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.

This activity is a scientific investigation focusing on inquiry after using the Foss Water Kit. The students will pose a question, create a procedure and produce a poster showing their findings.

This ZOOM video segment shows how to create a self-contained environment and explores evaporation, condensation, and precipitation.

Brownfield Action (BA) is a web-based environmental science simulation developed by the Center for New Media Teaching and Learning at Columbia University and Dr. Peter Bower of Barnard College. In the simulation, students investigate the possibility of groundwater contamination in a virtual, fictional township by exploring the town‰ŰŞs infrastructure, meeting pertinent parties, and performing hydrological surveys and tests to gain an understanding of the groundwater system of the municipality. Over twenty-five locations can be visited and forty-five characters can be interviewed including town residents, business owners, and local government officials. Students are presented with maps, documents, videos, and an extensive network of scientific data, mined with a suite of geological and hydrological testing tools to aid their investigation in determining the nature of any found contamination in the virtual town. A demo is available on this web site and there is contact info for teachers wishing to incorporate into their classrooms.

Bottled water, popular among students, is big business even though issues surrounding it related to health and safety as well as its environmental impact have stirred up controversy. Designed for an introductory non-majors environmental science course, this discussion/dilemma case explores the environmental effects associated with the production, consumption, and recycling of bottled water while touching on health and safety issues. Students also learn about government regulations regarding the extraction of ground water and labeling of bottled water; recycling laws and how states circumvent the recycling process; and the economic and ecological costs of drinking bottled water.

This dilemma case explores the controversy over introducing non-native oysters to the Chesapeake Bay as a means of improving its ecological and economic health. Developed for use in an interdisciplinary doctoral program in energy and environmental studies, it could be adapted for undergraduate courses ranging from ecology and biology to political science and geography. The case introduces students to the various stakeholders and their positions from the point of view of a senator who must cast the deciding vote on whether or not to introduce Suminoe oysters (Crassostrea ariakensis) into the bay. Students read the case, then work in small groups to develop a stakeholder position, which they later role-play in class in a simulated public hearing.

At LLNL, physicists, chemists, biologists, engineers, computer scientists and other researchers work together in multidisciplinary teams to achieve technical innovations and scientific breakthroughs that make possible solutions to critical problems of national and global importance. Our scientists push the frontiers of knowledge to build the scientific and technological foundation that will be needed to address the national security issues of the future.

This activity has students create a Cartesian diver, which will act in some ways like a submarine. Students will adjust the amount of air and water in an inverted test tube (the "diver") so that it at first barely floats in a water-filled bottle. Then, they will squeeze the closed bottle to create higher water pressure, causing the diver to sink. Releasing the bottle allows the diver to float again. Written instructions, a list of materials, and illustrations are included.

This special edition of ChemMatters is the fourth in a series focused on atmospheric chemistry and NASA’s Aura mission. ChemMatters is a quarterly publication of the American Chemical Society (ACS) geared to a high school audience and designed to demystify everyday chemistry. It includes feature articles on how Aura came together as a mission from its beginnings to the present; the nature of chemical equilibrium, with applications to ozone in the stratosphere; a day in the life of a science validation team on a WB 57 aircraft; and the challenges of fabricating an international treaty to deal with ozone pollution. The back cover introduces an ozone biomonitoring garden project that has been developed as a field classroom learning resource for students at Great Smoky Mountains National Park through a partnership among several federal organizations.

With graphics and a brief video clip, the Coriolis effect is concisely and effectively explained. This site is part of the WW2010 Project and features current weather data and detailed explanatory/instructional material as well as curricular materials, archived products and case studies.

The goal of this virtual field trip to Iridium Hill, Montana is to investigate the disappearance of dinosaur fossils above the Cretaceous/ Tertiary boundary. The site provides rock outcrop photos of Cretaceous and Tertiary strata (Hell Creek and Fort Union Formations), stratigraphic sections and supporting text for this classic iridium-bearing locality. Topics include the K/T boundary, iridium concentrations, stratigraphy, sedimentology and, fluvial and lacustrine depositional environments.

The publication of earth science data in electronic format and the archiving of that information in large web-accessible relational databases are some of the more significant and consequential changes to have occurred within the geoscience community during the last decade. The development and rapid expansion of cyberinfrastructure has produced increasingly data-rich, linked networks which open up new possibilities and challenges for using data in geoscience education. The possibilities are as large as the global scale of some of the databases.

In this lesson, students recognize the different forms that water takes and learn about where it exists in the environment. Using class discussion, multimedia resources, and experiments, students model the water cycle and explore how it can be used to create fresh water. They will identify the ways that water moves through the environment, recognize that most of Earth's surface is covered by water (but only a small amount is fresh water), and produce fresh water from salty water by distilling it.

Users can access information about educational programs and materials for teachers and students, including tours, traveling exhibits and presentations by the staff of the Des Moines Water Works. "Water Trunks", which contain water-related literature, books, science experiments, videos, games, CD-ROMs, hands-on activities, picture cards, career information, and a teacher resource book, are available to order. There are also links to other water websites, a teachers' newsletter and pollution prevention tips for classroom use and for the general public.

This online collaborative project is part of the Center for Improved Engineering and Science Education (CIESE) program, which has developed internet activities for the elementary, middle, and high school level student. Based on data collected by their household members and their classmates, students determine the average amount of water used by one person in a day. They compare this to the average amount of water used per person per day in other parts of the world. The project provides instructions, information, reference materials, online help, and a teacher area for help and ideas.

Students generate and explore a variety of graphs, charts and map images in order to better understand the concept of normal climate. Ideally, students should work in pairs on this lab. Consider assigning each student team to investigate the climate of a single region or state and then having all the teams share their results with the entire class.

This book of 19 essays, written by Earth scientists, provides insight into the dynamic processes that shape the Earth. The essays are supported by case studies describing a range of research projects (including Looking for Life in Antarctica-and Mars, Mapping Mt. Rainer, and Mapping Hot Springs on the Deep Ocean Floor) and profiles of historically significant Earth scientists (Including Inge Lehmann, Milutin Milankovitch, and Harold C. Urey). The essays, case studies, and profiles are organized along the same themes explored in the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) Gottesman Hall of Planet Earth, (How do we read the rocks?; How has the Earth evolved?; Why are there ocean basins, mountains and continents?; What causes climate and climate change?; Why is the Earth habitable?) a large, permanent exhibition that opened at the Museum in 1999.

Understanding climate requires understanding that Earth is a holistic system of dynamic, interacting components. Furthermore, understanding how the Earth system works is essential for making informed decisions about how to manage, protect, and sustain our planet and its natural resources. This EarthLabs module helps students understand their world as an interconnected living system. Students learn to identify the parts of the Earth system and the processes that connect them, starting locally and gradually expanding their view to regional and global scales.