Twelve Stones portrays the heart of Heifer's work - Passing on the Gift ÂŽ - and shows the transformation of a community of women in Nepal from helplessness to hope through Heifer International. This is a preview clip of a documentary produced by Sandy Smolen.
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.
What effect does geography have on air quality? Use this model to explore the effect of point-source pollution, geography, and wind on regional air quality.
What causes an area to have poor air quality? Use this model to explore the connections between pollution sources, weather, geography, and air quality. Discover which weather condition causes the development of additional air pollutants. Compare the effects of two different pollution sources, pollution-control devices, and changing weather conditions on the air quality over a city.
This short film uses graphics to provide an introduction to the physical causes of earthquakes, and to explore how the way we build and manage our cities determines their vulnerability to a seismic strike.
It was created with the UK GCSE and A' Level curricula in mind.
Instructional sequences are more coherent when students investigate compelling natural phenomena (in science) or work on meaningful design problems (in engineering) by engaging in the science and engineering practices. We refer to these phenomena and design problems here as ‘anchors.’Here is a tool to assist in determining if the elements of the anchoring phenomenon are strong or could use some additional thinking. Original works can be found at NextGenStorylines.org
In this jigsaw-method activity on subduction zone volcanism, students apply lessons learned from four historic eruptions to the volcanic hazards associated with Mt. Rainier in the Pacific Northwest.
In this Science NetLinks lesson, students determine what artifacts are, how they are discovered, and what information can be learned from them. They also learn how artifacts are initially buried and then excavated. This lesson is one of a two-part series on archaeology.
In this case study students will examine a development proposal for a new hotel to be built on Long Key in the community of Saint Pete Beach, Florida. Students will be assigned different roles in the community and state, including a scientist from the FWRI, a construction worker hired for the project, the hotelier, a local beachgoer, a tourist, a member of Citizens for Responsible growth, a nearby restaurant owner, an engineer form the Army Corps of Engineers, the City of St. Pete mayor, a local environmentalist, and the hearing board (who has the final say on the plan). Students will be provided several resources and background information on the proposed development. (See resources and materials sections) Students will also be provided time to conduct further research. A classroom public hearing will be held to create a recommendation and decide whether the development plan should be approved, declined, or amended. Each role will have two to three students working together to make their argument.
This video segment describes how the Australopithecus afarensis skeleton known as Lucy could have been fossilized. Footage courtesy of NOVA: "In Search of Human Origins."
BRIGHT Girls was a project to build broader participation in the sciences, led by the University of Alaska Fairbanks and funded by the National Science Foundation. We sought to increase students' motivation and capacity to pursue careers in STEM by engaging them in studies of nearby natural environments. The developed lesson plans may be used in formal or informal educational settings, e.g., in a summer academy or across multiple class periods. These investigations help students explore the relationships among life history and ecosystems, connecting biology to geology and remote sensing.
Students design and construct devices to trap insects that are present in the area around the school. The objective is to ask the right design questions and conduct the right tests to determine if the traps work .
This learning video uses a simple analog setup to explore why earthquakes are so unpredictable. The setup is simple enough that students should be able to assemble and operate it on their own with a teacher's supervision. The teaching approach used in this module is known as the 5E approach, which stands for Engagement, Exploration, Explanation, Elaboration, and Evaluation. Over the course of this lesson, the basic mechanisms that give rise to the behavior of the simple analog system are explained, and further elaboration helps the students to apply their understanding of the analog system to complex fault systems that cause earthquakes
Our agricultural system is made up of interconnected resources. The availability of these resources affects how much food we can produce. In this module, you will explore the resources that make up our agricultural system in order to answer the question: can we feed the growing population? Food production is faced with an ever-growing number of challenges. Growing enough food depends on the availability of resources such as arable land, sunlight, rain, and organic matter. Throughout this activity, you will explore land uses and soil quality through graphs of land use and crop production. You will run experiments with computational models to compare the effect of different management strategies on the land. You will not be able to answer the module's framing question at the end of the module, but you will be able to describe how humans can maintain and replenish important resources to be able to produce food long into the future.
This module provides an overview of the biogeochemical carbon cycle. Major sources and sinks of carbon are discussed as well as the impact of human activities on global carbon levels.
Students consider the Earth's major types of landforms such as mountains, rivers, plains, hills, canyons, oceans and plateaus. Student teams build three-dimensional models of landscapes, depicting several of these landforms. Once the models are built, they act as civil and transportation engineers to design and build roads through the landscapes they have created. The worksheet is provided in English and Spanish.
This interactive resource adapted from the National Park Service presents the key concepts of cave and karst systems, including how and where they form, different types, and various cave environments.
Using planetary maps, students will be able to read cartographic information and compare the environmental conditions of Io to those Earth. They will understand the conditions needed for life to exist, and be able to explain why it cannot exist on Io.
Using planetary maps, students will be able to read cartographic information and compare the environmental conditions of Mars to those Earth. They will understand the conditions needed for life to exist, and be able to explain why it cannot exist on Mars.
Using planetary maps, students will be able to read cartographic information and compare the environmental conditions of Pluto/Charon to those Earth. They will understand the conditions needed for life to exist, and be able to explain why it cannot exist on Pluto or Charon.