Mapping a Refuge Activity Source: National Energy Education Development Project. Provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Adapted with permission. The National Wildlife Refuge System, managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, is the world’s premier system of public lands and waters set aside to conserve America’s fish, wildlife, and plants. Why not visit a national wildlife refuge (www.fws.gov/refuges) in or near your community? A refuge is a place where you can record observations of seasonal changes to plants, trees, and wildlife. [Read More]

Monitoring Life in the Rocky Intertidal Ecosystem Activity Source: NOAA National Marine Sanctuary Program and Farallones Marine Sanctuary Association, 2006. Adapted with permission. Background The five national marine sanctuaries along the West Coast monitor the health of the rocky intertidal ecosystem. One way of doing this is to collect data on the relative abundance of the organisms living in that ecosystem. Since this is such a big task, the national marine sanctuaries are training students in how to follow standardized protocols to help with the monitoring. [Read More]

Mud Fossils Activity Source: USGS Learning Web Lesson Plans. Background At the close of the 18th century, the haze of fantasy and mysticism that tended to obscure the true nature of the Earth was being swept away. Careful studies by scientists showed that rocks had diverse origins. Some rock layers, containing clearly identifiable fossil remains of fish and other forms of aquatic animal and plant life, originally formed in the ocean. [Read More]

Mystery Mollusc Activity Source: “Problem- Based Career Activity for the Mystery Mollusc NOAA Explore Poster” Written by Joyce E. Patterson Stark, NOAA Office of Education and Sustainable Development Problem-based learning is an inquiry technique that involves students working cooperatively in groups solving real-world problems. Students learn how to assess what they know, identify what they need to know, gather information and come to a conclusion. The teachers are the coaches or facilitators who give only guidance on how to approach the problem. [Read More]

Natural Gas Formation Activity Source: Adapted by AAPG from the American Geosciences Institute. Adapted with permission. Natural gas, which is mostly methane, is an energy resource used for generating electricity and heating, powering transportation, and manufacturing products. Right now, one-quarter of the world’s energy comes from natural gas. Natural gas formation, one of the processes occurring on our ever-changing Earth, takes a very long time. Natural gas is formed from marine organisms that die, sink to the bottom of the ocean, and get covered with sediments. [Read More]

Plant an Ozone Monitoring Garden Activity Source: Adapted with permission from NASA Aura Education and Public Outreach. To measure ozone in the Earth’s atmosphere, NASA built the approximately 6,500-pound Aura satellite. The spacecraft carries four high-tech instruments that scan the globe from more than 700 kilometers above the planet. For students, there is an easy way to investigate ozone in their own neighborhood. It’s as simple as growing a few carefully selected plants. [Read More]

Rock Art in the National Parks Activity Source: Views of the National Parks, National Park Service. Adapted with permission. Human beings have been linked to earth materials since prehistoric times. They used caves for shelter, shaped rocks into stone implements, and later refined metals to make tools. Beyond practical purposes, Earth materials also were used to make pigments for paint. Rock walls became canvases where ancient artists expressed themselves. In this exercise, we will explore the link between Earth materials and art. [Read More]

Sea Level and the Terrapin Activity Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Adapted with permission. The diamondback terrapin (Malaclemys terrapin) is the only North American turtle fully adapted to life in brackish water (mix of saltwater and freshwater). Its home is in coastal salt marshes of estuaries along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the United States. Although they can live 40 years or more, most turtles do not make it to their first birthday, because they are prey for foxes, otters, raccoons, skunks, and birds. [Read More]

Soil Color and Redox Chemistry Activity Source: Soil Science Society of America. Adapted with permission. Are soils like M&Ms™? Yes! Typical soil colors are red, brown, yellow, or black. These colors are often not the color of the minerals in the soil but coatings of iron oxides (Fe203, FeOOH, and so on) or organic matter on particles. The minerals beneath are often quartz or feldspar, which are grey. To see how coating affects soil color, consider red M&Ms™. [Read More]

Solar Cell Energy Nationwide Activity Source: Adapted with permission by NASA. MY NASA DATA microsets are created using data from NASA Earth science satellite missions. A microset is a small amount of data extracted from a much larger data file. Data is available on the atmosphere, biosphere, cryosphere, ocean, and land surface. Data and related lessons can be used with existing curriculum to help students practice science inquiry and math or technology skills using real measurements of Earth system variables and processes. [Read More]