This page from the Volcano World website contains a summary account of the 1959 eruption at Kilauea Iki which is illustrated by photographs and videos.

This video adapted from the Valdez Museum & Historical Archive, explores what happened during the Great Alaska Earthquake of 1964 through original footage, first-person accounts, and animations illustrating plate tectonics.

An exercise on the effects of flooding that took place in the upper Mississippi River drainage basin in 1993, using before and after satellite images.

(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)

This movie shows a total eclipse of the Sun which occurred in 1994. It is accompanied by a link to a written description of the Sun's physical characteristics.

This is a task from the Illustrative Mathematics website that is one part of a complete illustration of the standard to which it is aligned. Each task has at least one solution and some commentary that addresses important asects of the task and its potential use. Here are the first few lines of the commentary for this task: Materials * Completed monthly weather recording sheet * Crayons * Sentence strips with frames (see below) * Student worksheet Actions Every day for a m...

This page hosts a collection of geometric tasks in pdf format that are aligned to the CCSS standards 1.G1 through 1.G3. It also has links to supplementary literature and learning materials.

This resource contains presentations from one of the Center for Automotive Research's (CAR's) breakfast briefings titled "Automotive Fuels and Emissions: Policies, Compliance, & Potential Impact of Future Technologies." This briefing occurred on 12/5/13 at Robert Bosch LLC in Farmington Hills, MI. At the briefing presenters discussed the strategic implications of Tier 3 regulations which will soon be finalized and may impact future technology decisions in a multitude of ways. The impact of Tier 3 emission regulations is expected to be far reaching as they have the potential to influence the quality of fuel, as well as usage of alternative fuels and powertrains. Further, the regulations will have a direct influence on the technologies, such as diesel and gasoline direct injection, that automakers will utilize to meet the fuel economy standards through MY2025. Included in this resource are the presentations from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Volkswagen, and Bosch utilized at the briefing.

This resource contains speaker presentations from the 2013 Plug-In Conference and Exposition. This conference took place September 30, 2013 to October 3, 2013 at Liberty Station in San Diego, CA and had the theme What's Next for the Electric Highway? This event brought together automotive manufacturers, component suppliers, electric utilities, government agencies, academia, and the environmental community to collaborate on the next steps in plug-in electric vehicle technology, infrastructure, policies and regulations, and market development.

In this 7-minute video astronomer Dr Meghan Gray explains the relationship of the Earth's rotation and its revolution around the Sun, resulting in the need to add an extra day to our calendar every four years. She describes additional adjustments required to keep our calendar aligned with the Earth's movements. Dr Gray explains the Julian date and its usefulness.

This interactive Flash applet provides a Concentration-type game (called pelmanism in the UK) in which students must discern the properties of three-dimensional solids and their colors in order to match them in pairs. Spheres, cones, prisms and other standard 3-D shapes are hidden face down on cards. Time and number of trials needed to solve are recorded.

This tutorial explains some of the techniques developed by astronomers to determine the distances of objects we see in the sky. Links to additional information are embedded in the text.

This site presents graphic plots of solar wind and magnetic field data from the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) spacecraft.

A video from the Extreme Ice Survey in which Dr. Tad Pfeffer and photographer Jim Balog discuss the dynamics of the Columbia glacier's retreat in recent years through this time-lapse movie. Key point: glacier size is being reduced not just by glacial melting but due to a shift in glacial dynamics brought on by climate change.

This Astronomy Picture of the Day depicts the Himalayan mountain range in Nepal. The image was taken from the International Space Station. Links provide background information about Skylab, the Himalayas, and plate tectonics.

This two-day lesson helps students understand abiotic and biotic factors. Once the concept has been grasped, they can trace the interactions of these factors within a system.

The COSEE network promotes a better understanding of the key role the ocean plays in global environmental cycles and processes. COSEE activities highlight the contributions ocean-science researchers make to scientific knowledge in these important areas. Each COSEE represents one or more ocean science research institution, an informal science education organization, and at least one affiliate organization representing the formal education community.

