Resources of Interest

National Environmental Education Week is April 15-21, with a goal of enhancing the educational impact of Earth Day, creating a full week of learning and activities in K-12 classrooms, nature centers, zoos, museums, and aquaria. The 2012 theme is Greening STEM: The Environment as Inspiration for 21st Century Learning. EE Week is partnering with National Geographic Education and Project Noah to bring educators the information and tools they need to take technology outside, engaging students in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) learning in their own schoolyard or local public land.

Posted Mar, 2012

The EPA's Students for the Environment website offers a number of resources for K-16 learners, including an array of environmental and science based lesson plans, activities and games. Also offered is a Student's Guide to Global Climate Change, which includes a Climate Change Expedition, a trip around to world to explore the effects of climate change.

The Hurricanes: Science and Society website and associated educational resources provide information on the science of hurricanes, methods of observing hurricanes, modeling and forecasting of hurricanes, how hurricanes impact society, and how people and communities can prepare for and mitigate the impacts of hurricanes. These educational resources were developed by the University of Rhode Island (URI) Graduate School of Oceanography (GSO) and many others, including independent scientific reviewers and 14 middle and high school teachers.

Posted Sept, 2011

The Discovery of Sound in the Sea (DOSITS) Project introduces the science and uses of underwater sound and provides timely peer-reviewed content on the effects of underwater sound on marine animals. This newly redesigned website offers an interactive learning environment that allows users to quickly immerse themselves in a range of content; from the songs of humpback whales to interviews with cutting-edge scientists, to the use of acoustics to measure waves. Interactive resources have also been created for the site's Audio Gallery and Scientist Gallery.

Posted July, 2011

Each year World Oceans Day encourages the international community to recognize the importance of the ocean within our interconnected Earth systems. Developed by the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History and more than 20 collaborating organizations, Ocean Portal is a unique, interactive online experience that inspires awareness, understanding, and stewardship of the world's oceans. The Educators' Corner provides lesson plans, activities and teacher-tested, ocean science materials for the classroom. Photo essays and searchable multimedia resources are aimed at the major drivers of ocean change. Many of these resources are aligned with National Science Standards.

Posted May, 2011

Climate change is real and it is occurring faster than originally predicted. In this video series, scientists explain how climate change is affecting the state of Colorado, while citizens share stories and solutions. One of the more recent videos focuses on how climate change is accelerating the mountain pine beetle epidemic and what the future holds for Colorado's forests. A set of problem-based model lessons were developed by teams of middle and high school teachers with CU-Boulder scientists and science educators. Also available are the Colorado Science Standards for Climate and Energy.

Posted Apr, 2011

National Environmental Education Week is April 11-16, with a goal of enhancing the educational impact of Earth Day, creating a full week of educational preparation, learning, and activities in K-12 classrooms, nature centers, zoos, museums, and aquariums. The 2011 theme is Ocean Connections, with a special focus on the Gulf Oil Spill. A list of websites, articles, video collections, online games and other tools provides educators with background information and teaching tools about a wide range of ocean topics. Also provided is a list of free ocean-related lesson plans and activities that are aligned with content standards for a variety of subjects and organized by grade level.

Posted Mar, 2011

The Education and Outreach group of IRIS (Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology), offers a set of 'Recent Earthquake Teachable Moments', educational resources that capture that unplanned opportunity to bring knowledge, insight, and critical thinking to the classroom following a newsworthy earthquake. Each Teachable Moment contains interpreted USGS regional tectonic maps and summaries, computer animations, seismograms, AP photos, and other event-specific information. The site has already been updated with animations and visualizations of the recent magnitude 9.0 earthquake near the east coast of Honshu, Japan.

Posted Mar, 2011

POLENET is a global network dedicated to observing the polar regions in a changing world.The project focuses on collecting GPS and seismic data from autonomous systems deployed at remote sites spanning much of the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets. GPS and seismic measurements together provide a means to answer critical questions about ice sheet behavior in a warming world. Educational resources include video podcasts, blogs, photo collections, interactive maps, interviews with scientists and information on student internships.

Posted Mar, 2011

Globe at Night is an annual 2-week campaign that helps to address the light pollution issue locally as well as globally. You are invited along with everyone all over the world to record the brightness of your night sky by matching its appearance toward the constellation Orion with star maps of progressively fainter stars. You then submit your measurements on-line with your date, time and location. A few weeks later, organizers release a map of light-pollution levels worldwide.

