On a daily basis, myriad satellites beam terabytes of information back to earth — information that can be used to measure and calculate everything from sea surface temperatures to crop yields, from reflection of sunlight by smoke and dust to the energy released by a hurricane. Providers of that data, like NASA, NOAA, EPA, and many universities and NSF-supported projects, are eager to share their information with the public, and particularly with classroom teachers.

More and more, these providers are making their data available on universal platforms, like Google Earth or NASA’s World Wind virtual globes. Those tools are free and intuitive. All users have to do is search the Internet for the content they need formatted in KML — the virtual globe language — and within minutes they can be flying dramatically through the Grand Canyon, observing the wake of Hurricane Katrina as she crossed the Gulf of Mexico, or watching storms develop in real time. Any teacher who has played with virtual globes or who has turned her class loose on World Wind or Google Earth knows that the “gee whiz” factor is high and that kids are drawn to the dramatic and flexible displays of geospatial imagery and information.

Additionally, digital libraries like the Digital Library for Earth System Education provide fine-grained searches for professionally and peer reviewed resources for teachers.

It would seem, then, that the teacher’s job of presenting creative, engaging lessons should be easier and more efficient than ever. But it’s never that simple. In the heyday of my mountain biking habit, I read someone’s biking mantra in one of the cycling mags: “Gravity is my enemy, gravity is my friend, gravity is my enemy, etc.” I got a laugh out of that as I ground my way up a long hill the next day, but I thought about the educational equivalent as I rolled easily down the other side of that hill. All I could come up with is, “Time is my enemy,” as I realized there’s no coasting for teachers.

After more than 30 years in the classroom, I’ve never been able to find the time do the things I want to do in my classes. Where do I find the time to search for meaningful data online, or to learn the intricacies of proprietary applications to view and analyze data? When will I be able to devote an hour or two to a good video to select the segments I want to show my kids? And when I find my data, or software, or video clips, how will I integrate them into my curriculum and incorporate them into my lessons? I need time to think about that, and worksheets, notes, lab exercises, and discussion outlines have to be developed.

Luckily, PBS has created a rich collection of new resources that can help save teachers time and help engage students in science and social studies concepts. e² is a PBS series about the economies of being environmentally conscious. Narrated by Brad Pitt, the series features compelling stories from around the globe: Beijing to Nova Scotia, Ladakh to New York. Each episode examines the built environment’s effects — both ecological and social — and the design innovations that can reduce buildings’ contribution to climate change. All of the episodes combine science and social studies content, making them appropriate for use in both content areas as well for innovative science/social studies interdisciplinary projects.

In addition to the programs, visitors to the Teachers section of the e² Web site can find video clips available in streaming and downloadable formats, detailed lesson plans, including pre- and post-viewing activities and suggested extensions, podcasts, and fine-grained descriptions of program-inspired class projects that involve students locally.

During the fall and winter of 2007, I was fortunate to be a member of a team of teachers/curriculum developers looking at a wide variety of Nature programs and designing detailed lessons tied to specific learning standards that naturally spin off of those programs. The result of those efforts is a wide variety of “video enhanced lessons” covering topics ranging from ecology and animal biology, to geology and meteorology.

Each lesson includes complete, detailed plans with objectives, links to national and local standards, brief edited video clips that can be streamed or downloaded and saved (essential when your school connection is slow or unreliable), worksheets for students, and instructions and teaching notes for teachers!

Here are some excerpts from “Performing Well Under Pressure,” a study of diamonds and mineral crystal structure derived from Nature’s “Diamonds” program.

• The Intro pages offer clear overviews: “The physical properties of a diamond are determined more by the crystal structure of the diamond than by its composition – consider that diamond and graphite, despite their vastly different physical properties, are both composed of pure carbon. Every mineral is characterized by a particular type of crystalline structure that is largely responsible for its physical properties. These excerpts from the Nature episode ‘Diamonds’ demonstrate the characteristics of these rare gems, and explore the value they hold for scientists and the general public.”
• Students study crystalline structure with way cool virtual models.
• Detailed and “thought through” instructions for teachers make implementing the lessons easy: “Two days before the intended date of the lesson, hand out the Tetrahedron Cutouts (http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/files/2008/08/tetrahedron-cutouts.pdf) and an envelope/plastic bag. Have students write their names on the envelope or bag. Instruct them to cut out their tetrahedrons at home, and bring the cutouts to class in the envelope/plastic bag the next day. Collect the envelopes/bags, and give students who forgot one more day to get them done. You may also hand out more sheets to students who are interested in cutting out a few more.”
• “Hands on” activities relate directly to standards: “Distribute the envelopes/bags of previously prepared tetrahedron cut-outs and a glue stick to every group of 3 or 4 students. Demonstrate for the class how to fold the tetrahedron cut-out into a 3-dimensional tetrahedron and glue it together. Explain that these paper models illustrate the basic atomic structure of the elements that compose many common minerals. Using these models, students will construct examples of the crystalline structure for four different types of minerals. Instruct students to make as many 3-dimensional tetrahedrons as they can with the cutouts they have prepared.”

Look these resources over, try a few, and let us know how they work for you. And if you have a favorite set of quality, off-the-shelf lessons, share them with your colleagues here.

– Steve