This chapter describes the technique of preparing latitude-longitude based data so that it can be imported into a geographic information system (GIS). It describes the steps to create a map to display data and guides users through some basic geographic analyses. The focus of the chapter?s case study is earthquake prediction. Users download and format near real-time and historical earthquake data from ... Full description.

The purpose of this resource is to understand what causes the Earth's seasons with a focus on the Earth's tilt and spherical shape. Students learn how sunlight spreads over the Earth at different times of the year, emphasizing the solstices and the equinoxes. Students investigate the effect of the Earth.s tilt on the spread of sunlight by modeling different tilts using a three-dimensional polyhedron ... Full description.

The purpose of this resource is to further students' understanding of the causes of seasonal change using visualizations to compare the effects of incoming solar energy in the two hemispheres. The class reviews global visualizations of incoming sunlight and surface temperature and discusses seasonal change. Students use the visualizations to support inquiry on the differences in seasonal change in ... Full description.

In this lesson students working in teams classify furniture, share their categories and rationales, then note how their different schemes vary arbitrarily. They then see how living organisms are classified, and note how these groupings are natural, nearly always reflecting the same ancestral relationships in nested hierarchies, regardless of the deeper criteria. Such patterns are revealed with a look ... Full description.

This lesson is based on an essay by Stephen Jay Gould and on the related reading guide. It addresses the issue of cladistics and some of the problems encountered in the science of Systematics. Students will learn that biological classification is intimately associated with evolution. They will also learn that there are many problems encountered in classification, providing evidence that the living ... Full description.

In this lesson students learn how classification of organisms is based on evolutionary relationships. They will also learn how primates are categorized, and how they are related. Students transfer examples (names) of primates from their location in an outline hierarchy of primate groups into a set of nested boxes reflecting that same hierarchy. A cladogram can then be drawn illustrating how these ... Full description.

This resource allows students to make use of data generated by environmental sensors that are distributed throughout Black Rock Forest. It includes interactive activities to acquaint the student with remote sensing and with the data-gathering tools. The data are used in various activities that strengthen the students' understanding of the earth system. Full description.

In this lesson students plot the times of existence for the several species of hominids on a two-dimensional time line chart. The lesson can be expanded to include new discoveries and relative divergence of ape lines. Full description.

This lesson compares in detail the banding patterns seen on stained chromosomes from humans and chimpanzees, showing striking similarities. Possible evolutionary relationships are explored, as are the chromosomes and relationships of other apes. Full description.

In this lesson students prepare the components for building a Colossal Classroom Cladogram of vertebrate evolution, then put it together, showing the gradual, mosaic accumulation of the traits which humans possess. A major purpose of this is to dramatize the evidence that we (and in fact all living things) did not suddenly pop into existence, but clearly evolved as an accumulation of traits over vast ... Full description.