This textbook chapter outlines the historical development of the Theory of Natural Selection, presenting classic evidence including Darwin's study of finch beak variation in the Galapagos Islands and Kettlewell’s investigation of the pepper moth... (View More) in England. A simulation activity depicting the process of natural selection is included. The resource includes a link to current news articles and a teacher's guide with additional investigations and student research project ideas. This is the third chapter in the unit, Losing Biodiversity, examining the endangerment and extinction of entire species of plants and animals throughout the world due to human actions. The resource is part of Global System Science (GSS), an interdisciplinary course for high school students that emphasizes how scientists from a wide variety of fields work together to understand significant problems of global impact. (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 examine satellite images from NASA's Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) that show how much ozone is in the atmosphere over the Southern Hemisphere. They interpret the images to identify ozone thinning that develops over... (View More) this region each summer, and compare its size from year to year. Using freely-available image analysis software, ImageJ, users quantify the area of the Antarctic ozone hole each October from 1996 to 2004. Finally, they bring their measurements into a spreadsheet program and create a graph to document changes in the size of the ozone hole. 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 lesson, a correlation between chlorophyll, sea surface temperature, and sunlight will be derived from NASA satellite data. Students will download a year’s worth of data on each of these variables for the Gulf of Maine. Data will be... (View More) imported and displayed as both a line plot and an Excel graph. Chlorophyll density, which corresponds to the density of photosynthetic phytoplankton, will be analyzed and compared/related to sunlight and sea surface temperature data. 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)

Students will be introduced to different species of macroinvertebrates. They will hypothesize why each insect looks the way it does. Then students will make observations of macroinvertebrates in an aquarium in their classroom. For an optional... (View More) extension, teachers can take students to a local stream or pond to conduct field observations. Materials needed include sand, water, aquatics plants and insects; estimated materials cost does not include aquarium. This is the 3rd of 3 sets of learning activities that are companion activities to the Elementary GLOBE children's book, Discoveries at Willow Creek. Includes a teacher implementation guide. (View Less)

Students explore how mathematical descriptions of the physical environment can be fine-tuned through testing using data. In this activity, student teams obtain satellite data measuring the Earth's albedo, and then input this data into a... (View More) spreadsheet-based radiation balance model, GEEBITT. They validate their results against published the published albedo value of the Earth, and conduct similar comparisons Mercury, Venus and Mars. The resource includes an Excel spreadsheet tutorial, an investigation, student data sheets and a teacher's guide. Students apply their understanding to the real life problem of urban heat islands and deforestation. The activity links builds on student outcomes from activities A and B: "Finding a Mathematical Description of a Physical Relationship," and "Making a Simple Mathematical Model." This is Activity C in module 3, Using Mathematical Models to Investigate Planetary Habitability, of the resource, Earth Climate Course: What Determines a Planet's Climate? The course aims to help students to develop an understanding of our environment as a system of human and natural processes that result in changes that occur over various space and time scales. (View Less)