energy. Includes suggested modifications for students with special needs and low technology option. Requires advance preparation, including freezing ice samples overnight. (View Less)

Students are introduced to the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) satellite mission and its role in studying the water cycle. This webquest provides links to eight websites, allowing middle school students to explore the water cycle and its... (View More) impacts on Earth's weather and climate. Through online videos and articles, students follow a water molecule through the cycle, discover the connection between the water cycle and global water/heat distribution, examine the role of solar energy, and assess the importance of fresh water. (View Less)

In this activity, students face an engineering challenge based on real-world applications. They are tasked with developing a tool they can use to measure the amount of rain that falls each day. Students will find out why freshwater is important,... (View More) learn about the water cycle, and the need to have a standard form of calibration for measurement tools. They will learn that keeping track of precipitation is important, and learn a little bit about how NASA's GPM satellite measures precipitation from space. This lesson uses the 5-E instructional model. (View Less)

This lesson was developed to give participants an understanding of Earth's water cycle. In this one-hour long activity, students participate in a webquest to learn about the water cycle, and then build a mini-model of the water cycle to observe how... (View More) water moves through Earth's four systems. The activity uses the 5E instructional model and is part of the "Survivor Earth" series of one-hour lessons. (View Less)

Use this interactive model to test how energy used in your home connects to carbon. This is part of Unit 3 of Interactives and Models: Carbon in the Future & You.

In this interactive, manipulate the future sources and sinks of carbon to estimate the atmospheric CO2 levels and global temperatures in the future. This is part of Unit 3 of Interactives and Models: Carbon in the Future & You.

Using global data sets with monthly resolution, you will adjust variables in this empirical climate model to test the degree to which natural and human influences can account for observed global temperatures from 1979-2010. This is part of Unit 3 of... (View More) Interactives and Models: Carbon in the Future & You. (View Less)

This interactive model lets you manipulate and work to balance the biologic (e.g., photosynthesis, respiration) and human processes that replicate the observed CO2 record from Mauna Loa. This is part of Unit 2 of Interactives and Models: Carbon Now.

In this interactive, use NASA satellite data to test and compare rate-limiting factors for productivity in several regions of the world's oceans. This is part of Unit 2 of Interactives and Models: Carbon Now.