This self-paced tutorial investigates evidence for contemporary climate change by examining multi-year weather, statistical and anecdotal records obtained from several U.S. localities. Learners plot and identify trends in regional weather data,... (View More) learn the difference between weather and climate, and explore the pedagogic advantages associated with learning about global climate change by examining regional data. Videos describing local phenological data of changing seasonality, data portals, an interview with NASA scientist, Dr. Eric Fetzer, and activities to adapt for middle and high school classrooms are included. Vocabulary are linked to a glossary. This is the third of ten professional development modules providing opportunities for teachers to learn about climate change through first-hand data exploration. (View Less)

This tutorial provides the evidence that the amount of CO² in the atmosphere has not been as high as it is currently for nearly half a million years and that this increase corresponds with data that human activity is responsible. Learners examine... (View More) scientific data showing increases in both atmospheric becomes CO² and the Earth's average temperature and analyze changes in atmospheric concentration of CO² over time. They reflect on some of the barriers involved in teaching global climate change and how using data in the classroom may be used to overcome those barriers. Multimedia resources such as video clips, a data visualization exercise featuring digital resources on climate.nasa.gov, and an interview with NASA climate scientist, Dr. Gavin Schmidt, are included. This is the second of ten self-paced professional development modules providing opportunities for teachers to learn about climate change through first-hand data exploration. Lesson plans for middle and high school students, descriptions of data collection instruments, glossary links to vocabulary are included. (View Less)

In this self-paced tutorial, examine evidence of climate change from different parts of the Earth’s system and consider what it means to live on a planet with a dynamically changing climate. The resource includes multimedia resources such as video... (View More) clips of local impacts of climate change in the Arctic and Samoa, data visualization exercise featuring digital resources on climate.nasa.gov, and an interview with NASA climate scientist Dr. Gavin Schmidt, a discussion on teaching using data, and an interactive quiz. Introduction to the Earth's Dynamically Changing Climate is the first of a series of ten self-paced professional development modules providing opportunities for teachers to learn about climate change through first-hand data exploration. Activities and resources that can be employed in the classroom are featured. (View Less)

In this self-paced tutorial, learners analyze data to understand the relative influence of solar variability on today's climate to determine whether changes in incoming solar radiation can explain all or part of the warming trend we have seen in... (View More) Earth's planetary temperatures. The resource supports teacher reflection on how climate change skepticism in the media impacts instruction in the classroom. Multimedia educational resources including video clips and data portals are included. This is the fourth of ten self-paced professional development modules providing opportunities for teachers to learn about climate change through first-hand data exploration. Glossary links to vocabulary are included. (View Less)

This chapter describes how to set a scale and measure distances and areas on satellite images. Using ImageJ, a freely available image analysis program that runs on most operating systems, users set the spatial calibration of an image, then select... (View More) and measure distances and areas on it. The measurement results are reported in real-world units. The technique is most useful and accurate for nadir view (straight down) images. In this chapter, users examine satellite images of the Aral Sea, which has shrunk dramatically since 1960 because the rivers that flow into it have been tapped for irrigation. Users access satellite images of the region, then set a scale and measure the width of the sea each year. On another set of images, they highlight areas that represent water and measure them to see how these areas of the sea changed. This chapter is part of the Earth Exploration Toolbook, which provides teachers and/or students with direct practice for using scientific tools to analyze Earth science data. Students should begin on the Case Study page. (View Less)

In this activity, users download and graph modeled climate data to explore variability in climate change. Most people know that climate changes are predicted over the next hundred years, but they may not be aware that these changes are likely to... (View More) vary from region to region. Using data from the University of New Hampshire's EOS-WEBSTER, a digital library of Earth Science data, users will obtain annual predictions for minimum temperature, maximum temperature, precipitation, and solar radiation for each of these 5 states: New York, Georgia, Colorado, Minnesota, and California. Data will span the years 2000 through 2100. Users will import the data into Excel and analyze it to see what, if any, regional variability exists. Finally, they will download data for their own state, compare these results with the results from the other 5 states and use their results to answer questions related to climate change. This chapter is part of the Earth Exploration Toolbook (EET). Each EET chapter provides teachers and/or students with direct practice for using scientific tools to analyze Earth science data. Students should begin on the Case Study page. (View Less)

In this chapter, students will explore relationships between air quality and population density using the image visualization tool, Google Earth. You will learn how to download NO2 data and analyze them to develop a conceptual understanding of how... (View More) population and topography can influence the air quality of a region. Once you have learned the techniques, you are encouraged to explore seasonal changes in nitrogen dioxide concentrations at other locations. This chapter is part of the Earth Exploration Toolbook (EET). Each EET chapter provides teachers and/or students with direct practice for using scientific tools to analyze Earth science data. Students should begin on the Case Study page. (View Less)

El Niño impacts sea surface height, sea surface temperature and wind vectors. In this lesson, data for each of those three characteristics from the 1997-98 El Niño event will be analyzed and compared. Students will work in teams of 3 throughout... (View More) the activity, initially doing a team analysis of a single characteristic, and then jig-sawing into other groups to share information. The lesson culminates in a series of questions, a written summary and a comparison to similar observations done by scientists. This lesson uses student- and citizen science-friendly microsets of authentic NASA Earth system science data from the MY NASA DATA project. It also includes related links, extensions, an online glossary, and a list of related AP Environmental Science topics. (View Less)

This self-paced, interactive tutorial enables learners to identify and measure iceberg size from remotely-sensed satellite images. Two techniques are explored: the geometric shape method, which provides a rapid rough estimate of area; and the pixel... (View More) count method, which employs special software to measure the size more accurately. This resource is part of the tutorial series, Satellite Observations in Science Education, and is the second of three modules in the tutorial, Hunting Icebergs. (Note: requires Java plug-in) (View Less)

This self-paced, interactive tutorial guides learners through the decision-making process in locating data that will enable the identification of tabular icebergs, including: selecting the appropriate satellite orbit, and identifying the optimal... (View More) solar and infrared wavelength values to discriminate between water and ice in remotely-sensed images. This resource is part of the tutorial series, Satellite Observations in Science Education, and is the first of three modules in the tutorial, Hunting Icebergs. (Note: requires Java plug-in) (View Less)