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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

Hurricane Tracks shows global tropical cyclones from 1950 - 2020. The majority of this activity is in the North Atlantic Ocean, the Eastern pacific, Southwest Asia, and in the Indian Ocean.
Hurricane Tracks

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
NOAA Science On a Sphere Data Lens logo overlaid on a world map showing Earth's vegetation and land use. The text reads “Exploring Earth’s Visual Stories
The Age of the Seafloor. The image demonstrates that the seafloor tends to be the youngest in the middle of each ocean, and the oldest near the coasts of the continents.
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
NOAA Science On a Sphere Data Lens logo overlaid on a world map showing Earth's vegetation and land use. The text reads “Exploring Earth’s Visual Stories
Satellite analysis of global historical precipitation data colored to represent the departure from normal based on the precipitation totals higher than the 1981-2010 average. The graph shows that North America, most of South America, Southern Africa, and Europe are receiving less precipitation than usual. It also shows more precipitation than normal in Latin America and parts of Africa. All of Southeast Asia and Australia are receiving significantly more moisture than usual.
Precipitation Departure - LA Fires

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
High School
NOAA Science On a Sphere Data Lens logo overlaid on a world map showing Earth's vegetation and land use. The text reads “Exploring Earth’s Visual Stories
Sea Surface Temperature Anomaly. Depicts much warmer than usual water temperatures globally during an El Niño year.
Sea Surface Temperature Anomaly - El Niño

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
NOAA Science On a Sphere Data Lens logo overlaid on a world map showing Earth's vegetation and land use. The text reads “Exploring Earth’s Visual Stories
Lines of plants turning yellowish-green above dry and cracked brown dirt
Adapting to Extremes: Exploring the Science of Drought in Colorado

This lesson is best taught at the beginning of a HEART Force unit, but it can also act as a stand-alone lesson to introduce students to drought in Colorado.

 Humans have been affected by severe drought throughout history; in this lesson students explore this concept by analyzing environmental data to classify patterns and practice communicating their findings.
Lesson
High School
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A view of Earth from space with a digital grid pattern overlaying part of the planet, symbolizing global connectivity or digital networks. The Moon is visible in the background against a starry sky, with sunlight illuminating the horizon of Earth
Analyzing Geomagnetism using the CrowdMag App

This lesson is a stand-alone lesson for undergraduate students. Measure the background geomagnetic field of your campus, Identify anomalies created by local magnetic sources, and compare geomagnetic data collected by different devices. 

 This lesson is a stand-alone lesson for undergraduate students. Measure the background geomagnetic field of your campus, Identify anomalies created by local magnetic sources, and compare geomagnetic data collected by different devices.
Lesson
STEAM Activity
University/College
CrowdMag App Logo
Screen Capture from Rocky Mountain National Park Virtual Reality tour
Ecosystems of Rocky Mountain National Park

This virtual reality tour is part of a larger lesson focused on ecosystems.

 Students explore biotic and abiotic interactions in Rocky Mountain National Park ecosystems in this virtual reality tour.
Lesson
Virtual field trip
Middle School
GeoMag_Space
Geomagnetism Challenge

This lesson is centered around a data challenge using the CrowdMag application. The challenge includes live webinars, asynchronous videos, lesson plans, and the chance to win a raffle! The lessons and asynchronous videos can be used as stand-alone resources. 

