In this introductory textbook chapter, students learn that life on Earth would not be possible without the atmosphere and its greenhouse effect. The history of research on the role of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is presented, and the concept... (View More) of contemporary climate change and global warming are introduced. This is the first chapter in the unit, Climate Change, which addresses the question of how human activities are changing Earth's climate. The resource includes a textbook chapter, integrated hands-on and inquiry activities, links to current news articles, and a suite of pre and post unit assessments. A teacher's guide supports classroom use. The resource is part of Global Systems 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)

In this end-of-unit textbook chapter, students synthesize their understanding of contemporary climate change, consider their personal becomes CO² footprint, research one of the economic impacts of climate change, and compose a statement expressing... (View More) their personal opinions about climate change policy. A section on conversion of Fahrenheit and Celsius temperature scales is included. The resource includes a classroom investigation, discussion questions, links to current news articles, and a suite of pre and post unit assessments. A teacher's guide supports classroom use. This is the concluding chapter in the unit, Climate Change, which addresses the question of how human activities are changing Earth's climate. The resource is part of Global Systems 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 textbook chapter describes the processes through which El Niño and La Niña conditions emerge. The resource includes an animation of ocean currents, and links to current news articles, and a suite of pre- and post-unit assessments. A teacher's... (View More) guide supports classroom use. This is the eighth chapter in the unit, Energy Flow, exploring the transfer of energy between the atmosphere, oceans, land, and living things over short and long timescales. 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)

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 data activity, students explore the relationship between surface radiation and mean surface temperature in several geographic regions. By observing how these parameters change with latitude, students will understand the relationship between... (View More) solar radiation and seasonal temperature variation. This activity is part of the MY NASA DATA Scientist Tracking Network unit, designed to provide practice in accessing and using authentic satellite data. (View Less)

In this data analysis activity, students will obtain snow cover and surface temperature data for a locale in Alaska, plot the data, investigate seasonal trends in snow cover, and the relationship between snow cover and surface temperature at that... (View More) locale. Step-by-step instructions for use of the MY NASA DATA Live Access Server (LAS) guide students through selecting a data set, importing the data into a spreadsheet, creating graphs, and analyzing data plots. The lesson provides detailed procedures, related links and sample graphs, follow-up questions, extensions, and teacher notes. Designed for student use, MY NASA DATA LAS samples micro datasets from large scientific data archives, and provides structured investigations engaging students in exploration of real data to answer real world questions. (View Less)