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Investigations

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A New World View – A Changing Cosmos – Climate Change – Life and Climate – Ozone – Losing Biodiversity –
Ecosystem Change – Energy Flow – Energy Use – Population Growth

A New World View

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1. What is Global Systems Science?1.1. Create Your Own Ecosystem
2. A History of Forest Use in the Pacific Northwest2.1. Tree Study
3. Case Study: The Headwaters Controversy3.1 How much old growth forest was lost?
3.2 Write a Letter to the Editor
4. Field Trip to Wind River
5. Losing Tropical Rainforests5.1. Rondonia
6. Towards A Sustainable World6.1. Analyze Ecosystem
6.2. In Your Opinion: An Environmental Essay

A New World View – A Changing Cosmos – Climate Change – Life and Climate – Ozone – Losing Biodiversity –
Ecosystem Change – Energy Flow – Energy Use – Population Growth

A Changing Cosmos

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1. Cosmic Cataclysms1.1 Down2Earth Crater Impact Calculator
2. Astronomers’ Tools2.1 Using Star Maps
2.2 CCD Image Color Coding
2.3 Browsing the Universe
2.4 Remote Telescopes
3. Cosmic Engines3.1 Size and Scale of the Sun
3.2 Plate Scale of a Smartphone
3.3 Sun Movement
4. Fathoming Huge Distances4.1 Parallax
4.2 Distance to the Moon Using Parallax
4.2 A Law of Brightness
4.3 Star Magnitudes
4.4 A Cepheid Variable Star
5. Color, Temperature & Age of Stars5.1 Temperature
5.2 Filters
5.3 Measure Color
5.4 HR Diagrams of Star Clusters
6. Dramatic Change in Stars6.1 Find Supernovae
6.2 Eclipsing Binaries
6.3 Discovery of Gravitational Waves
7. Planet-Star Systems7.1 Jupiter’s Moons
7.2 Asteroid Search
8. Search for Habitable Planets8.1 Exoplanet Transits
9. Cosmos Begins… and Ends?9.1 Hearing the Doppler Effect
9.2 Model Waves
9.3 Hubble’s Law
9.4 Count Galaxies

A New World View – A Changing Cosmos – Climate Change – Life and Climate – Ozone – Losing Biodiversity –
Ecosystem Change – Energy Flow – Energy Use – Population Growth

Climate Change

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1. The Greenhouse Effect		1.1 Light In Air
1.2. Podcasts and Videos
2. What’s So Special About CO2?2.1 Two Prisms
2.2 IR TV Remote
2.3 Molecules Absorb IR Energy
2.4 Singing Piano
4. What Is Global Warming?4.1 Debate Change
4.2 Temperature Project
4.3 Caption Writers
4.4 Local Temperature History
5. How Is Carbon Dioxide Measured?5.1 Peter Tans Interview
5.2 Sampling CO2
6. How Is the Atmosphere Changing?6-1 Findings from Mauna Loa
6-2 CO2 Sources
7. What Is the Controversy About?7.1 Straight Facts
7.2 Changing IPCC Reports
7.3 State of the Climate
7.4 AGU Position Statement
8. What Are the Consequences of Global Warming?8.1 More on Glaciers
8.2 Explore Flood Maps
8.3 Climate Change Indicators
9. What Are Governments Doing About Climate Change?9.1 Congressional Hearing
9.2 U.S. and Kyoto
9.3 State of the Climate
9.4 What Can Cities Do?
9.5 What Can the Military Do?
10. What Do YOU Think About Climate Change?10.1 Economic Impacts
10.2 Compare Your State
10.3 Personal Opinion
10.4 Vote on Energy Measures
10.5 Solutions

A New World View – A Changing Cosmos – Climate Change – Life and Climate – Ozone – Losing Biodiversity –
Ecosystem Change – Energy Flow – Energy Use – Population Growth

Life and Climate

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1. Discovering the Atmosphere		1.1 Air Pressure
1.2. Draw Earth Cutaway
2. Where Did Earth’s Atmosphere Come From?2.1 Timeline
3. How Do Scientists Play the Dating Game?3.1 Half-Life Decay
7. Earth’s Shifting Crust7.1 Convection Currents
8. Highs and Lows Over the Past 750 Million Years8.1 Dissolving Rocks
12. Climate and Culture12.1 Importance of Language
12.2 Greenlander Survival
13. What Does Earth’s Past Tell Us About Our Future?13.1 Timeline II
13.2 Earth’s Future

A New World View – A Changing Cosmos – Climate Change – Life and Climate – Ozone – Losing Biodiversity –
Ecosystem Change – Energy Flow – Energy Use – Population Growth

Ozone

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2. Ozone in Nature2.1 Sun’s Spectrum
3. The Danger of UV to Living Things3.1 Melanoma Increasing
3.2 Sunscreens
3.3 Sunglasses
3.4 Effect of UV on Plants
6. The Loss of ’84 and the Surprise of ’856.1 Ozone Monitoring
8. Measuring Ozone8.1 Ozone Measuring
8.2 Pixels
11. Hazards of Ozone in the Troposphere11.1 Lung Capacity

A New World View – A Changing Cosmos – Climate Change – Life and Climate – Ozone – Losing Biodiversity –
Ecosystem Change – Energy Flow – Energy Use – Population Growth

