Students are directed to open specific pre-existing layers under "Global Awareness" in Google Earth - Appalachian Mountaintop Removal, and UNEP: Atlas of Our Changing Environment.  No additional Google Earth files are required, as students can complete the exercise using the available Layers in the Google Earth program (available as a free download from http://earth.google.com/).

This lesson was used as an inquiry activity to allow students to analyze recorded Near Surface Average Temperature data in order to make claims about the differences between seasons in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres of the Earth. Students were additionally asked to construct a Temperature vs. Month line graph from a set of recorded data to determine if there was an observable difference between average temperatures in the Northern Hemispere and the Southern Hemisphere.

Weather and Climate Unit Big Idea

(School District of Philadelphia)

This lesson can be used to engage students in the study of the world's climate zones by helping them identify places on the world globe.

The Latitude and Longitude Scavenger Hunt activity provides students with a review of reading lines of latitude and longitude on a globe. This activity can also be used to pre-assess student understanding of how lines of latitude and longitude help locate and identify specific places on Earth.

This web-based lesson is a culminating activity to the Weather and Climate unit taught in 7th grade. I used the resources on the Teacher's Domain website to construct a booklet for students as a webquest. The website provides students with information about the world location (longitude and latitude),  average temperature, and average precipitation of different biomes. Students had to conduct additonal research to identify  the specific animals and plants native to each biomes and the organism's adaptations necessary for survival.

This logic problem in a grid format is designed to help students develop logical reasoning and problem-solving skills. In addition to developing skill sets, the content knowledge of the students will be increased in the area of the names and locations of surface oceanographic currents. Extension exercises have students address the geographic and temperature distribution across currents and ocean basins.

The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University is the oldest natural science research institution and museum in the North America. Located in Philadelphia, PA, the institution celebrated its 200th anniversary in 2012. As part of a year-long bicentennial celebration, an online supplement to the museum’s bicentennial exhibit was created in Google Earth with a series of educational activities, targeted for middle school science educators and students.

Purpose of The Coal and Energy Unit

Coal is a part of our daily lives, but how often do we think about its importance? Coal generates over half our electricity and provides Pennsylvanians with thousands of jobs at mines, power plants, and in the transportation industry.

We hope that the students will gain an understanding of:

The "Discovering Plate Boundaries" exercise: http://plateboundary.rice.edu/home.html, developed by Dale Sawyer at Rice University, requires students to examine global maps and observe, describe, and classify data. No prior knowledge of plate tectonics, geography, or Earth science is required for students. This activity has been popular in middle school, high school, and university classrooms, at the beginning or the end of a tectonics unit.

I came across this exercise on the Project Exploration website and have used it as an in-class exercise for a course I teach on Dinosaurs.  My goals are to get students to think about what is involved in preparing and carrying out a field expedition, as well as to engage students in a basic quantitative exercise.  I like to expose my students to the process of science, and in this case, what it takes to think about and prepare for an expedition in the desert.

This is a take-home assignment for students.  I teach an introductory-level course on dinosaurs at the college level.  One of my goals in all of my courses is for students to be familiar with the scientists that are the founders of the discipline, and to know who the current researchers are in the field.