The purpose of this activity is to observe the type and cover of clouds including contrails. Students observe which of ten types of clouds and how many of three types of contrails are visible and how much of the sky is covered by clouds (other than contrails) and how much is covered by contrails. Intended outcomes are that students learn how to make estimates from observations and how to categorize ... Full description.

The seasons on Earth are caused by the tilt of the Earth as it rotates on its axis and revolves around the Sun. Students will correlate surface radiation with mean surface temperature of several geographic regions. By observing the graphs of these parameters, students will construct an understanding of the reason for the seasons. Full description.

Earth's albedo is the fraction of incoming radiation (sunlight) that is reflected into space. The Earth has an average albedo, which describes how much sunlight is reflected on average for the whole planet and the whole year. The Earth also has a local albedo, which determines how much of the Sun's light is reflected from a particular place at a particular time. The local albedo depends on the particular ... Full description.

Students will use NASA Satellite data to analyze and understand ways of studying photosynthesis from space. They will assume the role of a park ranger at Shenandoah National Park and determine when the plants and trees at their top efficiency by analyzing when the plants are absorbing a majority of the light hitting them (within the photosynthetic range.) Full description.

The purpose of this resource is to continuously measure soil and air temperature at one site. Students install four temperature probes; three are placed in the soil at three different depths and one is placed in an instrument shelter. Students use a data logger to record readings from the probes every 15 minutes. Students transfer the data to their school computers for analysis and submission to the ... Full description.

The purpose of this activity is to introduce students to visualizations as a tool for scientific problem-solving, using elevation and temperature as an example. Students color in visualizations of elevation and temperature so that important patterns in the data become evident. The relationship between the two quantities is studied by using them to compute the lapse rate, the rate at which temperature ... Full description.

The purpose of this resource is to log soil data using a Davis soil moisture and temperature station. Soil moisture and temperature sensors are installed at multiple depths and a station is set up to measure and record measurements at 15 minute intervals. These measurements are transferred to your school.s computer and then submitted to GLOBE via email data entry. Gravimetric soil moisture measurements ... Full description.

The purpose of this resource is to sure the distribution of different sizes of soil particles in each horizon of a soil profile. Using dry, sieved soil from a horizon, students mix the soil with water and a dispersing solution to completely separate the particles from each other. Students shake the mixture to fully suspend the soil in the water. The soil particles are then allowed to settle out of ... Full description.

The purpose of this resource is to learn how to estimate data results in order to minimize errors in reading or recording data. Students participate in a game in which they collect data using various instruments and calculations and then try to fool other data collection teams by exaggerating some of the data numbers. They do this activity first with data describing objects in the classroom, then ... Full description.

The purpose of this resource is to measure the salinity of the water at your hydrology site. Students use a hydrometer to measure the specific gravity of the water sample, and use a thermometer to measure the temperature. With these two values, students will use tables to determine the salinity. Full description.