Lightning Activity Source: Adapted from UCAR/NCAR Web Weather for Kids. Background Static electricity can be used to demonstrate the electricity of lightning. This activity will demonstrate the attraction of positive and negative charges and what happens when those opposite charges meet each other. Time Needed One class period Materials Needed Foam plate Thumbtack Pencil with new eraser Aluminum pie pan Small piece of wool fabric UCAR/NCAR Web Weather for Kids [Read More]

Look Up! Activity Source: Adapted with permission by The Weather Channel. To learn to read, write, and appreciate language and communication, it’s helpful to find subject matter that’s appealing, inspiring, and personal. The sky is a never-ending source of material that is available everyday to everyone. Get ready to set a course for sky exploration! The following activity is designed to help you learn to listen, read, and communicate in both written and oral formats about the sky. [Read More]

Make a Thunderstorm Activity Source: Adapted from UCAR/NCAR Web Weather for Kids Background Even small thunderstorms are dangerous. Every thunderstorm produces lightning, which kills more people than tornadoes each year. Thunderstorms also cause heavy rain, flash flooding, hail, strong winds and tornadoes. When warm and cold air masses meet, a thunderstorm can grow. In this activity, you will learn about convection and how air moves. Time Needed One class period [Read More]

Making Earth Art With Google Earth Activity Source: Google. Adapted with permission. If you were an alien visiting Earth for the first time, you might remark on the diverse and incredible landscapes and patterns around majestic mountains, green forests, rolling grasslands, and turquoise oceans. You also might recognize geometries of civilization and changing weather patterns. All this can be explored from space. In this activity you will explore our planet using Google Earth and locate natural and man-made patterns and landscapes on Earth’s surface that inspire you. [Read More]

Map-Making Basics Activity Source: U.S. Geological Survey, 2006. Adapted with permission. Background Maps are two-dimensional ways of representing information about the natural and built world from a “top-down” perspective. You are probably familiar with road maps that show where roads go and which roads intersect with others and where. You also may have seen weather maps, which show weather patterns across a specific geographic area, or political maps, which show where borders are for countries and areas within those countries. [Read More]

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]

Mapping the Atmosphere Activity Source: American Meteorological Society. Adapted with permission. A map can represent data from an area on a flat surface. The part of our Earth system most frequently mapped is the atmosphere. Weather—the state of the atmosphere at a particular place and time—needs constant monitoring because it perpetually changes as weather systems evolve and move. Awareness of what the weather is and is likely to be has numerous benefits. [Read More]

Parks Past, Present, and Future Activity Source: Adapted with permission by National Park Service. Over Earth’s 4.5 billion-year history, tectonic upheavals and colliding plates formed mountain ranges and carved out basins. Forces of erosion and weathering have been at work to break down these landforms. Records of these processes are imprinted on the land and define distinctive landscapes around the United States and in its national parks. The dynamic processes that formed the spectacular landscapes of many national parks remain active today. [Read More]

Places on the Planet: Latitude and Longitude Activity Source: Geological Society of America, 2006. Adapted with permission. Background You may have seen or used Global Positioning System (GPS) devices in cars or on camping trips. These devices use data from satellites orbiting the Earth to locate places on our planet. GPS devices describe the locations to us in the form of latitude and longitude coordinates. Citizen scientists involved in the Geological Society of America’s EarthCaching project (http://www. [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]