 Individuals and classrooms are invited to join the GeoMag Data Challenge! Explore the power of community/citizen science, Earth's magnetic field, and data collection with us.
Lesson
STEAM Activity
Middle School
High School
Out-of-school/Non-formal
CrowdMag App Logo
Moss campion (pink flowering plant) growing from speckled gray and light orange rocks with some green grasses
Data Puzzle: The Tipping Point

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

 Plants like moss campion are uniquely adapted to the cold, dry climate characteristic of the tundra biome...but temperatures are on the rise. In this Data Puzzle, students analyze temperature and reproduction data to construct explanatory models for the following question "How is moss campion reproduction affected by temperature?"
Lesson
Data Puzzle Resource
Middle School
High School
Data Puzzles 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.
Data Puzzle: Tracing Carbon Through the Arctic Food Web

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

The Arctic is home to a huge variety of living things (humans included) that have adapted to harsh conditions. However, these conditions are changing as Arctic temperatures rise and sea ice declines. In this Data Puzzle, students trace the flow of carbon through the Arctic food web to construct explanatory models for the following question, "How might the decline in sea ice affect Arctic organisms large and small?"

Lesson
Data Puzzle Resource
Middle School
High School
Data Puzzles Logo
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
MOSAiC scientist Gina Jozef poses with her drone on snow with giant ship in the background and a small white and red sled with a brown box behind her.
Data Puzzle: It's All Connected

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

 What makes the Arctic climate system so unique is the sea ice, which influences the Arctic climate in many ways. In this Data Puzzle, students analyze authentic Arctic data to construct explanatory models for the following question, "What effect, if any, do leads (cracks in the sea ice) have on the transfer of moisture between the Arctic Ocean and atmosphere?"
Lesson
Data Puzzle Resource
Middle School
High School
Data Puzzles Logo, Mosaic logo
Antarctic Iceberg in McMurdo Sound with dark blue water surrounding it
Human Impacts on Climate Change: What will happen and what can we do about it?

This is the fifth lesson of a five-part curriculum about Antarctic physical environments and ecosystems. 

 In this lesson, students explore how human activities will continue to impact Antarctic ice, discuss human contributions to climate change, and investigate what we can do to stop/reverse these negative effects.
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
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
A group of seven penguins on an ice sheet with the dark ocean in the background
How does the changing climate impact the penguins around Antarctica?

This is the second lesson of a five-part curriculum about Antarctic physical environments and ecosystems. 

 In this lesson, students investigate the life history characteristics of different Antarctic penguin species and identify the changes that their populations have experienced.
Lesson
High School
Light blue meltwater on the ice shelf
What do we already know, or think we know, about climate & Antarctica?

This is the first lesson of a five-part curriculum about Antarctic physical environments and ecosystems.

 In this lesson, students will elicit initial ideas about climate, explore images of Antarctica, learn important vocabulary, and synthesize how satellite imagery can help us understand climate change in Antarctica.
Lesson
High School
Hazard Mitigation Planning Meeting. A group of nine adults gather around a wooden table littered with papers while discussing mitigation strategies. In the background is yellow walls with wooden shelves and drawers with plants and books on them
Communicate Existing Plans

This is a guide that can be used for a pathway for the Community Resilience Expo. 

 In this sub-unit, students will learn more about their community’s resilience plans, choose a specific topic to focus on, and develop a product to communicate the plan to their peers and/or their community.
Lesson
Design Challenge
Action Project
Middle School
High School
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Gray smoke rises from the Black Forest with blue sky in the background
Adapting to Extremes: Exploring the Science of Wildfire in Colorado

This lesson is best used as part of the HEART Force curricular unit, but it can also act as a stand-alone lesson to introduce students to wildfire in Colorado.

 Students build an understanding of wildfire in Colorado using multiple data sources in a jigsaw format.
Lesson
High School
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Big Thompson Flood image https://cires.colorado.edu/outreach/sites/default/files/2019-08/1024px-NOAA_logo.svg_.png. Brown flood water races through the street with green trees and houses with green roofs on either side
Adapting to Extremes: Exploring the Science of Floods in Colorado

This lesson is best taught at the beginning of a HEART Force unit, but it can also act as a stand-alone lesson to introduce students to floods in Colorado.

 The way we choose to design our communities has impacted community risk and vulnerability to flooding; in this lesson, students will explore this concept by analyzing environmental data to classify patterns and practice communicating their findings. 
Lesson
High School
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Trelynn Watkins, 10, laughs as she plays in the Julia Primrose Fountain.
What’s Up With The Rising Temperatures in Colorado Cities?

