Challenger Center: Earth Science Challenge: Lesson 3

TEACHING THE LESSON

Materials

An LCD projector to share the images from space with the entire class
Student Worksheets
Internet connected computers

Student Instructions

How to post your journal and files on the Challenger Kids’ Earth Science Forum

Student Worksheets

Lesson Preparation

1. Students should have a basic understanding of the International Space Station and how astronauts take images from space. You can complete the activities How do we track the space station’s location? and What do photographs from space tell us about our planet? prior to this activity.

2. Review the instructions for having your students post work to the Earth Science Challenge Forum. You can register them yourself (individually or by team) or have them register themselves. Students will have to have their parents sign a Media Release form to participate in the moderated forum.

The forum is moderated by education staff from Challenger Center for Space Science Education and is an integral part of the project, as students will be sharing their work with others from around the world and with NASA. Students will upload their photos and journals from the activities in this lesson to share with others. Educators at Challenger Center moderate all postings and registrations.

3. Review the student instructions and student worksheets; make copies.

4. Review the links below on Astronaut Photography and Global Climate Change.

The Gateway of Astronaut Photography - The most complete online collection of astronaut photographs of the Earth, The database tracks the locations, supporting data, and digital images for astronaut’s photographs from the Mercury missions in the early 1960s to the ISS. 777,550 views of the Earth include 331,695 from the International Space Station.
Astronaut Views of the Home Planet: Earth from Space - Searchable database by cities, Earth landscapes, Earth-Human Interactions, Distinctive features, hurricanes and weather, Earth’s Water Habitats, Geographic Regions.
NASA Earth Observatory - The Earth Observatory’s mission is to share the images, stories, and discoveries about climate and the environment that emerge from NASA’s Earth system science research, including its satellite missions, in-the-field research, and computer models. Many examples of change over time.
Global Climate Change: NASA's Eyes on the Earth - Current news and data streams about global warming and climate change from NASA including multimedia interactives such as the Climate Time Machine. Many examples of change over time.

5. Review the Nature Conservancy images, information and links on the primary resources page.

Each series of images follows the path of the space station over the area. The International Space Station is flying at an altitude of about 200 miles from Earth so from the window you can see vast areas of the planet. It is important to know that since Richard took the images from space North is not always towards the top of the image. Students may need to rotate the image if you are comparing them to other maps. Also he took the images in a series, so each one has a slightly different perspective. He was floating over the window and may have changed his own orientation too. There are some images that were taken during cloudy weather, and so some parts of the ground are not visible. The International Space Station is flying at an altitude of about 200 miles from Earth so from the window you can see vast areas of the planet. Can you and your students tell when Richard used the zoom on his camera?

6. Choose some sample images illustrating change over time to share with your students, from this lesson on the page, or from any of the resources listed above.