Free online Earth and Space Science Textbook by Jeffrey Bennett. Jeffrey Bennett …
Free online Earth and Space Science Textbook by Jeffrey Bennett. Jeffrey Bennett holds a B.A. in Biophysics from the University of California at San Diego and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Astrophysics from the University of Colorado at Boulder. He specializes in mathematics and science education, writing for and speaking to audiences ranging from elementary school children to college faculty. He is a well known author of science textbooks and children's books. Promo: Are you satisfied with your textbook for Earth and Space Science? We didn’t think so. Now, imagine an online “textbook” that • contains everything you need to teach your course, including activities and assessments, and resources to help you meet the needs of students with varying levels of background. • meets all your state and NGSS standards for middle school Earth and Space Science, and can also be used for many high school courses. • is fully up-to-date with the latest science, all presented in an engaging and scientifically accurate manner. • is designed for a course that is “teacher driven” and that can be used in person, online, or even for independent learning. • is filled with extensive Teacher Notes that will help you both to effectively engage your students and to understand subtleties of the science for yourself. • is written by the award-winning author of college textbooks in four subjects (astronomy, astrobiology, mathematics, and statistics) and of numerous science books for the public, including 6 children’s books that have all been read from orbit on the International Space Station for the Story Time From Space Program • and it is completely FREE, posted to a web site online. Now you can stop imagining, because this “textbook” is here and ready for you to use! Explore it at www.grade8science.com, use it with your students, and share it with others. You may send feedback direct to the author at jeff@bigkidscience.com.
This short video uses animated imagery from satellite remote sensing systems to …
This short video uses animated imagery from satellite remote sensing systems to illustrate that Earth is a complex, evolving body characterized by ceaseless change. Adapted from NASA, this visualization helps explain why understanding Earth as an integrated system of components and processes is essential to science education.
This activity will help students to identify and analyze factors contributing to …
This activity will help students to identify and analyze factors contributing to Earth's climate systems.
Provenance: Beverly Owens, Cleveland Early College High School Reuse: This item is offered under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ You may reuse this item for non-commercial purposes as long as you provide attribution and offer any derivative works under a similar license.
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Hands-on laboratory activity that allows students to investigate the effects of distance …
Hands-on laboratory activity that allows students to investigate the effects of distance and angle on the input of solar radiation at Earth's surface, the role played by albedo, the heat capacity of land and water, and how these cause the seasons. Students predict radiative heating based on simple geometry and experiment to test their hypotheses.
Individual project designed to combine basic oceanographic concepts in the creation of …
Individual project designed to combine basic oceanographic concepts in the creation of a travel brochure. Involves some group interaction, but project is individual. Can be done online or in a face-to-face class. Best completed at midterm or later in the semester so that most concepts have been introduced.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
Describe major oceanic processes and evaluate their influence on the coastal environment. 2Use global data on climate and wind patterns to quantify and describe conditions at various specific coastal sites.
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This video shows 15 years of data obtained via Polar-orbiting satellites that …
This video shows 15 years of data obtained via Polar-orbiting satellites that are able to detect subtle differences in ocean color, allowing scientists to see where there are higher concentrations of phytoplankton - a proxy for the concentration of chlorophyll in the ocean.
This activity investigates the oceanographic and climatic characteristics of El Ni��o/La Ni��a …
This activity investigates the oceanographic and climatic characteristics of El Ni��o/La Ni��a (ENSO) events using observational data from moored ocean buoys in the tropical Pacific Ocean. Data are obtained from NOAA's Tropical Atmosphere Ocean (TAO) project website which provides a web-based interface for accessing and displaying oceanographic data. In addition to providing an introduction to ENSO, this activity is designed to give students practice interpreting real oceanographic observations by emphasizing the description and identification of patterns in large data-sets. Students first describe patterns in sea-surface and cross-sectional transects of ocean temperatures and surface winds associated with "normal", El Ni��o, and La Ni��a years and then use this as a basis for classifying observations from unknown years and interpreting connections between oceanographic and atmospheric processes occurring in the tropical Pacific.
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This National Geographic video explains the origins of the El NiÃo Southern …
This National Geographic video explains the origins of the El NiÃo Southern Oscillation using animations and shows the impacts on humans, wildlife and habitat, particularly in the United States.
This video explains what El NiÃo is and provides the definition of …
This video explains what El NiÃo is and provides the definition of El NiÃo. It goes into detail about the devastating terrestrial and aquatic effects an El NiÃo can have on living organisms and the climate (disease, storms, floods, tornadoes, drought, wildfire, increased air temperatures, decreased water temperatures, etc).
This short video illustrates the phenomena of El NiÃo and La NiÃa: …
This short video illustrates the phenomena of El NiÃo and La NiÃa: their relationships to tradewinds and surface water temperatures, and their effects on precipitation in North America.
This is a hands-on lab activity about the chemical composition and conductivity …
This is a hands-on lab activity about the chemical composition and conductivity of water. Working in groups, learners will: conduct an experiment involving the process of electrolysis, prepare an experiment to better understand the process of ion exchange, discuss and research the "softness" and "hardness" of water, and use the periodic table to identify elements and learn their characteristics. Background information, a glossary and more is included. Materials needed for each student group include a 9-volt battery, two electrodes (e.g. copper strips, or two #2 pencils sharpened at both ends), electrical wire and glass beakers or ceramic saucers. This activity is part of the Aquarius Hands-on Laboratory Activities.
