This Web site includes over 50 individual Earth system science modules that faculty can select from to use in their courses or directly with their students. Online courses for school teachers are offered by colleges and universities across the United States as part of the NASA-NOAA-NSF-funded ESSEA Program (Earth System Science Education Alliance). The courses are structured as a collaborative experience ... Full description.

This curriculum includes lessons and activities which are grounded in the children's book 'Stone Wall Secrets' as well as in New England's abundance of stone walls. Many students are familiar with stone walls in their neighborhoods and are afforded instances in which they may delve into essential questions regarding the walls, the stones they are made from, and the history associated with their construction. ... Full description.

Using this material, students will discover that under special experimental conditions, fish have been observed functioning in ice-free cold salt water at a temperature of -6 degrees Centigrade. Research has found that these fish have eight types of anti-freeze molecules which bathe the interior surface of their skin, acting as a barrier to ice propagating in from outside. When the anti-freeze molecules ... Full description.

Join Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution scientists on research cruises to mid-ocean ridges, hydrothermal vents, seamounts and more. Virtual expeditions provide includes objectives, background, daily updates, scientist interviews, slide shows and video clips, activities and glossary. Fact sheets with interactive graphics cover deep ocean circulation, oceanography's history, ice ages, plate tectonics, ... Full description.

Education programs provide fieldtrips, shipboard experiences, camps and projects focused on the Great Lakes. A science and multidisciplinary Great Lakes curriculum includes fisheries, aquatic food web, exotic species, water quality and weather. Teaching resources range from fact sheets to artifact trunks and CDs. Teacher training and workshops cover current topics and offer grant and fellowship opportunities. ... Full description.

The National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) has made a select set of images viewable through the popular interactive desktop application, Google Earth. Users can choose from a set of data-based images (KMZ and KML files) and display them on a virtual globe. Featured datasets include changes in glaciers, the Larsen B ice shelf, and Arctic sea ice extent from 1979-2006, breakup of the Larsen B ice ... Full description.

This site contains information about the North Cascades glaciers and the extent of the ice sheet and glaciers during the Pleistocene. Over the past 100 years a number of glaciers have disappeared from the mountain cirques of North Cascades National Park. Scientists want to know the status of the remaining glaciers. Are they gaining mass or losing it over the years? The results from these glacial studies ... Full description.

In this activity, students will develop an experiment that will test the ability of bacteria to survive various temperature extremes. They will grow the bacteria in nutrient broth, which will be placed in different temperatures for at least 24 hours and then spread on nutrient agar plates and incubated at 37 degrees Celcius for an additional 24 hours. Students will: learn how to formulate and test ... Full description.

This activity demonstrates to students how water temperature and the concentration of dissolved and suspended solids affect the density of sea water. They will use various materials, such as salt and food coloring, to create and test water of different densities and record the time it takes drops of different water to sink through a mineral oil cylinder. In the second part of the activity, students ... Full description.

While engaged in this activity students will discover that oil spills can impact the entire food chain. They will investigate the effects of oil on various materials, simulating the skin and/or coats of Antarctic marine organisms, and compare the ability of different techniques to clean up oil spills. Oil-coated birds whose feathers can no longer hold air or repel water, and furred ocean mammals such ... Full description.