This webpage from Wayne's Word provides basic information about dust storms, including how they are formed and the problems they cause. Recent dust storms in New South Wales, Australia, are described. Several photos of dust storms are included.

Children learn how seasonal weather changes affect everything, from the behavior of animals to the way we dress and play.

This video segment adapted from First Light explains why the highest peak in the Pacific, Mauna Kea, is an ideal site for astronomical observations. Featured are new telescope technologies that allow astronomers to explore the universe in more depth.

This guide provides curricular resources for study of the history and science of the quest for ever colder temperature. Designed for teachers and informal educators of middle school students. this guide offers hands-on demonstrations, questions to encourage student participation, suggestions for class activities, and ways to encourage students to continue studying the science. Topics include low-temperature physics and the impact of technologies such as air conditioning, refrigeration and liquefied gases. This material is related to a two-part public broadcasting special, Absolute Zero, produced by Meridian Productions and Windfall Films. Absolute Zero is underwritten by the National Science Foundation and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and is based largely on Tom Shachtman’s acclaimed book, Absolute Zero and the Conquest of Cold.

In this activity, learners investigate how different materials repel or absorb water. Learners use spray bottles to explore how everyday items like sponges, cardboard, feathers, etc. respond to water differently. This activity also introduces learners to the scientific method as learners make predictions about which materials will absorb or repel water.

Includes information about the Academy of Natural Sciences educational programs: teacher resources, information for planning field trips to the museum and women in the natural sciences.

CitcomS, a finite element code that models convection in the Earth's mantle, is used by many computational geophysicists to study the Earth's interior. In order to allow faster experiments and greater simulation capability, there is a push to increase the performance of the code to allow more computations to complete in the same amount of time. To accomplish this we leverage the massively parallel capabilities of graphics processors (GPUs), specifically those using NVIDIA's CUDA framework. We translated existing functions to run in parallel on the GPU, starting with the functions where the most computing time is spent. Running on NVIDIA Tesla GPUs, initial results show an average speedup of 1.8 that stays constant with increasing problem sizes and scales with increasing numbers of MPI processes. As more of the CitcomS code is successfully translated to CUDA, and as newer general purpose GPU frameworks like Fermi are released, we should continue to see further speedups in the future.

This post on the AmericaView Blog describes accessing Landsat data and using it in the ArcGIS program. The post includes a link to an instructional video which will show you how to access freely available Landsat satellite imagery and data and then work with it in ArcGIS. Running time for the video is 8:01.

This website provides instructions on how to find and download images directly from the WISE archive. Anyone with an internet connection now has free access to high-resolution infrared images from the WISE mission. These instructions explain how to get the images you want, without using complex terminology and options that may be difficult for the layperson to navigate.

Spreadsheets Across the Curriculum module/Geology of National Parks course. Students estimate travel times and costs of a driving/camping trip to visit national parks in Colorado.

This activity is acid-base titration lab where students determine the percent of calcium carbonate in an eggshell.

This learning activity from the Advanced Technology Environmental and Energy Center (ATEEC) provides students with the opportunity to use analytical meters and instruments and perform acid deposition sampling. Students will collect samples from various sources over a period of time, then measure pH and develop graphs or charts. Users must download this resource for viewing, which requires a free log-in. There is no cost to download the item.

In this video, an environmental technologist visits an abandoned coal mine in Kentucky to talk about how a remediation system (a series of settling ponds and treatment cells) is neutralizing the acid drainage flowing from the mine and keeping it from damaging a creek downstream.

