RSS 2.0LPI Earth and Space Science Newsletter
"Be a Martian" Website
Drawing on observations from NASA's Mars missions, this site invites the public to participate as citizen scientists to improve Martian maps, take part in research tasks, and assist Mars science teams studying data about the Red Planet.
Order NASA Elementary Solar System Poster
Free copies of the NASA "Space Thrills" poster may be ordered while supplies last by clicking on "EDUCATORS ONLY - Send Me a Poster!" This poster for K-4 students uses reading and writing activities to teach students about the solar system.
New Posters: "Constellations: Wonders Within"
This series of posters by the Chandra X-Ray Observatory represents some of the most dramatic images made by combining data from the best of modern telescopes, and is accompanied by activities. Activities and posters can be downloaded from the website or requested at http://chandra.harvard.edu/edu/request_const.html.
Year In Space Online Calendar and Email
The Year In Space is now offering free online and e-mail versions of its desk calendar.
ASP Article on 2012 Doomsday Hoax
The Astronomical Society of the Pacific has published an article on the hoax that Dec. 21, 2012 will be doomsday for planet Earth because of some astronomical event.
New Online NASA Books
NASA's Space Place offers five online children's books with animated page turning. The books are also available for download.
Online Classroom Astronomer Magazine
This new quarterly practitioner full-color publication is 24-pages full of practical how-to articles on the teaching of astronomy, both content and pedagogy. It is available as a free pdf and as a subscription printed version.
Podcasts from Universe Today
This site features 151 episodes on a variety of astronomical topics, geared toward adults.
Public Astronomy Presentations Available Online
UC Berkeley is holding a monthly public lecture series for the International Year of Astronomy, on a variety of engaging astronomical topics. Videos of past talks are available online, and copies of the presentations are available to download.
Download Deck of Astronomy Playing Cards
The Mauna Kea Observatory Outreach committee created a complete deck of cards with astronomy themes (telescopes are spades, Solar System objects are hearts, etc.) Download it and print your own sets!
New NASA Education Career Site
This new website features student internship opportunities, employee profiles, posters, student career resources, and more.
Windows to the Universe Activities
The Teacher Resources section of Windows to the Universe includes a large collection of activities for K-12 students, including several that allow students to explore the atmosphere and weather.
JOIDES Resolution Earth Science Site
Visitors to this interactive new site can ask real scientists questions, track the ship's location, explore daily ship blogs, and watch up-to-the-minute real time videos.
2009 Earth Science Week Toolkit
The American Geological Institute, in conjunction with Earth Science Week 2009 (October 11-17), released a new toolkit on "Understanding Climate." The 2009 Earth Science Week Toolkit features a variety of educational climate resources.
New Vision for "Eyes on the Earth 3D"
NASA's "Eyes on the Earth 3D" online visualization tool now offers new features that allow users to view the latest data beamed back from NASA space satellites. Enhanced capabilities include displays of the recent data maps of ozone, sea level or carbon dioxide and a video tour.
Astronomy Activity: Vegetable Light Curves
Students grades 8-12 observe the surface of rotating potatoes to help them understand how astronomers can sometimes determine the shape of asteroids from variations in reflective brightness.
"What is a Planet?" Student Activity
In this activity, targeted for grades 9-12, students debate whether "Pandora," a fictional solar system object discovered by NASA's New Horizons spacecraft, is a planet.
Windows to the Universe: New Poles in Space Section
Windows to the Universe's new "Poles in Space" section features information and images from NASA missions of poles around the Solar System.
Tool to Observe and Measure Changes in Sea Ice
SEAICEBOX lets users view and measure changes in monthly sea ice concentration since 1979 in the Arctic and Antarctic regions, through a Web browser. Users can view the latest daily image of sea ice concentration and compare changes in sea ice over time.
MyMoon Site for Net Generation
MyMoon is an evolving site created to share interactive information about the Moon and opportunities for public involvement. Visitors are invited to share their thoughts, creations, and experiences, participate in discussions and competitions, and attend web-conferenced presentations.
The Dynamic Earth Video
This new downloadable video provides an 18-minute introduction to how NASA is observing our ever-changing planet. Also showing online at http://eospso.gsfc.nasa.gov/.
