A whole-body activity that explores the relative sizes, distances, orbit, and spin of the Sun, Earth and Moon. Full description.

The Sun heats the Earth, but the Earth also emits some of the heat back into space. The net amount of energy determines not only seasonal weather, but also climate trends. According to NOAA, monthly snow and ice amounts have declined over the past decade. By matching maps of snow and ice amounts with maps of net radiation flux for the same time frame, this lesson will give students the opportunity ... Full description.

This lesson is designed to help students gain knowledge in using the MY NASA DATA Live Access Server (LAS) to specify and download a microset of data, then to use the data to estimate percentage of snow cover for each continent. The data used in this lesson come from the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP). ISCCP computes fractional snow and ice coverage by scanning the Earth ... Full description.

This is the education section of a larger site about the Aquarius underwater habitat in the Florida Keys. It includes classroom activities exploring concepts of buoyancy, pressure and light; a series of classroom activities exploring the biology of corals; and an on-line book about coral reef biology. Full description.

This two-part activity provides information on seasonal changes in the mass balance of the Antarctic Ice Sheet. In Part 1, students use an atlas and satellite imagery to examine the geography of the region and identify seasonal changes in the boundaries of the ice sheet. In Part 2, they will collect a series of images of the Antarctic ice sheet covering a period of several years, draw the boundaries ... Full description.

This ocean-science Web site allows users to learn about many important ocean processes, linked to teaching material and sources of real-time ocean data. The site also has complete college-level and graduate courses and textbook (which can be freely downloaded) in oceanography and physical oceanography. Full description.

Users can choose to download or order six posters that depict water-resources topics and are drawn in a cartoon format. Written narrative on the back elaborates on the topic of each poster. They are available in color, or in black-and-white for coloring. Full description.

In this lesson, students learn about the varying sizes of ocean waves, what causes such variation, and where to find giant waves. Students will learn the parts of a wave, and discuss wave height, wavelength, and wave period. They will explore variables that influence wave size through scientific visualizations. They will then experiment with creating waves on the National Geographic Wave Simulator ... Full description.

This set of resources for younger students includes activities and information on thunderstorms, tornadoes, hurricanes, blizzards and clouds: how they form, and how they impact our lives. There are games about clouds, stories about extreme weather events, and a set of activities in which students create simulations of various weather phenomena such as fog, clouds, tornadoes, and others. The 'Recipe ... Full description.

This interactive site features games, animations, and teachers' materials intended to introduce younger students to climate change. There is information about what climate change is, the difference between weather and climate, and the greenhouse effect. There are also materials on the climate system, ancient climates, and how scientists investigate climate. Other topics include discussions of whether ... Full description.