Students will utilize the Internet to take a virtual field trip to visit a glacier and discover what physical effects glaciers have on the land. They will also have the opportunity to virtually visit Vermont and trace the pictorial history of how a whale's fossils were found there. The site also contains a student worksheet for their visual field trip. The site also provides an explanation of the ... 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.

As concerns over water resources and the environment grow, the importance of considering ground water and surface water as a single resource has become increasingly evident. The natural processes of groundwater-surface water interaction and human influences on this interaction are presented here, touching on natural ground-surface water interactions as part of the hydrologic cycle, chemical interactions, ... Full description.

This page is part of a larger USGS project called Water Science for Schools. This section covers different water-use topics and categories of water-use. A Spanish translation is available. Full description.

This is a comprehensive site that looks at many components of dams, including construction, destruction, and other issues. Access is organized into three levels by grade level. Information on cracks, case histories of the building and problems associated with some well known dams, and some real and imagined scenarios are included. Full description.

Ocean Planet's six lesson plans are adapted from several themes in the Smithsonian Institution exhibition created to share with the public what recent research has revealed about the oceans and to encourage ocean conservation. "Sea Secrets" explores ocean geography; "Sea Connections" looks at the plants and animals that live in different marine ecosystems. "Ocean Market" identifies and values many ... Full description.

This booklet provides a brief introduction to the concept of plate tectonics and complements the visual and written information in This Dynamic Planet, a map published in 1994 by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the Smithsonian Institution. The booklet highlights some of the people and discoveries that advanced the development of the theory and traces its progress since its proposal. Although ... Full description.

The Antarctic ice sheet changes in size over the course of a year. When it is summer in the southern hemisphere, the ice sheet decreases in size. As the ice sheet melts, it releases fresh water into the ocean. In the southern winter (our summer), the ice refreezes, drawing fresh water out of the surrounding ocean, leaving the salt behind. These seasonal changes in the ice sheet are examined in this ... Full description.