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

 This lesson introduces why certain cities in Colorado are getting hotter using a video by the Denver Post that describes the pattern.
Lesson
Middle School
A group of students using laptops at desks all pushed together to form one collaborative workspace.
How Can We Reduce Emissions Associated with Food Waste in Our School?

This is the fourth lesson in the Climate Resiliency Education Design Challenge Unit which is meant to follow the middle or high school Climate Resiliency Education units.

 In this activity students utilize the data that is collected and propose solutions to mitigate food waste in their school.
Lesson
Design Challenge
Action Project
Middle School
High School
A student stands while doing a presentation.
How Can We Present Solutions for Food Waste and Emissions at School?

This is the fifth lesson in the Climate Resiliency Education Design Challenge Unit which is meant to follow the middle or high school Climate Resiliency Education units.

 This lesson provides guidance for students to create and practice a presentation about their design challenge results that they developed in the previous lessons and how to present it to the school administration.
Lesson
Design Challenge
Action Project
Middle School
High School
A grocer checks milk on a shelf at a grocery store, the milk jugs have different colored caps of light blue, dark blue and red.
How Can We Understand Waste and Emissions in Our School's Food System?

This is the third lesson in the Climate Resiliency Education Design Challenge Unit which is meant to follow the middle or high school Climate Resiliency Education units.

 This lesson outlines for students how to design and carry out an investigation to audit their school’s food waste system.
Lesson
Design Challenge
Action Project
Middle School
High School
A trash can overflowing with food such as lettuce, tomato, bread, banana, and a milk jug with a blue lid.
How Does Our School Food System Create Greenhouse Gas Emissions?

This is the second lesson in the Climate Resiliency Education Design Challenge Unit which is meant to follow the middle or high school Climate Resiliency Education units.

 In this design challenge lesson, students examine their school food system and develop an investigation about food waste in order to know what should change.
Lesson
Design Challenge
Action Project
Middle School
High School
A large truck dumps trash into a landfill with a blue sky in the background.
How Can We Decrease Our Impact on the Earth’s Climate at our School?

This is the first lesson in the Climate Resiliency Education Design Challenge Unit which was designed to follow the middle or high school Climate Resiliency Education units.

 In this design challenge lesson students explore the Denver Public School District’s solid waste plan and discuss how their school can save or decrease emissions by reducing solid waste at our school.
Lesson
Design Challenge
Action Project
Middle School
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
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
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
The carcasses of dead fish lie in a dry lake bed.
What Impact do Increasing Greenhouse Gases Have?

This is the sixth and final lesson in the Climate Resiliency Education High School Climate Unit.

 In this lesson, students utilize case studies to learn about the ways climate change is currently impacting people and other living things around the world.
Lesson
High School
Sun flare refracting through leaves.
What Makes Cities Hotter?

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

 In this lesson, students explore reasons why temperatures in particular Colorado cities are rising.
Lesson
Middle School
A satellite image is shown over the same image in infrared, showing that the paved sidewalks and roads retain more heat than homes and vegetation.
Why Are Growing Cities Hotter?

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

 This lesson has students explore what land use changes are happening and how changes in surface color affects temperatures in cities.
Lesson
Middle School
A surface temperature anomaly or trend map by NASA.
Are Other Parts of the World Getting Hotter?

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

 In this lesson, students investigate whether other parts of the world are changing and getting hotter just like Colorado.
Lesson
Middle School
An illustration of how solar radiation is trapped by greenhouse gases in the atmosphere which includes the earth and a yellow squiggly line bouncing on and off the earth's surface.
How Does an Increase in CO2 Cause an Increase in Temperature?

This is the eighth and final lesson in the Climate Resiliency Education Middle School Climate Unit.

