Programs

LESSON SUMMARY

Mission Scenario

Applicable to all Challenger Learning Center Missions

Application to Mission Preparation

Using the Windows on Earth website, students will observe a variety of features found on the planet Earth as they are seen from the space station in low-Earth orbit and describe their observations using a journal.

This activity should follow the lesson, “How do we track the space station’s location?”

Summary

In the first activity, teachers will provide an introductory demonstration using one or more of the Windows on Earth Guided Tours, available from TERC’s Windows on Earth. Students will work in teams (or individually) to complete additional Guided Tours on their own, adding descriptions of features of interest to a journal. Students can complete additional research on one area of interest and present their findings to the class using multimedia tools such as video or presentation software.

In the second activity, students will work in teams (or individually) to create a portfolio of observations of one area of the planet and post it in a shared online forum. Students will view two images from the past and present and explain what features they see, and what they think they would see in a future image of the same location. Teachers will provide a demonstration using sample snapshots from Windows on Earth they have taken themselves, and students will complete a journal entry that includes observations and predictions of one location and upload it to the online forum.

Primary Resources

Earth Science Challenge Forum
http://www.challengerkids.org  - A moderated online forum for students and teachers completing Earth Science challenge activities. Teachers can contribute lessons of their own.

Windows on Earth
http://winearth.terc.edu/ - Windows on Earth is a simulated real-time interactive view from the International Space Station using satellite imagery.  Includes guided tours, comparison images and images illustrating planetary stewardship.

• Lesson Overview

  • Lesson Summary

  • Objectives and Essential Questions

  • What do the astronauts see from the International Space Station?

  • What is Windows on Earth?

• The Earth From Space

  • Life on Earth: The Biosphere

  • Water and Air: The Hydrosphere and the Atmosphere

  • The Land: The Geosphere

  • Human Impact and The Ecosphere

• Teaching the Lesson

  • Lesson Preparation

  • Activity 1: Windows on Earth (Guided Tours)

  • Activity 2: Past, Present and Future Earth

  • Extension Activity