This web page discusses the interaction of the solar wind with the Earth’s magnetosphere. The magnetopause is discussed at length, including the processes involved in the interaction and satellite explorations of the region in space. This is part of a large web site on Exploring the Earth’s Magnetosphere. A Spanish translation is available.
This site focuses on the planet Mars. Some topics discussed are Mars interior, surface, atmosphere, its moons and rings, myths, missions made to Mars, image archives, and an animation showing the orbit of Mars. There are also many pictures and websites directing you to more information.
This lesson plan is part of the DiscoverySchool.com lesson plan library for grades 9-12. This lesson covers the exploration of Mars from the 1960s to recent times. Information includes mission findings, and the NASA 3 phase strategy of finding information (reconnaissance, surveillance, in-depth study). It includes objectives, materials, procedures, discussion questions, evaluation ideas, suggested readings, and vocabulary.
This United States Geological Survey (USGS) publication discusses gold prospecting in the US. The history of prospecting is covered, as well as where in the US gold can still be found and accounts of successful gold mining. Deposits of gold are also explained, including placer deposits and lode gold. Selected references for additional reading are given.
The Ulysses Space Mission Word Search is a word search game that includes words relating to the Ulysses space mission that explored unknown regions of space above the north and south poles of the Sun. Windows to the Universe is a user-friendly learning system pertaining to the Earth and Space sciences.
In this Lab students focus their attention on an area significantly larger than their study site as they apply their developing knowledge of local Earth system interactions to the regional scale. Although the scale changes, the questions remain the same. How does organism or process or event “A” influence, or become changed by organism or process or event “B”? Specifically, in what ways is my local region interconnected with adjoining regions? What types of matter and energy cross the regional boundaries to help define and shape the neighboring regions?
It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words. If so, then an informational graphic is worth a thousand data entries if not more. Be they histograms, trend lines, scatterplots, pie charts, or choropleth maps, informational graphics allow us to discern what would otherwise be unmanageable loads of data indecipherable to the average person. Tufte had two major agendas with The Visual Display of Quantitative Information. One was to identify many of the mistakes and abuses common to informational graphics and to finger the main culprits.
Students explore the scale of the solar system, while learning about NASA’s Voyager I and Voyager 2 space missions. This PDF describes four classroom activities aligned to several math and science teaching standards.
