An overview of content about Earth and its atmosphere. The module was developed for middle school science teachers to provide background information for teaching the curriculum.

The Sun is the ultimate source of the energy that powers weather systems on Earth. Geomagnetic storms are sun-powered storms in the upper atmosphere, arising from energized particles that are periodically ejected by the Sun. Among other...

Extensive article that discusses the first principle of climate science, i.e., that the Sun is the primary energy source for the climate system of the Earth. Presents five concepts for this principle and explains each, providing...

Want to stretch your imagination? One good way is to try to imagine how far it is to a distant star. How much farther away is it than the moon is from the earth? In this project, you'll learn one way of measuring the distance without...

Everything on our planet is linked by a giant recycling system called the biogeochemical cycle. How our planet recycles and reuses everything we need to support life is explained by making a miniature biosphere in this lab. You will also...

Gives an overview of how Geographic Information Systems technology is used to monitor changes in conditions on the Earth. Provides a link to the website with lessons on using GIS. (Due to site changes, you may need to search for teachers...

[Free Registration/Login may be required to access all resource tools.] Summarizes the key points about how our understanding of the Earth's movements evolved from ancient times and what we know today. Includes some questions to check...

This comprehensive study guide covers the main terms and concepts needed for an earth science unit on dark matter. Review questions are included at the bottom of the study guide.

Use Geographic Information System (GIS) technology to observe climate change with these interactive lessons.

A continuation of Beyond the Earth Part I. As part of a unit on the solar system, learners will choose a component of the solar system to research. Students may use a variety of resources such as the Internet, books, and reference...

Learners will access prior knowledge of the solar system by completing a graphic organizer. After participating in a teacher lecture and whole group discussion, the students will work in collaborative groups to create a...

In this activity, students research hurricane data to discover their behavior and patterns. They map them across decades to see whether their frequency is increasing. They study Hurricane Andrew and investigate the relationship between...

This site is astronomy for kids and teachers! Here students can learn about the planet Earth of the Solar System including fun facts, mass, day, year, and distance from the Sun.

Learn about the lives of stars, and how stars and planets form. The Interactive activity, 'Planet Families' requires Adobe Flash and cannot be launched.

[Free Registration/Login may be required to access all resource tools.] Looks at how atmospheric circulation cells affect the climate of regions.

[Free Registration/Login may be required to access all resource tools.] Looks at how heat is transferred in the atmosphere.

This kinesthetic activity will demonstrate concepts like rotation and orbit, clarify movement and direction, and help students understand why earthlings see different things in the sky.

In this activity, students research a wilderness refuge near them or through online resources. They will investigate the history of a refuge and how indigenous people lived there long ago, as well as the lives of any descendants of these...

This activity explores the relative size of the eight planets that circle around the Sun.

This is the seventh lesson in a series of learning modules on the topic of climate change. In this lesson, you will learn how several important feedback loops help drive and regulate earth's unique climate system and affect climate...

Article reports on recent mission by a private space company to beam messages to Mars from Earth. Includes video.

Constellation of articles, images, diagrams, posters, videos, and more on the subject of the search for planets, particularly Earth-like planets, outside our solar system.

From ABC News in Science, Irene Klotz's article discusses the first storm in the history of the solar system (with the exclusion of storms on Earth) to develop a hurricane-like eye.

From ABC News in Science, Maggie Fox's article explores a new string of "exoplanets" discovered orbiting distant stars. This research leads to numerous possibilities, one of which being the existence of planetary systems containing life...