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Unit 2.6: Is heat always a dead end, or can it do something useful too?
Sandra Penny, Russell Sage College, and Natalie Bursztyn, University of Montana
Students focus on some thermodynamic aspects of energy: Heat, heat engines, and the second law of thermodynamics. We have already laid the groundwork for these concepts in Unit 2.3 (Energy Types and ...

Unit 2.2: Measuring and Analyzing Waves
Sandra Penny, Russell Sage College; Natalie Bursztyn, The University of Montana-Missoula
This unit follows up and reinforces the topics introduced in the previous unit (Unit 2.1) about waves and wave properties. Multiple scaffolded extension activities and lab exercises build on similar concepts with ...

Unit 2.4: Power
Sandra Penny, Russell Sage College
In this unit, students explore the relationship between energy and power when they design an experiment to measure and calculate their maximum power output by running up a staircase at a fast, medium, and slow ...

Unit 5.4 Heavy rainfall and landslides
Mark Abolins, Middle Tennessee State University
Students assume various roles (e.g., school superintendent) and use online maps to explore landslide hazards in Southern California. They examine the landslide problems from different perspectives, and they apply ...

Unit 3.2 Why are there layers of the atmosphere?
Sandra Penny, Russell Sage College; Natalie Bursztyn, James Madison University
We know the atmosphere is composed of gases and has a layered structure, yet these properties are invisible to the naked eye. Building on the idea of observing the unobservable, students will investigate air ...

Unit 3.3 What causes ocean stratification?
Natalie Bursztyn, James Madison University
Students will investigate ocean stratification using real-world data, measure the density of various fluids, construct and experiment with a physical model of ocean layers, and compare real-world data with model ...

Unit 1.3: Units and Conversions
Sandra Penny, Russell Sage College; Natalie Bursztyn, James Madison University
Why do we care about units, anyway? In this unit, students are introduced to the concept of standardized units and given motivation for why a common set of units is desirable. Students are also introduced to some ...

Unit 3.1: What's this rock I found? Is it valuable?
Beth Dushman, Howard Community College
In this unit, students will use hand samples or high-resolution images to observe, categorize, and identify some common minerals and rocks, with an emphasis on their role as economic resources. Hands-on activities ...

Unit 1: Anyone Can Be a Scientist
Educational module teaching introductory Earth science students how to think and act like scientists by engaging with scientific practices, analyzing diverse data types, distinguishing observations from interpretations, applying NGSS science and engineering practices through case studies, and formulating testable vs. non-testable scientific questions using tools like Google Earth across three 60–75 minute lessons. auto-generated The author of this page didn't provide a brief description so this one sentence summary was created by an AI tool. It may not be completely accurate.

Unit 5.1: Introduction to flooding and the water cycle
Mark Abolins, Middle Tennessee State University; Karen Viskupic, Boise State University. Parts are based on InTeGrate activities by Manoj K. Jha, Ed Barbanell, Meghann Jarchow, and John Ritter.
Students learn about flooding by exploring the Internet, watching videos, and watching an in-class slide presentation. Unit 5.1 introduces the basic vocabulary and concepts of the water cycle, riverine flooding, ...