How do greenhouse gases affect the climate? Explore the atmosphere during the ice age and today. What happens when you add clouds? Change the greenhouse gas concentration and see how the temperature changes. Then compare to the effect of glass panes. Zoom in and see how light interacts with molecules. Do all atmospheric gases contribute to the greenhouse effect?

With a solid understanding of biology on the small scale under our belts, it's time for the long view - for the next twelve weeks, we'll be learning how the living things that we've studied interact with and influence each other and their environments. Life is powerful, and in order to understand how living systems work, you first have to understand how they originated, developed and diversified over the past 4.5 billion years of Earth's history. Hang on to your hats as Hank tells us the epic drama that is the history of life on Earth.

If being alive on Earth were a contest, humans would win it hands down. We're like the Michael Phelps of being alive, but with 250,000 times more gold medals. Today Hank is here to tell us the specifics of why and how human population growth has happened over the past hundred and fifty years or so, and how those specifics relate to ecology.

Hank introduces us to biogeochemical cycles by describing his two favorites: carbon and water. The hydrologic cycle describes how water moves on, above, and below the surface of the Earth, driven by energy supplied by the sun and wind. The carbon cycle does the same... for carbon!

For Grades 3 to 6 and FREE for SK Teachers.

How It Works:
6 weekly pre-planned lessons, about an hour each
Students do fun activities in teams for points
Led by a website you project at the front of the class

6 Modules Include: The Climate Conundrum, Operation Darkroom, Operation Shower Power, Operation Keep Car Cool, Operation Go Car Free, Celebration

The purpose of NASA's Earth Observatory is to provide a freely accessible publication on the Internet where the public can obtain new satellite imagery and scientific information about our home planet. The focus is on Earth's climate and environmental change. The site is divided into six main sections: Data and Images, Features, News, Reference, Missions, and Experiments. The Data and Images, Features, and Reference sections are each subdivided into sections for Atmosphere, Oceans, Land, Life on Earth, and Heat and Energy. The missions section explains all of the current NASA missions, and the Experiments section contains activities related to the topics covered in the other sections. Information provided in these pages includes text, photographs, animations, maps, and datasets. The site also includes a glossary, "ask a scientist" feature, and links to current news stories.

This collection of visualizations was made from Landsat imagery. Many of these visualizations are designed to show changes in our environment through time. Subjects include glacial retreat, urban growth, landforms and coastlines, floods, fires, deforestation, volcanism, and others.

This webpage, one of NASA's fact sheets, describes the role of the oceans, clouds, and aerosols in moderating climate, which has resulted in less-than-expected temperature increases as carbon dioxide levels have increased. It also describes the efforts of scientists to construct computer models to understand interactions between the atmosphere and ocean, and to perform space-based oceanography using the Earth Observing System (EOS). The site features text, pictures, and links to other relevant NASA sites.

This webpage, one of NASA's fact sheets, describes the role of the oceans, clouds, and aerosols in moderating climate, which has resulted in less-than-expected temperature increases as carbon dioxide levels have increased. It also describes the efforts of scientists to construct computer models to understand interactions between the atmosphere and ocean, and to perform space-based oceanography using the Earth Observing System (EOS). The site features text, pictures, and links to other relevant NASA sites.

Population ecology is the study of groups within a species that interact mostly with each other, and it examines how they live together in one geographic area to understand why these populations are different in one time and place than they are in another. How is that in any way useful to anyone ever? Hank uses the example a of West Nile virus outbreak in Texas to show you in this episode of Crash Course: Ecology.

This EPA fact sheet provides easy-to-understand information about air pollution and how it affects human health. Topics include health risks, exposure assessment, dose-response relationships, risk assessment, and risk characterization. Simple diagrams and pictures support the text.

This site offers take-home science projects that can be completed with or without Internet access, all free of charge.

This page from NASA's Earth Observatory shows images of visible tracks made in the Earth's atmosphere from clouds forming around ship exhaust particles. One of these images shows the relative sizes of the particles, and the text relates the relative sizes to the relative brightness of the clouds that are formed.

This site provides fun activities for children to do and make, while they learn about space and Earth science, and the technology that enables science. The Teachers Corner on the WWW site contains curriculum supplements originally published in the ITEA (International Technology Education Association) Technology Transfer Teacher magazine.

TED Studies, created in collaboration with Wiley, are curated video collections 逖 supplemented by rich educational materials 逖 for students, educators and self-guided learners. In Reworking the Western Diet, speakers examine how that diet 逖 processed, high in refined sugars, and heavy in corn, soy, meat and dairy 逖 is making us and the environment sick. These TED Talks blaze the trail to sustainable farming and a more sensible diet.迨

In this issue’s lesson, students exercise their observation skills to do some of the actual work of marine biologists who study the endangered North Atlantic right whale. They identify an individual whale by examining photographs taken at sea. They then examine a record of sighting of the whale in order to track its movements.

The Trans-Canadian Research and Environmental Education (TREE) project is a citizen science program where students from across Canada join with researchers from the Mistik Askîwin Dendrochronology Lab (MAD Lab) to learn about the stories trembling aspen trees tell and how a synchrotron can be a tool to tell that story. Join us as we explore this new area in research and learn about environments across Canada!

From a scientific perspective with TREE, trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides) are a species of tree that is abundant throughout most of Canada. They also tolerate, even thrive, with much higher levels of toxins in their soil than most other species of trees and can potentially be used to remediate contaminated sites.

From an educational perspective, learning about the life and nutrient cycles of trees, nutrients in soil, and tracking effects on trees over time provides a wealth of opportunity for student education. The TREE program connects with curriculum across several subject areas and grade levels. It provides an interdisciplinary learning experience for students, including local Indigenous knowledge related to the trees, history, and the environment.

The Water Sourcebooks contain 324 activities for grades K-12 divided into four sections: K-2, 3-5, 5-8, and 9-12. Each section is divided into five chapters: Introduction to Water, Drinking Water and Wastewater Treatment, Surface Water Resources, Ground Water Resources, and Wetlands and Coastal Waters. This environmental education program explains the water management cycle using a balanced approach showing how it affects all aspects of the environment. All activities contain hands-on investigations, fact sheets, reference materials, and a glossary of terms. Activities are organized by objectives, materials needed, background information, advance preparation, procedures, and resources.

Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax presents an opportunity to have a conversation about the inherent value of forests and importance of sustainable management. Students read (or watch!) Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax and examine the importance of the sustainable management of natural resources. Watch the movie or read the book with your students, and discuss the inherent value of forests and importance of sustainable management by using the package six (6) activities designed to help students understand the importance of working forests and other topics related to the movie.

Visitors to this site can study a discussion of the need for computer modeling to examine the terrestrial biosphere. Emphasis is placed on integration of multiple measurements across varying scales of time and space into a single tool for visualizing a system, and its use in predicting future changes. Links to a glossary are embedded in the text.