Posted Feb, 2011

NBC Learn, in partnership with the National Science Foundation, unravels the physics, biology, chemistry, materials science and math behind the Olympic Winter Games. A series of 16 free videos have been produced that focus on a variety of sports including ski jumping, figure skating, and snowboarding as well as the design of the equipment and clothing that contribute to athletes speed and performance. Lesson plans and classroom activities that utilize the videos are provided by Lessonopoly; accessed by "flipping" the video window and clicking on "Links."

Posted Feb, 2010

The Education and Outreach groups of IRIS (Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology), the University of Portland, and UNAVCO have developed a set of 'Teachable Moments', Power Point and .pdf presentations which provide a short summary of major tectonic events that can be used by educators to incorporate discussions of earthquakes and volcanic events, and resulting hazards. The presentations, generated by seismologists, geodesists, and educators, are available within a few hours to one day after the earthquake. The presentations include a variety of content allowing educators to customize the information for their classes. Common elements include US Geological Survey earthquake and volcano information, GPS time series from the EarthScope Plate Boundary Observatory (PBO) network, plate tectonic and regional tectonic maps and summaries, computer animations, seismograms, photos, and other event-specific information.

Posted Jan, 2010

Understanding Science gives users an inside look at the general principles, methods, and motivations that underlie all of science. This project has at its heart a re-engagement with science that begins with teacher preparation and ends with broader public understanding.

Posted Dec, 2009

Each year, Earth Science Week focuses on a different facet of Earth science to help people gain a better understanding and appreciation of the natural world. "Understanding Climate", is the theme for Oct. 11-17 2009; promoting the scientific understanding of a timely, vital topic: Earth's climate. AGI's website provides information about ways for classrooms to integrate Earth Science Week into their curriculum including ways to involve the community, contests, and grade-level appropriate activities surrounding the year's theme. The site also includes a list of theme-based educational resources to help you get started.

Posted Oct, 2009

The Coalition on the Public Understanding of Science (COPUS) and its participants lead the way in the celebration of the Year of Science 2009 (YoS09) - a national, year-long celebration of science to engage the public and improve public understanding about how science works, why it matters, and who scientists are. As they develop programs for 2009, participating organizations share program ideas, register them in the COPUS registry, and collaborate with others to celebrate science.

Posted June, 2009

A number of events in April focus on personal and community involvement in protecting our global environment. This year, Earth Day is preceded by National Environmental Education Week (April 12-18), which increases the educational impact of Earth Day by creating a full week of educational preparation, learning, and activities in K-12 classrooms, nature centers, zoos, museums, and aquariums. Other suggestions for Earth Day activities can be found at Earth Day Network, an international alliance working to promote a healthy environment and a peaceful, just, sustainable world; the EPA's Earth Day website; and Earthday.gov, a cooperative effort across the entire U.S. government that offers links to volunteer opportunities as well as ideas on how you can take action at home, in the classroom, and at work.

Posted April, 2009

The Arctic Climate Modeling Program (ACMP) is a research-based weather and climate curriculum for K-12 classrooms. ACMP comprises hands-on, inquiry-based classroom lessons, an interactive multimedia DVD, engaging lectures from Geophysical Institute and International Arctic Research Center scientists, and a Student Network for Observing Weather (SNOW), enabling students around the world to study Alaska's weather.

Posted January, 2009

The Hurricane Education site from NOAA provides teachers with curriculum materials, multimedia visual information, an archive of previous hurricane seasons and several posters. By knowing what actions students can take, they can reduce the effects of hurricane disaster. These activities for grades 7-12 focus on storm surge, one of the most damaging components of a hurricane.

For up-to-date hurricane information and images, visit NASA's Hurricane Resource Page.

Posted September, 2008

Global Climate Change presents the latest climate information from NASA's Earth monitoring missions and research. Historical and current information help explain the vital signs of the planet. A Climate Time Machine tracks changes in global conditions such as ice melt, sea level, CO2 emissions and average global temperatures over time. Earth Science Missions from over a dozen spacecraft/instruments in orbit studying all aspects of the Earth system (oceans, land, atmosphere, biosphere, cyrosphere) are profiled. A Vital Signs Widget download is available for keeping track of the latest climate change data on your desktop.

Posted June, 2008

Project BudBurst invites citizen scientists to join in a field campaign to study the timing of life cycle events of native tree and flower species across the country. This valuable information can be compared to historical records to illustrate the effects of climate change. Last year's inaugural event drew thousands of people of all ages taking careful observations of the phenological events. As a result of the pilot field campaign, data collected can be used by scientists to learn about the responses of individual plant speciesto climatic variation locally, regionally, and nationally. The 2007 campaign garnered enthusiastic response and robust participation.

Posted February, 2008