Acid precipitation will be defined. At different points in the lesson students will write balanced reactions for the formation acid precipitation from atmospheric sulfur and nitrogen oxides and the neutralization of acids by limestone. Students will determine which states are most at risk from acid precipitation and assess how that risk has changed from 1996 to 2006. Sources of atmospheric sulfur (burning of high-sulfur coal) and nitrogen oxides (automobile exhaust) will be listed. The buffering effect of limestone soils and its mitigating effect on acid precipitation will be discussed. Students will correlate these areas with sulfur and nitrogen oxide production, population, composition of coal fields, and soil composition. This resource includes both a teaching guide and student worksheets.

For years, our oceans have been hard at work absorbing the carbon dioxide that humans create through burning fossil fuels. Find out what effect that extra CO2 is having on our seas.

In this outdoor game, learners play the roles of gray or red squirrels gathering and storing a supply of food in "fall" and recovering enough of them to survive the "winter." Learners carry bags representing their cheek pouches for carrying food. Learners investigate the advantages and disadvantages of how these two kinds of squirrels store food differently.

The Acoustic Monitoring Project at NOAA is observing the ocean through underwater acoustics. At this site, visitors can learn about NOAA's studies in Bioacoustics, Ocean Seismicity, and Environmental Noise. The site also offers many animations dealing with Axial eruption, Atlantic Seismicity, and much more.

This article describes covert and overt active engagement strategies for use with elementary students. Find the Question templates are included for use with informational text.

Selected resources provide three web-based activities to complement science lessons in an issue of Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle. The free, online magazine for Grades K-5 teachers explores the essential principles of climate literacy.

This collection of student activities contains problems dealing with waves and oscillations. Specific topics include masses on springs, pendulums, sound, and waves on a string. The activities include pictures and diagrams for clarification, but solutions to the problems are not included.

This article describes the "Physics by Inquiry" course that is designed to address student misconceptions. Then explains how the course was taught at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro for teachers, and how it was taught at Ohio State University for elementary-education majors. The author concludes that the course is exportable to many different environments and for many different types of students.

Hear about how respect for Earth can help us attain a more sustainable lifestyle in the face of climate change in this video segment adapted from United Tribes Technical College.

This site presents information about the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) spacecraft and its mission, science goals, history, and background. The mission summary includes a brief description of the energetic particles from the sun and from interstellar and galactic sources that are the objectives of the ACE mission. Links to additional information are also supplied.

The Advanced Technology Environmental and Energy Center (ATEEC) provides a wide range of environmental and energy technology learning resources for students, teachers, and technicians; the Center does this, in part, through their electronic Environmental Resources Library (eErl) digital library. The Center's objective is the "advancement of environmental technology education through curriculum development, professional development, and program improvement in the nation's community colleges and high schools." ATEEC is housed at Scott Community College (Bettendorf, Iowa) and was established by National Science Foundation (NSF) Advanced Technology Education (ATE) Center funds.

This activity from NOAA Ocean Service is about using aerial photographs to assess the impact of extreme weather events such as Hurricane Katrina. The activity features aerial views of Biloxi, MS post-Katrina and enables students to see evidence of the power of extreme weather on the environment.

This radio broadcast discusses the findings of a conservationist who flew over of most of the continent of Africa in a small plane at low altitude, photographing the ground below every 20 seconds, to form a grid map. The flyover was intended to evaluate human impacts on African ecosystems, including wildlife, vegetation, and soil. The researcher, Dr, Michael Fay, points out that humans have penetrated very deeply into every single ecosystem in Africa that was visited, exhausting soils, vegetation, and water systems. He also discusses the need for greater natural resource management to locate the places where humans have already exceeded what the ecosystem can sustain. The broadcast is 7 minutes and 45 seconds in length.

