Category: Activities
EF5. What Is Light?
Chapter 5 { Energy Flow Contents } It is 10°C below zero outdoors, and the snow is piled high against the walls of the Tromsø Planetarium—the most northerly planetarium in the world. But it’s warm and cozy indoors, where Planetarium Director Franck Petersson shows us some of his most recent photographs of the aurora borealis, […]
EF3. What Heats the Earth’s Interior?
Chapter 3 { Energy Flow Contents } The convection currents discussed in the last chapter explain most of the world’s volcanoes, because most volcanoes occur along the edges of plates. In some of these places, the rift zones, plates are spreading apart, so magma comes up from below to cause the volcanoes. In other cases, […]
Energy Flow
ENERGY FLOW is about how energy moves through the atmosphere, oceans, land, and living things. See Overview. Contents Chapters Investigations Stay Current 1. What Is Energy? Chapter 1 2. Why Do Volcanoes Erupt? 2.1. Subduction Zone Map Chapter 2 3. What Heat’s the Earth’s Interior? 3.1 Convection Chapter 3 4. How Does the Sun Shine? […]
EC7. Neighborhood and Global Stewardship
Chapter 7 { Ecosystem Change Contents } The citizens of the United States use more energy and resources per person than do people in other countries. What can we do to reduce our individual and collective impact on earth’s global system? On the pages that follow, we have described some actions taken by students to […]
EC6. Carrying Capacity
Chapter 6 { Ecosystem Change Contents } In an influential essay entitled, “Essay on the Principle of Population,” Thomas Malthus noted that the growth of population and what he thought should be the inevitable tidal wave of people that would eventually inhabit the Earth, hadn’t occurred and that somehow the human population must be kept […]
EC5. Carbon in the Biosphere
Chapter 5 { Ecosystem Change Contents } I. The Carbon Dioxide Cycle When we enjoy the beauty of a tree we probably aren’t thinking of this marvelous structure as a carbon-based system that transforms sunlight and gases into food. A single cell in a tree leaf is a tiny system that uses light energy plus […]
EC4. Changes in the Global System
Chapter 4 { Ecosystem Change Contents } Dr. Steven Schneider, climatologist with the National Center for Atmospheric Research, has been very vocal in alerting the public to the impending dangers of global climate change. In an interview for the TV documentary, “Race to Save the Planet,” he shares his sense of urgency…. “Fifteen thousand years […]
EC1.1. Make A Model Ecosystem
{ Ecosystem Change Contents } { All GSS Books } Design your own miniature ecosystem in a clear plastic or glass container and observe it for at least one month. In the following laboratory investigation, you will design a small model ecosystem in a terrarium and follow the changes in the living and non-living components […]
EC1. Earth Alive!
Chapter 1 { Ecosystem Change Contents } Imagine you are an astronaut viewing planet earth from a space shuttle 160 miles above the surface. Changing patterns of clouds and reflections from water and snow fields create the illusion of a colossal spherical organism. Many human cultures have believed that Earth is alive; many have attributed […]
Ecosystem Change
ECOSYSTEM CHANGE is about the interdependence of all living things and the nonliving environment. It is also about how human activities are changing ecosystems around the world. See Overview. Contents Chapters Investigations Stay Current 1. Earth Alive! 1.1 Make a Model Ecosystem Chapter 1 2. Energy Through the System Chapter 2 3. Studying Desert Ecosystems […]