This article examines the evidence for recent liquid water on Mars. NASA scientists believe that piles of crater-topped debris snapped by the Mars orbiter were caused by the teakettle explosion of water through volcanic lava flows at the planet's equator and are the best evidence yet for recent liquid water at the Red Planet. Researchers believe that lava flows advanced over wet ground, causing steam ... Full description.

This project gives students the opportunity to appreciate how difficult it is to predict the weather when making forecasts. By accessing an assortment of images and data, the students will be asked to forecast on a regular basis and determine the accuracy of the forecasts by comparing them with the actual observed data. Students will also complete specially constructed activities that introduce forecasting ... Full description.

As part of this classroom activity, students will record and graph temperature data to learn about the search for water on Mars. Using models of frozen and ice-free "soils" constructed from readily available materials (a list is provided), they will examine (by periodically measuring temperature and graphing the results) how the ice content of the Martian soil affects the rate at which a warm probe ... Full description.

This site has been created by the University of Rhode Island's Office of Marine Programs as part of the Narragansett Bay Commission's Environmental Monitoring for Public Access and Community Tracking (EMPACT) project. The site serves as a portal to find large quantities of information about the Narragansett Bay Estuarian Region. The Teacher Resource Section contains suggested classroom activities, ... Full description.

In this lesson, students focus on the tremendous public interest in the potential of extraterrestrial life. Students read and discuss an article about the search for alien life. They then divide into small groups and discuss the issues and implications of this search. Finally, they write about the complex issues involved in this search and its implications in one of several suggested genres. Full description.

This project uses an excellent method of reinforcing use of metric/temperature measurement and assessing student knowledge of temperature, measurement, data collection/presentation/graphing and environmental issues. Students learn how temperature differs depending upon the type of surface area. Full description.

This activity examines many of the reasons why it is important to construct large dams, specifically, the three major dams across the Gunnison River leading into Black Canyon (Colorado). The importance of the dams for irrigation, electrical supply and recreation throughout history is explored. Students will learn about the different types of dam constructions, with pros and cons for each. There is ... Full description.

Users can read about the discovery of ice on Earth's moon, which occurs in the form of ice crystals accumulated near the lunar poles. The discussion covers the use of the neutron spectrometer as a tool for detecting water by sensing the hydrogen it contains, some ideas on the origin of the ice, and the fact that water has been found elsewhere in the solar system (on Europa, Jupiter's fourth-largest ... Full description.

Three macroinvertebrate lessons focus on (a) macroinvertebrate surveys, and how a pH change and the introduction of pesticides and fertilizers can affect an aquatic ecosystem, (b) pH and macroinvertebrate populations (do changes in the pH level effect an aquatic ecosystem?), and (c) pesticides and macroinvertebrates (does the introduction of pesticides and fertilizers alter an aquatic ecosystem?. ... Full description.

This NASA Module investigation compares and contrasts physical processes that occur on Both Earth and Mars. Students are given unidentified images of Earth and Mars. Their task is to arrange the images into pairs that show evidence of similar physical processes. Then they identify each image as one of Earth or of Mars by comparing and contrasting physical features that they observe in the image pairs. ... Full description.