In this lesson, students research maps, weapons and weather from a variety of wars, then create a presentation showing the impact weather and topography has had on military operations. Full description.

This module engages students in the use of a clean room and in the planning of assembly of solar collector wafers for the Genesis space mission. They will work in production design teams to explore how the Genesis spacecraft will collect bulk solar wind with the collector arrays and learn to work as a team in a restrictive environment. The module includes several activities with accompanying video ... Full description.

The site offers an interactive discussion of different vantage points associated with dam building. It describes some of the engineering and environmental issues that go into the process of selecting a site for building a dam and the conditions necessary for electrical generation. Links to classroom and family activities are organized by grade level. Full description.

The purpose of this resource is to use a land cover type map to make environmentally sound decisions. Full description.

This seven-week project is an investigation into space stations and their impact on our lives and the world. Students research the space program, and measure, model and analyze relationships through a daily log. In the end, students produce a model of a space station that they developed. This site provides research links, rubrics, and information for teachers. This project was designed by K-12 teachers ... Full description.

This activity has students identify fire risk factors for a property located near a wildland area. Given a picture of a house and surrounding property in a wooded setting, students attempt to identify and number all the areas of increased risk on the picture and then write down the reasons they believe each numbered area is at risk. The activity has a stated objective, student handout, procedure, ... Full description.

In this lesson, students explore space through a mock space shuttle flight. They role-play the jobs of real space shuttle astronauts, conduct experiments, and research space using the Internet and offline experiments. Students will form three-person space shuttle crews, each crew consisting of three astronauts: the pilot, science specialist, and shuttle technical specialist. Each member of the crew ... Full description.

This site explores the dual faces of Mother Nature in Hawaii by examining four powerful forces (volcanoes, earthquakes, tsunamis, and hurricanes), focusing on the disastrous impacts as well as lessons of hope and renewal. For each type of disaster, there are explanations of making predictions, types of damage, warning systems, emergency preparation, and survival stories. There are volcano and tsunami ... Full description.

This resource provides eyewitness accounts and historical photographs from notable damaging earthquakes that have occurred in or near Santa Barbara County, California. It also contains a catalog of all earthquakes that have been felt in the greater Santa Barbara region between 1800 and 1960. Major earthquakes covered include the 1812 Santa Barbara Earthquake, the 1857 Fort Tejon Earthquake, the 1902 ... Full description.

This article provides an acount of Sir Edmund Hillary's encounter with a band of crevasses near the South Pole on his 1958 trek across Antarctica. The excerpt includes biographic information about Hillary, who was knighted for his ascent of Mount Everest, and was also a noted Antarctic explorer. Sir Edmund describes a particularly treacherous crossing of a three-mile-wide band of crevasses in the ... Full description.