This site features Java Applet, QuickTime, and Flash animations that illustrate characteristics and functions of the atmosphere. They show how atmospheric temperature, pressure, and density change with respect to changing altitude, the way different kinds of radiation (x-ray, ultraviolet, visible, and infrared) act in various levels of the atmosphere (troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, and thermosphere/ionosphere), how oxygen gas and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) interact with ultraviolet radiation to create and deplete ozone, and the manner in which radiation is trapped in the atmosphere, causing the greenhouse effect and global warming. The animations can be paused and rewound to stress important points. These resources are suitable for use in lectures, labs, or other teaching activities.

"This undergraduate class is designed to introduce students to the physics that govern the circulation of the ocean and atmosphere. The focus of the course is on the processes that control the climate of the planet.AcknowledgmentsProf. Ferrari wishes to acknowledge that this course was originally designed and taught by Prof. John Marshall."

This course explores the physical processes that control Earth's atmosphere, ocean, and climate. Quantitative methods for constructing mass and energy budgets. Topics include clouds, rain, severe storms, regional climate, the ozone layer, air pollution, ocean currents and productivity, the seasons, El Ni–o, the history of Earth's climate, global warming, energy, and water resources.

This site features a QuickTime animation with audio, a series of Java applets, and an MPEG that illustrate various aspects of atmospheric heating. They explain Earth's radiation balance, show the user how to draw temperature contours, and depict the basic idea of an urban heat island. These resources portray a variety of environments and are suitable for use in lectures, labs, or other teaching activities.

In this lab, students will infer a potential for increasing levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide leading to global warming by contrasting the temperature rise in a CO2 rich atmosphere to that of normal air when both environments are exposed to a bright light in a controlled experiment.

The Chemistry Faculty is a new, free educational resource for secondary schools and especially those A-level students thinking about applying to University. We have a growing library of short, downloadable films of university lecturers speaking on topics from the A-level curriculum

This video segment adapted from NOVA explains the difference between weather and climate and features groundbreaking analysis revealing that Earth's climate has changed much faster than previously believed.

Explore this site to learn about the science and impacts of climate change. The site also provides games that help students, their parents and their teachers learn about both the science of climate change and what actions they can take to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The research-based Arctic Climate Modeling Program (ACMP) is funded by NSF ITEST. Curriculum based resources were designed with input from 21 scientists from the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute. Resources include K-12 inquiry-based classroom lessons, a student network for observing arctic weather, digital lectures, and an interactive multimedia learning system (on DVD).

For this activity, students will be given a set of materials: cardboard, a set of insulating materials (i.e. foam, newspaper, etc.), aluminum foil, and plexiglass. Students will then become engineers in building a solar oven from the given materials, keeping in mind that the oven should not only be able to collect as much of the sun's energy as possible but also to store it. Students will experiment with heat transfer through conduction by how well the oven is insulated and radiation by how well it absorbs solar radiation. Upon completion they will test the effectiveness of their designs both qualitatively and quantitatively. Qualitatively, they will attempt to actually bake something in the ovens. Quantitatively, they will take periodic temperature measurements and plot a temperature versus time graph. Afterwards, students will think like engineers and discuss the solar oven's strengths and weaknesses when compared to a conventional oven.

The Earth Climate Course: What Determines a Planets Climate? is a set of student activities and teachers guides designed to connect NASA Earth science research with the teaching and learning of core science and mathematics concepts and skills while addressing national education standards. The four modules cover: 1) Temperature Variations and Habitability, 2) Modeling Hot and Cold Planets, 3) Using Mathematical Models to Investigate Planetary Habitability, and 4) How Do Atmospheres Affect Planetary Atmospheres. Scientific inquiry and the research tools used to do research play a major role in the lessons. Presented with a science problem, students seek answers and consensus by experimenting with physical and computer models, collecting and analyzing their own measurements, and conducting comparisons with real world data from satellites and ground-based observations.- NASA missions and related Earth and space science topics provide the real world problem context for student investigations.- It aims to help students to develop an understanding of our environment as a system of human and natural processes that result in changes that occur over various space and time scales.

Global change is a relatively new area of scientific study using research from many disciplines to determine how Earth systems change, and to assess the influence of human activity on these changes. The Global Change section of the Teaching Packet consists of an introduction and five activities. In teaching these activities, four themes are important: time, change, cycles, and Earth as home.

Students learn how the greenhouse effect is related to global warming and how global warming impacts our planet, including global climate change. Extreme weather events, rising sea levels, and how we react to these changes are the main points of focus of this lesson.

These units, and the supporting resources of Global Words, aim to build the essential knowledge, skills and values young people need to participate actively, critically and creatively as global citizens. This curriculum integrates the teaching and learning of English, across strands of language, literature and literacy, with Global Citizenship Education, using explicit and exploratory teaching and learning activities. The four units use a range of text and text-types to address the themes of Sustainability, Refugees and migration, Neighbours, Asia/Pacific, and Indigenous peoples, with a focus on literacy with Geography and Human Society and its Environs curricula. All units of work include an overview, description of focus, four teaching and learning activities, and links to the curriculum content, strands, outcomes and indicators.

This lesson introduces students to the concepts of air pollution and technologies that have been developed by engineers to reduce air pollution. Students develop an understanding of visible air pollutants with an incomplete combustion demonstration, a "smog in a jar" demonstration, construction of simple particulate matter collectors and by exploring engineering roles related to air pollution. Next, students develop awareness and understanding of the daily air quality and trends in air quality using the Air Quality Index (AQI) listed in the newspaper. Finally, students build and observe a variety of simple models in order to develop an understanding of how engineers use these technologies to clean up and prevent air pollution.

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?

The terms greenhouse effect, climate change, and global warming are often used interchangeably, yet they really refer to three separate and distinct processes. This activity examines all three and assesses whether Earth's atmosphere is getting warmer.

Interlinked Challenges features bits of information about global challenges from the last 400,000 years. Challenges include: biodiversity, climate change, eco-migrations, economy, energy, food, health, hunger, population growth, poverty, security, sustainability, transportation, urbanization, and water.

Info bits are drawn from articles, podcasts, blogs, press releases, institutional reports, testimonies, encyclopedias, books, and documentaries. Each bit is referenced, date stamped, linked to the original article, tagged on multiple themes, and assigned a related image, which has its own description, author credit, date stamp, image permission, and back link. Connections are made to bits of info from the 2007 IPCC Report on Climate Change.

Students create and observe a greenhouse effect model and discuss the implications of global warming theory for engineers, themselves and the Earth.