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Lesson Plans & Activities

Peer-reviewed, classroom-ready NGSS-aligned lesson plans, activities, data puzzles, virtual field trips, and design challenges covering environmental hazards, climate change, mental health, Earth systems, community resilience, and more.  

Lesson Plans & Activities

Map of the United States with red dots showing the location of Wind Turbines in the United States
Data Puzzle: Wind Farms of the Future

This data puzzle is a stand-alone lesson that is part of a larger collection of data puzzles.

 Transitioning from fossil fuels to clean, renewable energy sources like wind is essential if the US is to reduce its carbon emissions. But where should new wind farms be constructed? In this Data Puzzle, students analyze surface roughness and wind speed data to construct an evidence-based explanation for the following question, "Where in the United States (lands and waters) should new wind turbines be constructed to generate the most energy?"
Lesson
Data Puzzle Resource
Middle School
High School
Data Puzzles Logo
Polarstern at night
Seasons and Light in the Arctic

Seasons and Light in the Arctic is one of four activities in the The Drifting North Polar Planetarium Experience that invites students to explore what it was like to participate in the MOSAiC expedition to the North Pole.

 In this activity, student's will explore why we have seasons and changing daylight throughout the year by graphing different daylight hours around the world. Learning will be guided with the driving question: How do we understand the Arctic light and seasons?
Lesson
Middle School
High School
Polar landscape
Sea Ice, The Character

Sea Ice, The Character is one of four activities in the The Drifting North Polar Planetarium Experience that invites students to explore what it was like to participate in the MOSAiC expedition to the North Pole.

 In this activity, student's will compare and contrast the different structures of freshwater ice and seawater ice with a hands-on lab. Learning about what makes sea ice so unique in the Arctic will be guided by the driving questions: How does saltwater sea ice differ from freshwater ice? What is sea ice like in the Arctic? and Why is sea ice important in the Arctic?
Lesson
STEAM Activity
Middle School
High School
The Greenland Ice Sheet covers 79% of the surface of Greenland. Greenland is located north of Canada and the United States. Map credit: QGreenland
Data Puzzle: Balancing Act

This data puzzle is a stand-alone lesson that is part of a larger collection of data puzzles.

 Since the early 2000s, the Greenland Ice Sheet’s mass balance has been consistently negative, meaning more mass is being lost than gained. But this change in mass balance hasn’t always happened at the same rate. What could account for observed changes to the amount of ice in the Greenland Ice Sheet in recent decades?
Lesson
Data Puzzle Resource
Geospatial resource
Middle School
High School
Data Puzzles Logo, QGreenland logo
Demonstrates an arctic food web with animals including ocean algae, zooplankton, polar cod, a seal colored gray, a bowhead whale colored black and white, a polar bear, and sea ice algae colored green. In the background is a yellow sun, light blue sky, and there is also White Sea ice which the polar bear is on and the sea ice algae is underneath.
A Changing Arctic Ecosystem

This storyline unit consists of 8 lessons, each tied to NGSS life science standards

 The Arctic is warming more rapidly than anywhere else on Earth. One consequence of a warming Arctic is a dramatic decline in sea ice, an important habitat for many Arctic plants and animals. In this unit students will engage with 360° virtual reality tours, hands-on labs, and authentic Arctic datasets as they gather evidence to construct explanatory models for the unit driving question, "How might the decline in sea ice affect Arctic organisms large and small?"
Unit
Middle School
High School
Mosaic logo
Flattened image of globe with colors ranging from white to yellow to orange to red showing changes in Celsius from 1950-2019. Darker the color is equal to a higher change in temperature.
Data Puzzle: On a Budget

This data puzzle is a stand-alone lesson that is part of a larger collection of data puzzles.

 The Arctic is currently warming at a rate faster than the global average, a phenomenon known as Arctic amplification. In this Data Puzzle, students analyze authentic Arctic datasets to construct explanatory models for the following question, "Why might the Arctic be warming faster than other places on Earth?"
Lesson
Data Puzzle Resource
Middle School
High School
Data Puzzles Logo, Mosaic logo
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
Mosaic logo
A wall full of colorful post-it notes.
Why Are Cities Getting Hotter?

This is the first lesson in the Climate Resiliency Education High School Climate Unit.

 During this lesson, students explore the increase in summer temperatures and describe the pattern as it relates to Colorado using a video by the Denver Post.
Lesson
High School
A table of states with the fastest warming summers from Climate Central.
What is Special About Cities Compared to Rural Places?

This is the second lesson in the Climate Resiliency Education High School Climate Unit.

 This lesson explores climate data at local, national, and global levels to determine that temperatures are changing all over the world, and that there are certain locations where temperatures are warming faster than the global average.
Lesson
High School
A satellite image of the state of Colorado.
Why Are Cities and Other Regions of the World Getting Hotter?

This is the third lesson in the Climate Resiliency Education High School Climate Unit.

 This lesson has students investigate how albedo is contributing to temperature increasing in some places, like cities, are increasing at faster rates than elsewhere.
Lesson
STEAM Activity
High School
Two smokestacks releasing smoke into the air with a blue sky.
How Do Humans Contribute to the Increase in Global Temperatures?

This is the fourth lesson in the Climate Resiliency Education High School Climate Unit.

 Students explore the greenhouse effect in this lesson using a computer simulation and develop a model for how it works.
Lesson
High School
The sign at the entrance of NOAA's Maua Loa Observatory in Hawai'i.
Is it Normal That World Temperatures Are Rising This Fast?

This is the fifth lesson in the Climate Resiliency Education High School Climate Unit.

 This lesson explores if it is normal that world temperatures are rising at the currently observed fast pace.
Lesson
High School
Illustration of two people high-fiving in a work environment

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