This poster presents visual data collected from satellites, ground based observations, and model predications representing solar energy, average temperature, cloud cover, precipitation, soil moisture and vegetation over a 12-month period in 1987. The poster and the associated learning activities enable students to use the data to explore ideas about the environment and gain an understanding of the ... Full description.

Explore recent images and research results from NASA Earth science missions with these posters. Each poster takes a specific topic (Air, Land, Water, and Ice) and explains what NASA scientists are doing to understand that topic. Colorful and instructional satellite images, graphs, and pictures complement the fact-filled information making the posters ideal for the classroom. The posters can be ordered ... Full description.

This site allows students to explore a hydrothermal vent system on the East Pacific Rise as if they themselves are inside the Alvin submersible. The virtual field trip incorporates a great deal of high quality video from the Alvin and also very realistic 3-D animation to create a convincing model of a vent system. The students can map, sample, and explore the deep ocean environment just as the research ... Full description.

This tutorial traces the history of the telescope, beginning with Galileo's first small refractor, to the era of orbiting space telescopes. Topics include Galileo's trouble with the church over the observations he made with his new instrument, Sir Isaac Newton's invention of the reflecting telescope, and the development of technologies that made it possible to construct increasingly larger, more powerful ... Full description.

A learning activity for the "Do You Know That Clouds Have Names?" book in the Elementary GLOBE series. Students will explore the difference between the three types of contrails, make observations of contrails outside, and record their observations. Fifteen minutes later they will make follow-up observations to see how the contrails they observed have changed. The purpose of the activity is to help ... Full description.

A learning activity for the "Do You Know That Clouds Have Names?" book in the Elementary GLOBE series. Using information from the book and their observations, students construct a sky scene with trees and buildings as reference points on the ground and cloud types ordered by altitude in the sky. Students will describe clouds using their own vocabulary and will then correlate their descriptions with ... Full description.

A learning activity for the Scoop on Soils book in the Elementary GLOBE Series. Each student will explore three activities that promote understanding of and respect for soil. They will generate responses to the following questions: "What makes up soil?" and "What lives in the soil?" Next the students will watch a demonstration of how much soil there is on Earth that is available for human use. Last ... Full description.

Students will use various objects in the classroom to experiment with nonstandard measurement. They will make estimates and test them out. Then, working in pairs or small groups, students will use a ruler or a measuring tape to become familiar with how to use these tools for standard linear measurement. The purpose of this activity is to practice making standard and non-standard measurement and to ... Full description.

Using a color chart, students will make observations outside during each of the four seasons. During each session, they will try to find as many colors as possible and record what they see. As a class, they will make charts describing the colors they find in each season. At the end of the school year, students will compare their results and generate conclusions about variations in colors in nature ... Full description.

A learning activity for the Scoop on Soils book in the Elementary GLOBE Series. Students will make predictions about what they think they will find in a sample of soil. They will investigate the sample and sort out the various items they find. Next they will spend time outside observing one or more sites to see what they find in the soil. After recording and sharing their observations they will create ... Full description.