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.

In this extension to the Ohm's Law I activity, students observe just how much time it takes to use up the "juice" in a battery, and if it is better to use batteries in series or parallel. This extension is suitable as a teacher demonstration and may be started before students begin work on the Ohm's Law I activity.

Students work to increase the intensity of a light bulb by testing batteries in series and parallel circuits. They learn about Ohm's law, power, parallel and series circuits, and ways to measure voltage and current.

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Explore an active area of research in optical physics: producing designer pulse shapes to achieve specific purposes, such as breaking apart a molecule. Carefully create the perfect shaped pulse to break apart a molecule by individually manipulating the colors of light that make up a pulse.

Did you ever imagine that you can use light to move a microscopic plastic bead? Explore the forces on the bead or slow time to see the interaction with the laser's electric field. Use the optical tweezers to manipulate a single strand of DNA and explore the physics of tiny molecular motors. Can you get the DNA completely straight or stop the molecular motor?

This is a collection of outreach resources about the Sun that are meant to be used in informal education settings. This toolkit was originally designed for NASA Night Sky Network member clubs and the Astronomical Society of the Pacific's Astronomy from the Ground Up network of museum and science center educators. The toolkit includes background information about the Sun, magnetic fields of the Earth and Sun, and space weather, activity suggestions, and detailed activity scripts. The themes of this toolkit address both the constant nature of the Sun as a reliable source of energy and the dynamic nature of the Sun due to its changing magnetic fields. The activities and related materials in this collection include The Sun in a Different Light - Observing the Sun, Explore the Sun cards, Magnetic Connection, the Space Weather PowerPoint, Protection from Ultraviolet, and Where Does the Energy Come From cards. These activities can be done separately or as a group as part of an informal education event. Institutions that are not part of the Night Sky Network will need to acquire the various materials required for each activity.

The front of this poster is a cartoon profile of the atmosphere, showing the "good and bad" roles of ozone in the stratosphere, high troposphere, mid-troposphere, and surface. On the back is an article for students, beginning with an explanation of ozone's roles, and an introduction to spectroscopy. Also includes detailed instructions for building a classroom spectroscope using a CD or a DVD as a diffraction grating. See related resources to download a PDF file that is a pattern for making the spectroscope body out of construction paper.

This article discusses how scientists' efforts to explain paleoclimate evidence have produced some of the most significant theories of how the Earth's climate system works. Topics include Earth's shifting orbit, and evidence of ancient climates preserved in geologic strata, ocean cores, coninental ice sheets, and tree rings.

This activity will show students how to determine rate of evaporation and the atmospheric factors that can affect this rate. Laboratory equipment needed for this investigation includes: a digital balance or triple beam balance, metric ruler in millimeter graduations, level, 2 metal pans, barograph (or barometer), hydrograph (or hygrometer), thermograph (or thermometer), anemometer, rain gauges and quart jar. Teacher background information, assessment suggestions, and a scoring rubric are included. This is Activity 1, in the learning module, Water: Here, There and Everywhere, part of the lesson series, The Potential Consequences of Climate Variability and Change.

Students are presented with a short lesson on the Coulter principle—an electronic method to detect microscopic particles and determine their concentration in fluid. Depending on the focus of study, students can investigate the industrial and medical applications of particle detection, the physics of fluid flow and electric current through the apparatus, or the chemistry of the electrolytes used in the apparatus.

Patient Problem Solving is a method of solving problems that you don't
already know how to solve. You are required to ask questions in order to
even start solving the problem. Sometimes those questions are asked of the
teacher, sometimes other students, and sometimes Google. For example,
students are asked to use a ticker tape timer to calculate their speed. First of
all students (and maybe you as the teacher) need to figure out what a ticker
tape timer does. There are a variety of ways to solve these problems, and
creativity will help them get to an answer.

This is an activity about detecting elements by using light. Learners will develop and apply methods to identify and interpret patterns to the identification of fingerprints. They look at fingerprints of their classmates, snowflakes, and finally ‰ÛÏspectral fingerprints‰Û� of elements. They learn to identify each image as unique, yet part of a group containing recognizable similarities. The activity is part of Project Spectra, a science and engineering program for middle-high school students, focusing on how light is used to explore the Solar System.

Oceans play a significant role in determining and moderating the effects of energy imbalances. Students will begin this lesson by working with temperature data to reinforce the importance of protocols, practice computing statistical measures of data and interpreting their significance. The lesson continues with investigations into daily and annual energy cycles. Using a sea surface environment visualizer, students then identify patterns of sea surface current and temperature data. Note that this is lesson five of five on the Ocean Motion website. Each lesson investigates ocean surface circulation using satellite and model data and can be done independently. See Related URL's for links to the Ocean Motion Website that provide science background information, data resources, teacher material, student guides and a lesson matrix.

Play with one or two pendulums and discover how the period of a simple pendulum depends on the length of the string, the mass of the pendulum bob, and the amplitude of the swing. It's easy to measure the period using the photogate timer. You can vary friction and the strength of gravity. Use the pendulum to find the value of g on planet X. Notice the anharmonic behavior at large amplitude.

Students explore their peripheral vision by reading large letters on index cards. Then they repeat the experiment while looking through camera lenses, first a lens with a smaller focal length and then a lens with a larger focal length. Then they complete a worksheet and explain how the experiment helps them solve the challenge question introduced in lesson 1 of this unit.

This is an activity about the basic properties of magnets and magnetism. Learners explore concepts such as magnetic fields and polarity, which form the basic ingredients of a study of Earth's magnetic field and the technology of magnetometers. Materials needed include bar magnets and paper clips. This is Activity 1 of Exploring Magnetism: A Teacher's Magnetism Activity Guide.

PhET Sims are now available in HTML5 as well!

Simulations can be sorted by subject area or grade. This is very helpful.

PhET is a collection of interactive computer simulations for teaching and learning physics, chemistry, math, and other sciences.

Simulations can be used directly on the site or downloaded and used that way.

The simulations are animated, interactive, and game-like environments where students learn through exploration. They emphasize the connections between real-life and the underlying science. These great activities help students visualize abstract concepts!

See how light knocks electrons off a metal target, and recreate the experiment that spawned the field of quantum mechanics.