 In this lesson, students learn how more CO2 in the atmosphere causes global warming.
Lesson
Middle School
A long line of cars in heavy traffic.
How Do Cars Impact CO2 in the Atmosphere?

This is the seventh lesson in the Climate Resiliency Education Middle School Climate Unit.

 During this lesson, students explore how fossil fuel burning in cars contributes CO2 to the atmosphere.
Lesson
Middle School
A cloud spelling CO2 wafts out of smoke stacks with a blue sky in the background.
How Does Human Activity Affect the Warming Temperatures on Earth?

This is the sixth lesson in the Climate Resiliency Education Middle School Climate Unit.

 This lesson explores whether human activities release greenhouse gases, like CO2, and whether these activities can cause temperatures on Earth to increase.
Lesson
Middle School
A graph showing global temperature rising over time from 1880 to 2020
What Was Earth’s Temperature Like in the Past?

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

 Students examine what the world’s temperature trend was in the past and whether temperatures have changed recently.
Lesson
Middle School
Two scientists in large red parkas kneeling on the ground working on scientific equipment in a snowy landscape while a cold wind whips snow up around them.
Do you really want to visit the Arctic?

This is the second activity of a three-part curriculum about Arctic climate; the activities may be used independently or in sequence.

 This jigsaw activity introduces students with Arctic weather data using a role-playing activity that has students read and interpret graphs while considering the optimal time to plan a research mission to the Arctic.
Lesson
Middle School
High School
University/College
A close up image of a grooved glacier in black and white
Exploring Arctic Climate Data

This is the third activity of a three-part curriculum about Arctic climate; the activities may be used independently or in sequence.

 In this final activity, students use authentic Arctic climate data to explore albedo and its relationship to seasonal snowmelt as a self-reinforcing feedback mechanism, which is then applied to large scale global climate change.
Lesson
Middle School
High School
University/College
Alpine tundra vegetation with large boulder with snowy mountain range in the background
Exploring the Arctic

This is the first activity of a three-part curriculum about Arctic climate; the activities may be used independently or in sequence.

 This activity introduces students to the Arctic and Arctic climate. Through a virtual exploration of the geography of the Arctic students become familiar with the region. They are then introduced to meteorological parameters that Arctic research teams use.
Lesson
STEAM Activity
Middle School
High School
University/College
Flock of birds landing at Elkhorn Slough where there is green moss over black sand and blue water in the background.
Population Estimates: Bringing Math and Science Together

Project EXTREMES lessons were written to be stand alone lessons, but this activity may be used prior to a field study to provide students with practice in estimating or used in a unit on ecosystems.

 During this activity students will learn how to estimate population size using two techniques, density extrapolation and the mark-recapture method.
Lesson
Middle School
Extremes
No dumping, Drains to Creek sign on concrete written in green with a green fish
Waste, Water, and Wastewater

Project EXTREMES lessons were written to be stand alone lessons but can be incorporated into a larger unit.

 In this lesson, students will apply what they know about how to separate a mixture by designing a wastewater treatment facility that effectively removes contaminants.
Lesson
Design Challenge
Middle School
Extremes
Dark cloud at top of image raining down onto shadowed lands with yellow sunlit sky in the middle
Precipitation Patterns Around the Globe

Project EXTREMES lessons were written to be stand alone lessons but can be incorporated into a larger unit.

 Students apply their knowledge of the water cycle to investigate how annual precipitation patterns are related to geography and biology. 
Lesson
Elementary School
Middle School
Extremes
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
Extremes
Two mostly black cows grazing on green grass with foggy green grassy hillside in background
Energy Pyramids and Food Webs

Project EXTREMES lessons were written to be stand alone lessons but can be incorporated into a larger unit.

 In this lesson, students identify the sun as the source of energy and understand how energy flows through an ecosystem. 
Lesson
Middle School
Extremes
Illustration of two people high-fiving in a work environment

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