This comprehensive guide to the Paleontology section of OLogy, the Museum's science Web site for kids, explains how after-school educators can make the most of the site. It focuses on dinosaurs because that's what kids are most familiar with. An introduction to the Big Ideas in Paleontology brings educators up to speed on how scientists study early life on Earth, what kind of information the fossil record contains, and why dinosaurs are not extinct. A Site Map shows where to locate all Paleontology resources, from stories to quizzes to hands-on-activities. Paleontology units offer ways to combine different types of resources around a topic. Follow-up questions encourage inquiry-based learning. Wrap-Up Paleo Projects suggests fun ways to wrap up any of these units. A Links and Resources section lists recommended paleontology-related books and Web sites for educators and for kids. A glossary of paleontological terms wraps up the guide.

In this video from Nature, geological detectives use ancient diamonds to learn more about Earth's inner layers.

This video segment adapted from Big River: A King Corn Companion shows how agricultural chemicals from the Midwest that travel downstream in water runoff create a vast marine dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico.

In this activity, learners simulate Otto von Guericke's famous Magdeburg Hemispheres experiment. In this modern, low cost version, a pair of learners try to pull apart two suction cups (dent pullers). Learners then calculate the amount of force holding the dent pullers together.

The goal of this course is to introduce participants to the basic concepts of meteorology and air quality necessary to understand meteorological computer models. This course, along with companion courses in Computational Atmospheric Science and Emissions, anticipates the Models3 environment under development by the EPA. Upon completion of the course, participants should understand the fundamental principles of meteorology. In addition, participants will be introduced to the application of these principles to air quality, especially through atmospheric modeling. Moreover, during the course a number of issues involved in simulating atmospheric processes in a computer-based model will be presented.

During World War Two, a fierce battle between American and Japanese forces on Kwajalein atoll left a trail of debris on the deep lagoon floor. This lagoon now has one of the largest collections of well-preserved aircraft in the world. In this video, as part of the first ever film crew allowed onto this secret military base, Jonathan explores a B-25, F4-U Corsair and Dauntless dive bomber still sitting on the bottom of the ocean, as if ready to take off. Please see the accompanying study guide for educational objectives and discussion points.

This online set of activities help students learn properties of ocean waves, wind-wave relationships and properties of tsunamis.

(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)

This video from First Alaskans Institute spotlights the Alaska Native community of St. Paul and its hands-on commitment to care for the land and animals on which it depends.

In this video adapted from Storyknife Productions, Alaska Native pilots share how they use traditional knowledge to read the landscape and predict the weather.

In this video adapted from KUAC-TV and the Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, Alaska Native students contribute to research on how their environment is changing as a result of global warming.

In this media-rich lesson, students prepare classroom science fair projects that demonstrate the application of traditional knowledge to a scientific topic.

In this video adapted from Alaska Sea Grant, discover why multiple tsunamis resulted from the Great Alaska Earthquake of 1964.

This illustrated guide to Albian (Cretaceous) fossils provides an extensive photo collection of fossils from the Anglo-Parisian basin. Additional information, high resolution photos and illustrations can be accessed by clicking the fossil icons located on the globe, the time scale or along the top of the page. Although the site is written in French, a non-French-speaking visitor will find this page easy to navigate and the photos well worth the visit. Fauna featured on this site include ammonites, nautiloids, belemnites, gastropods, crusteceans, echinoderms, marine vertebrates and corals.

This resource provides an explanation of two number/magic puzzles that can be demystified and explained by using algebra. This resource is from PUMAS - Practical Uses of Math and Science - a collection of brief examples created by scientists and engineers showing how math and science topics taught in K-12 classes have real world applications.

This site features a scientific article associated with the Mars Global Surveyor Project, reporting data collected from a study analyzing Mono Lake as a terrestrial analog to Mars. The study is centered on two classes of biomarker compounds amino acids and fatty acids and on the microbial diversity of Mono Lake. A table illustrates the mole % fatty acids in Mono Lake sediments.

In this informational text, elementary school readers learn about the difference between weather and climate and about components of the climate system. The text can be used to practice visualizing and other comprehension strategies. Available in K-2 and 3-5 grade bands and as an illustrated book as well as a text document, the story appears in the online magazine Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle.