Lesson Plans & Activities

Sharing Science with Film: A Guide to Student Productions

The examples and lesson plans provided in the educator guide emphasize scientific film topics; however, the methods shared throughout Sharing Science With Film: A Guide to Student Productions are applicable to films around all topics and genres.

Sharing Science With Film: A Guide to Student Productions is a guide for educators, and provides a how-to manual for instructing youth on how to produce short films.
Resource Type
Unit
Middle School
High School
Out-of-school/Non-formal
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HEART Force Curriculum Overview

This unit consists of several lessons and can take anywhere from 1 to 6 weeks to teach, depending on which lesson teacher choose to incorporate.

The HEART Force curriculum builds understanding of wildfire, flood, or drought in the context of place-based community resilience.
Resource Type
Unit
Middle School
High School
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Exploring the New and Old Arctic

This unit consists of 6 lessons, each tied to NGSS nature of science understandings

In this MS/HS unit, students compare and contrast Arctic expeditions of the past (1893-1896 Fram expedition) and the present (2019-2020 MOSAiC expedition) to prepare for the Arctic of the future.
Resource Type
Unit
Virtual field trip
Middle School
High School
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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?"
Resource Type
Unit
Virtual field trip
Middle School
High School
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The Future of Forests

This storyline unit consists of 9 lessons, each tied to NGSS life science standards

In this middle school unit supported by NASA, students engage with online interactives, authentic datasets, and citizen science protocols to construct models and explanations for the unit driving question, "How do landscapes recover after a wildfire?"
Resource Type
Unit
Middle School
High School
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?"
Resource Type
Unit
Middle School
High School
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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.
Resource Type
Unit
Virtual field trip
Geospatial resource
High School
University/College
Middle School Wildfire Unit

This HEART Force curricular unit includes all lessons for the Middle School Wildfire curriculum. 

The HEART Force curriculum builds an understanding of wildfire, flood, or drought in the context of place-based community resilience.
Resource Type
Unit
Middle School
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Middle School Flood Unit

This HEART Force curricular unit includes all lessons for the Middle School Flood curriculum. 

The HEART Force curriculum builds an understanding of wildfire, flood, or drought in the context of place-based community resilience.
Resource Type
Unit
Middle School
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Middle School Drought Unit

This HEART Force curricular unit includes all lessons for the Middle School Drought curriculum. 

The HEART Force curriculum builds an understanding of wildfire, flood, or drought in the context of place-based community resilience.
Resource Type
Unit
Middle School
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High School Wildfire Unit

This HEART Force curricular unit includes all lessons for the High School Wildfire curriculum. 

The HEART Force Curriculum builds an understanding of wildfire, flood, or drought in the context of place-based community resilience.
Resource Type
Unit
High School
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High School Flood Unit

This HEART Force curricular unit includes all lessons for the High School Flood curriculum. 

The HEART Force curriculum builds an understanding of wildfire, flood, or drought in the context of place-based community resilience.
Resource Type
Unit
High School
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High School Drought Unit

This HEART Force curricular unit includes all lessons for the High School Drought curriculum. 

The HEART Force curriculum builds an understanding of fire, flood, or drought in the context of place-based community resilience.
Resource Type
Unit
High School
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From Greenland to our Coasts: Exploring Sea Level Change with QGreenland

This unit consists of 3 lessons, each tied to NGSS life science standards

In this unit, students will explore how the Greenland Ice Sheet is changing and why that affects coastal communities worldwide. Students will view authentic Greenland geospatial data and learn how to create flood maps to assess local risk in QGIS.
Resource Type
Unit
Geospatial resource
High School
Out-of-school/Non-formal
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Geomagnetism: Earth's Magnetic Field
In two lessons, designed for grades 6-12, students will explore how Earth’s magnetic field protects us from harmful space weather that can damage communications systems, disrupt navigation systems, and overwhelm the electric grid.
Resource Type
Unit
STEAM Activity
Middle School
High School
Shifting Winds
In this short unit, students investigate the question "Are wind patterns at the foot of the Rocky Mountains changing?" Students explore what causes wind and look at recent wind data. Students create a public-facing infographic to explain to the public if and how wind patterns are changing.
Resource Type
Unit
Middle School
Drifting North Polar Planetarium
In this MS/HS lesson, students will be transported to the Arctic with the MOSAiC expedition, The Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Arctic Climate, in an immersive classroom and field trip experience.
Resource Type
Lesson
Unit
STEAM Activity
Middle School
High School
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Lake County Cascading Hazards Unit

The unit has four lessons in total. 

This unit builds an understanding of five natural hazards and their connections in the context of place-based community resilience.
Resource Type
Unit
Middle School
High School
Teaching Climate Science Concepts: Drought
In this sequence of lessons, students will explore the question, what are the local impacts of drought and how do we build resiliency?
Resource Type
Unit
A pair of figures and the Earth inside an arch of nature elements such as clouds, leaves, and birds
Teaching Climate Science Principles: Wildfire
In this sequence of lessons, students will explore the questions, what are the local and national impacts of wildfire how do we build resiliency?
Resource Type
Unit
A pair of figures and the Earth inside an arch of nature elements such as clouds, leaves, and birds
Antarctica: Connecting Climate Change, Melting Ice Shelves, and Pooping Penguins

This is a five-part curriculum about Antarctic environmental processes and building connections between ice shelves, surface melt, climate change - and penguins! 

This is a five-part curriculum about Antarctic environmental processes and building connections between ice shelves, surface melt, climate change - and penguins!
Resource Type
Unit
High School
Engaged Scientist Series
Free public lectures and workshops for graduate students & postdocs on engaging with communities.
Resource Type
Unit
University/College
Right Here Right Now: Impacts Educator Guide

This lessons is part of the Right Here, Right Now Global Summit collection. 

These resources are part of the larger Right Here, Right Now collection.
Resource Type
Unit
Middle School
High School
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