Losing Biodiversity

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1. Seeking Biodiversity1.1 Biodiversity Assessment
2. The Trail Back from Near Extinction2.1 Estimate Number of Bison Killed
2.2 Graph Bison Population
2.3 Biodiversity Issues
3. Origin of Species3.1 Simulate Natural Selection
3.2 Ideas for Research
4. The Puzzle of Inheritance4.1 Coin Toss
4.2 Dive Into Genetics
5. Soil: The Living Skin of Earth5.1 Compare Soils
7. One Global Ocean7.1 Product Research
8. Champions of a Sustainable World8.1 Final Essay

A New World View – A Changing Cosmos – Climate Change – Life and Climate – Ozone – Losing Biodiversity –
Ecosystem Change – Energy Flow – Energy Use – Population Growth

Ecosystem Change

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1. Earth Alive!1.1 Make a Model Ecosystem
4. Changes in the Global System4.1 Future Wetlands
5. Carbon in the Biosphere5.1 Decomposition in a Bag
6. Carrying Capacity6.1 Invasive Species
6.2 Cultures Affecting Ecosystems
7. Neighborhood and Global Citizenship7.1 Recycling

A New World View – A Changing Cosmos – Climate Change – Life and Climate – Ozone – Losing Biodiversity –
Ecosystem Change – Energy Flow – Energy Use – Population Growth

Energy Flow

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3. What Heat’s the Earth’s Interior3.1 Convection
6. How Does Energy Flow in the Atmosphere?6.1. Equilibrium
6.2. Heat Trappers Inc
7. What Causes Thunderstorms and Tornadoes?7.1. Sun Beams
7.2 Wind Maps
9. How Does Energy Flow in Living Systems?9.1 Energy Flow & You

A New World View – A Changing Cosmos – Climate Change – Life and Climate – Ozone – Losing Biodiversity –
Ecosystem Change – Energy Flow – Energy Use – Population Growth

Energy Use

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1. How People Use Energy1.1. Recent History
2. Energy Basics2.1. Create Electricity
2.2. Electric Motor
2.3. Transformations
3. Fossil Fuels3.1. Energy Units
4. Field Trip to a Power Plant4.1. Home Heating
4.2. Future Power
5. America Plugged In5.1. Energy and Power
5.2. Fuses & Circuit Breakers
6. Energy in Society6.1. Electric Metering
6.2. What Are We Paying For?
6.3. Power Failure
7. Energy for Lighting7.1. Comparing Light Sources
7.2. Which is Most Cost-Effective?
8. Heating & Cooling8.1. Thermos Bottle
8.2. Compute R-Value
8.3 Refrigerators
8.4 Exploring a Refrigerator
9. Energy for Transportation9.1. Car Energy Transformations
9.2. Better Batteries
10. Our Energy Future10.1 Energy from the Sun
10.2 Payback Time
10.3 Your Vote on Energy Measures
10.4 Carbon Footprint Calculators
10.5 Climate/Renewable Energy
10.6 Solar Cooking

A New World View – A Changing Cosmos – Climate Change – Life and Climate – Ozone – Losing Biodiversity –
Ecosystem Change – Energy Flow – Energy Use – Population Growth

Population Growth

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1. What Is a Population?1.1 Population Growth Behavior
1.2 Alien Invaders
2. Patterns in Populations2.1 Graphing Population Changes
2.2 Human Thermostat
2.3 How Many Is A Billion?
2.4 Bacterial Growth
2.5 A Drop in the Bucket
2.6 Adding Armadillos
2.7 Grasshopper Mark and Recapture
3. Population Reproduction, Growth,
and Change Over Time		3.1 Moldy Bread
3.2 Verhulst Population Equation
3.3 Playing with the Equation
3.4 Optimum Number of Offspring
3.5 Sex Advantages
3.6 Density Dependency
3.7 Earlobes
3.8 Dunkers Blood Types
3.9 Health Care & Population Growth
4. The History of Human Population Growth4.1 Mathus’s Argument
4.2 Doubling Time
4.3 Too Many People?
4.4 Growth in the US
4.5 Future Growth?
5. The Environmental Impact of Populations5.1 How Much Land?
5.2 Comparing Energy Consumption
5.3 Changing Facts
5.4 Cost of an Afternoon’s Entertainment
7. Can We Limit Human Population Growth?7.1 Population Control—Cultural Connections
7.2 Difficult Questions
8. Choosing a World8.1 Quality of Life
8.2 Road Not Taken

A Changing Cosmos

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1. Cosmic Cataclysms1.1 Down2Earth Crater Impact Calculator
2. Astronomers’ Tools2.1 Using Star Maps
2.2 CCD Image Color Coding
2.3 Browsing the Universe
2.4 Remote Telescopes
3. Cosmic Engines3.1 Size and Scale of the Sun
3.2 Plate Scale of a Smartphone
3.3 Sun Movement
4. Fathoming Huge Distances4.1 Parallax
4.2 Distance to the Moon Using Parallax
4.2 A Law of Brightness
4.3 Star Magnitudes
4.4 A Cepheid Variable Star
5. Color, Temperature & Age of Stars5.1 Temperature
5.2 Filters
5.3 Measure Color
5.4 HR Diagrams of Star Clusters
6. Dramatic Change in Stars6.1 Find Supernovae
6.2 Eclipsing Binaries
6.3 Discovery of Gravitational Waves
7. Planet-Star Systems7.1 Jupiter’s Moons
7.2 Asteroid Search
8. Search for Habitable Planets8.1 Exoplanet Transits
9. Cosmos Begins… and Ends?9.1 Hearing the Doppler Effect
9.2 Model Waves
9.3 Hubble’s Law
9.4 Count Galaxies
Acknowledgements – Bibliographic Sources