NASA's Sea Level Viewer
Follow ocean trends from your desktop with NASA’s Sea Level Viewer, an online visualization tool that provides users with an up-to-date look at recent ocean topography data. This is one of several interactives at Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Climate Change site.
Science of the Sun DVD
"From the Sun to the Stars: The New Science of Heliophysics," is a one-hour documentary now available from NASA CORE. The program is formatted with six segments that can also be viewed online as individual videos.
New Universe in the Classroom Issue
The online Universe at Your Fingertips is produced for educations by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. In this issue, find out about the Spitzer Space Telescope and how it's providing a way to begin to characterize those distant worlds as real worlds, with sunsets and dramatic weather.
News about Sun-Earth Environment at SpaceWeather
New sunspots are putting on a show. This site provides up-to-date information on solar activity and has a free email newsletter with news about the Sun and Earth.
Science Nation Video Series on Breakthroughs and Discoveries
The National Science Foundation has released a series of video programs called Science Nation, which examine breakthroughs and the possibilities for new discoveries about our planet, our universe and ourselves. Each program features a two-minute and five-minute version.
Free Videos and CDs on Light and Optics
New free videos from SPIE for educators include Light in Action: Lasers, Cameras & Other Cool Stuff, and Optics: Light at Work. SPIE also has a free cd on Careers in Optics available.
Windows to the Universe Student Content
This site covers Earth and Space sciences through an array of documents, including images, movies, animations, and data sets, in three reading levels in English and Spanish. New pages include information on Earth's atmosphere and climate, Mercury, Venus, Uranus, Neptune, and more.
New Urban Heat Island Activity
Students grades 6-10 learn about the urban heat island effect by investigating which areas of their schoolyard have higher temperatures. Then they analyze data about how the number of heat waves in an urban area has increased over time with population.
Seeds in Space Kits Still Available
Packets of space-flown seeds and packets of seeds not flown in space are now available as part of the Seeds in Space Kit.
PBS Activities for 400 Years of the Telescope
This site offers background information, classroom and family activities, and practical tips for teaching about telescopes, the history of astronomy, and the exploration of the universe.
Explore! Ice Worlds!
This set of hands-on activities developed for the International Polar Year ranges from the properties of ice, to ice in the Solar System, and exploring our poles and the ice on Earth.
New Moon Posters for Download
A series of three posters, designed for students in grades 6-9, explores what — and how —we know about our Moon’s formation and evolution, and how its history affects lunar resources. The front of the posters provide content depth for students, while back panels provide educators with information, activities, stories about the Moon, resources, and introductions to lunar scientists.
Connect to the Moon
A menu of high-quality programs, activities, and information designed for a variety of audiences, and sorted by type and audience subcategories. Categories exist for formal and informal educators of various grade levels, as well as students and more general audiences.
Project 3D-VIEW (Virtual Interactive Environmental Worlds)
This interdisciplinary science curriculum for Grades 5 -6 utilizes simple-to-use 3D technologies and is designed to increase student performance in science by building understanding of difficult concepts. There are no fees for training, materials, rubrics, and assessments.
Sun-Earth Day 2009 - Our Sun Yours to Discover
The new Space Weather Viewer has better images, new data and many more videos about the science of the Sun and the Missions that observe the Sun. New activities for Educators include Galileo Project, Space Mathematics, and Exploring Magnetism. To enhance your lessons, they have placed a variety of materials including interactive children's books, multimedia viewers, games and an interactive timeline called "Sun Watchers Through Time".
Games at SpaceMath
Space Math @ NASA has now ventured into the 'gaming world' by offering five unique 'find it' games. Students will compare two images drawn from space-related themes to find a dozen differences; some obvious and some subtle.
Galaxy Zoo
Teachers and students can help scientists classify galaxies using this site to in online classification and analysis of galaxies using real data. The results are used in scientific research.
Exoplanet Transit Hunt
Exoplanet Transit Hunt is a Flash interactive simulation of how the NASA Kepler mission will discover exoplanets through the transit method. Explore a simulated star field, record data, make measurements and perform calculations to discover new planets.
SciJinks Weather Laboratory
This web site for middle school-age children, sponsored by both NASA and NOAA, presents weather and other Earth science topics via games, stories, and fun facts, as well as simple, concise answer to often-asked "how and why" questions.