Through learning activities, students learn how weather over a long period of …
Through learning activities, students learn how weather over a long period of time describes climate, explore how sea level rise can affect coastal communities and environments, and describe how humans are contributing to climate change and how we can take action to solve this problem.
A learning activity for the "Do You Know That Clouds Have Names?" …
A learning activity for the "Do You Know That Clouds Have Names?" book in the Elementary GLOBE series. Using information from the book and their observations, students construct a sky scene with trees and buildings as reference points on the ground and cloud types ordered by altitude in the sky. Students will describe clouds using their own vocabulary and will then correlate their descriptions with the standard classifications of cloud types used by the GLOBE Program. The purpose of the activity is to help students identify some of the characteristics of clouds and to enable students to observe clouds, describe them in a common vocabulary, and compare their descriptions with the official cloud names. Students will be able to identify cloud types using standard cloud classification names. They will know that the names used for the clouds are based on three factors: their shapes, the altitude at which they occur, and whether they are producing precipitation.
Students will learn about magnification and how a magnifying lens works. They …
Students will learn about magnification and how a magnifying lens works. They will examine a variety of different objects, first without a magnifier and then with a magnifier, and compare what they observe. They will practice observing details of these objects with magnifying lens. The purpose of this activity is for students to learn about observation skills and how tools can help people make observations, what "magnification" means, and to learn that scientists use tools, such as magnifying lenses, to examine objects. Students will be able to identify a magnifying glass and its purposes. They will be able to describe how the same object looks different when using the unaided eye versus a magnifying lens.
This is a field and computer laboratory exercise that introduces undergraduate students, …
This is a field and computer laboratory exercise that introduces undergraduate students, advanced high school students, and members of the general public to using Google Earth, GPS, aerial imagery, and an online illustrated vegetation and tidal marsh environment identification guide to distinguish and map vegetational and physical environmental zones within a salt marsh. They also learn about the physical and ecological relationships between these environments.
Students use GPS devices to collect field data as waypoints and tracks, and upload the data to computers in GPX format. They learn to open the data in Google Earth along with infrared and color aerial imagery, and use the GPS data to interpret the aerial imagery. Using Google Earth tools, they draw polygons to demarcate the boundaries of environmental zones in the wetlands that they recognize on the imagery.
The students and instructors also take photographs of the students in each of these environmental zones and embed the photographs into information balloons of placemarks in Google Earth.
The exercise was originally designed for use at Flax Pond, a salt marsh on the North Shore of Long Island. However, it can easily be adapted for use in other tidal marshes, and can serve as a template for developing similar activities to be conducted at other locations in which aerial imagery can be used to distinguish various forms of land cover.
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Students cooperatively conduct original research in Marine Geology utilizing marine practices on …
Students cooperatively conduct original research in Marine Geology utilizing marine practices on Lake Champlain, NY - Vermont. The lab section of the course is used to develop and implement a research project. The students are given a research question to solve. To proceed, they must first review all available literature and then design a research program. They then implement that program using marine and laboratory equipment that is available to them and report on their outcomes after a semester-long investigation.
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The year is 2050 and your once-idyllic beachfront vacation home is now …
The year is 2050 and your once-idyllic beachfront vacation home is now flooded up to the second story. The crab your family has enjoyed every Christmas for as long as you can remember has now become an endangered species. The oceans have changed. In Earth 540, Oceanography for Educators, we explore the mechanisms that lead to sea level rise and ocean acidification. We strive to understand how natural processes such as ocean currents, the gulf-stream, tides, plate tectonics, and the Coriolis Effect, affect our oceans and ocean basins. We then predict how man-made issues such as climate change and overfishing will affect our beloved waters and our livelihoods. Want to see into the future? Then this course is for you!
This is a static visualization, referenced from a UNEP rapid response assessment …
This is a static visualization, referenced from a UNEP rapid response assessment report entitled In Dead Water, depicting the estimated contributions to sea-level rise from 1993 - 2003.
In this computer lab, students use satellite imagery, daylength information, and phytoplankton …
In this computer lab, students use satellite imagery, daylength information, and phytoplankton physiology models to calculate annual primary production for an assigned ocean region.
Satellite data is obtained from the NASA Earth Observation website. Students use the analysis tool to determine chlorophyll concentration and sea surface temperature. They also receive a day-length calculator and are asked to model light transmission through the water column. Using step-by-step instructions and proviede equations relating phytoplankton physiology to irradiance and temperature students calculate carbon uptake at discreet locations in the water column. The second half of the exercise involves scaling up to the entire water column, region, and season. Students present their work to the class and evaluate their result using scientific literature. Differences between regions are then discussed by the class.
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In this in-class exercise, students compare several lines of evidence that support …
In this in-class exercise, students compare several lines of evidence that support the ideas of continental drift and plate tectonics. Before the class meeting, each student is given a preparation assignment in which he/she studies one "continental drift" and one "ocean floor data" map. In class, students divide into teams of 3, with each team member having prepared different specialties. They discuss their respective maps and look for spatial patterns among the data.
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