This module from the Space Place Web site allows students to learn the secret code spacecraft use to send images back from space. It introduces the language of computers and spacecraft. Binary and hexadecimal notations are explained. The Space Place is an educational NASA site for children and adults with activities and facts related to the exploration of space ? past, current and future. Some activities ... Full description.

This online Flash game is hosted on the James Webb Space Telescope Web site. Because the Webb Telescope is unusual in appearance, it doesn't look like a telescope - but it actually does have a lot in common with simple tube-shaped telescopes. "Scope It Out!" includes an introduction to reflecting and refracting telescopes and four levels of matching games, where you compare a simple reflecting telescope ... Full description.

In this interactive web game, participants learn about the different types of galaxies (spiral, elliptical and irregular) by viewing them in different wavelength bands (infrared, visible, x-ray). They then learn about active galaxies vs. quiescent galaxies by examining visible light spectra together with the multi-wavelength images. The final challenge is to observe a model of our own galaxy to determine ... Full description.

Students participate in two interactive exercises designed to help the user learn about river processes like discharge, flooding, and flood frequency. Each activity requires a person to make careful observations and measurements, do simple calculations, and answer questions about his or her work. A Certificate of Completion is available for printing at the end of each activity. Full description.

Students often hear that winters were colder or had more snow in the past. This activity will help them to determine if this is a true or accurate statement for their location. Students will access historic weather information from NOAA and NASA internet resources. They will determine changes in average temperatures, precipitation and cloud cover over time from data and relate global changes to local ... Full description.

El Nino and La Nina are important temperature fluctuations in surface waters of the tropical Pacific Ocean. In this lesson, students will create maps and line graphs of data to compare the effects of El Nino and La Nina at two different longitudinal locations, but at the same latitude, using sea surface temperature and precipitation from real satellite data. 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.

Using the Internet as a resource to locate and graph scientific data, students will explore the seasonal changes in precipitation for the Costa Rican Region. They will generate and analyze satellite data for precipitation to identify the two seasons of Costa Rica and relate their importance to the travel industry. Full description.

In this lesson, students will play the role of a senior science advisor for the Louisiana Environmental Agency. Due to the recent damaging and deadly hurricanes during 2005 (i.e., Hurricane Katrina) through 2008, they, along with their team of climatologists, meteorologists, and environmental impact experts, have been tasked to study the danger of future tropical storms. Specifically, they will investigate ... Full description.

In recent years more and more attention has been paid to the Earth's climate and how it is evolving. When studying hurricanes it is important to understand that, for a hurricane to grow, warm water is an absolute necessity. So if the Earth continues to warm, what does that mean for hurricanes and their intensity? In this lesson, the student will look at past hurricane data by researching the intensity ... Full description.