Project Summary NASA sample

Project Summary: Through this project, an interdisciplinary group of faculty from across the University of Toledo including social and physical scientists will develop five stand-alone, online modules for 7-12 students to improve student (and teacher) learning of climate change topics by addressing common misconceptions.. Each module will contain the following: o Content specific pre and post tests o Links to The National Academic Content Standards specially in Earth Science, Physics, Biology, Chemistry, Social Studies and Math o Assessment of students’ prior knowledge and misconceptions o A driving question o Expert instruction and credible resources to answer the driving question o Guidance on critical and creative thinking o Inquiry activity using NASA data, models or simulations The modules will be specifically aimed for students in grades 7-12 with particular emphasis on grades 7-9 and take between 4 and 6 class periods (assuming a 45 minute class) to complete.. Students will use data from the NASA Planetary Data System (NASA PDS) through the NASA Space Science Data Center (NSDDC), including fundamental measurements of physical properties, images (albedo), and spectral information from space probes such as Messenger, Galileo, multiple Mars orbiter and rover missions, Magellan, and Venus Express, to compare the surface temperatures of Mercury, Venus, Earth, Moon and Mars, and to explore how these temperatures depend on measured values of incident sunlight (solar insolation), planetary rotation, reflection of sunlight (albedo), and the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmospheres (if any).. NASA Data, Model, Simulation: These datasets have been developed by Dr. Becker and can be used in this module: MODIS EVI, NDVI NOAA/NASA Pathfinder NDVI, Landsat TM, Landsat MSS, TRMM, GRACE, NASA GISS GCM output Module: Benefit-cost analysis of global climate change (Egan) Misconception: Won’t reducing greenhouse gases harm the economy and cost jobs Driving Question