Lesson Plans & Activities

Age of the Seafloor

This Data Lens is a stand-alone lesson that is part of a larger collection of Data Lens lessons.
In this short activity, students will strengthen their critical thinking skills by carefully observing the data, forming ideas, and backing them up with evidence.

Lesson

Middle School

High School

PolarPASS 360 IE Navigation Cover with man in orange shirt sitting on gray rocks with dark and rocky mountain in the background and blue sky

PolarPASS Interactive Environments

Using real data, diverse material types, and a range of activities, PolarPASS modules are designed to bring polar science and exploration to the classroom. PolarPASS modules link to Climate Literacy Principles and Polar Literacy Principles and are being tested in teaching models that include semester, quarter, and block teaching models.
Polar Space and Places, or PolarPASS, is connecting polar-focused material with innovative teaching methods to advance STEM undergraduate education and increase polar knowledge.

Unit

Virtual field trip

Geospatial resource

High School

University/College

Emperor penguin colony gathers tightly together on dark blue snow

Antarctic Life & Albedo

This is the third lesson of a five-part curriculum about Antarctic physical environments and ecosystems.
In this lesson, students explore the importance of albedo (or reflectivity) to penguins and the surfaces they inhabit and learn how penguin colonies may be mapped using satellites.

Lesson

High School

Long stretch of blue ice in East Antarctica with brown snow covered mountains in background and bright blue sky

Why does the ice melt on the “Frozen Continent”?

This is the fourth lesson of a five-part curriculum about Antarctic physical environments and ecosystems.
After exploring albedo in the previous lesson, this lesson expands on more factors that lead to surface ice melt in Antarctica.

Lesson

High School

A graph of temperature anomalies with flattened map with red, orange, and yellow shades.

Arctic Feedbacks: Not All Warming Is Equal

This storyline unit consists of 10 lessons, each tied to NGSS Earth's systems standards
In this MS/HS unit, students engage with 360° virtual field trips, authentic Arctic datasets, and app-based labs to construct models and explanations for the unit driving question, "Why might the Arctic be warming four times as fast as the rest of the world?"

Unit

Virtual field trip

Middle School

High School

Greenish yellow fern growing in between two brown rocks

Photosynthesis, Respiration, and the Short-Term Carbon Cycle

Project EXTREMES lessons were written to be stand alone lessons but can be incorporated into a larger unit.
This lesson is focused on the short-term cycling of carbon and is designed to put the processes of photosynthesis and respiration within a global perspective.

Lesson

Middle School

Soil erosion shows roots of trees by side of road, trees are gray and so is the ground

Soil Percolation: Where Does the Rain Go?

Project EXTREMES lessons were written to be stand alone lessons but can be incorporated into a larger unit.
This lesson activity has students conduct an experiment that reinforces one component of the water cycle.

Lesson

STEAM Activity

Elementary School

Lesson Plans & Activities