Earth System Science

Teacher Resource
3.28.13
NOVA

Education Collections allow us to curate the most relevant online resources related to specific NOVA programs. Use this collection of resources as a source of inspiration for your classroom: find a video clip to start a discussion with your students or incorporate an activity or demonstration into your class.

NOVA's Earth system science collection highlights important Earth processes normally invisible to the human eye. The standards-based media resources below expose the intricate web of forces that sustain life on Earth, allowing educators to explore the astonishing beauty and complexity of our dynamic planet with their students.

Programs

Earth From Space

Full Program | 1:52:52

Detailed satellite images reveal the web of connections that sustain life on Earth.

Video Clips

Multimedia

The Cloud Lab

Interactive

Try your hand at classifying clouds and investigating the role they play in severe tropical storms.
The Sun Lab

Interactive

Research solar storms using images from NASA telescopes; share your work; and find out about careers in science.
The Energy Lab

Interactive

Explore ways to make the most of renewable energy sources and use real data to design your own virtual power systems.

Planet Earth Resources

Text

(55)

Mexico Considers Gum Tax
Mexico may make gum chewers pay to clean up litter.
Collecting Rain in Mexico City
A non-profit in Mexico City suggests using rainwater harvesting to remedy the city's water shortage.
Costa Rica’s Hunting Ban
The Central American nation is set to become the first in the region to outlaw sport hunting.
Sandy's Warning
Do we have what it takes to stop catastrophic warming?
Hurricanes and Climate Change
Why climate change is making hurricanes more dangerous.

Video

(37)

Australia: Awakening
Australia’s ancient landscape holds clues to Earth's early history and the beginning of life.
Meteor Strike
A meteor burst into a fireball over Siberia. Can we spot the next deadly asteroid in time?
Australia: Strange Creatures
After a massive extinction, diverse marsupials came to dominate this isolated continent.
Australia: Life Explodes
Fossils reveal how life’s explosion in the ocean was recreated on dry land.
Australia: Monsters
Some 250 million years ago, some of the largest, most dangerous reptiles ruled this land.

Multimedia

(36)

Exploring the Arctic Seafloor
See some of the first imagery ever shot on the Arctic Ocean seabed—and what it's telling us about living at extremes.
Find the Tectonic Fault
In this seismic image, see if you can locate an unsettling new fault just discovered beneath the Mississippi River.
Hear From Sang-Mook Lee
The Korean oceanographer and spokesman for the disabled talks about the blessings of a debilitating accident.
Trapped in Salt
Biophysicist Jack Griffith takes you on a narrated photo tour of quarter-billion-year-old water bubbles.
Hear From the Real Iceman
Lonnie Thompson discusses why we should care that glaciers are melting, why sea-level rise is only part of it, and more.

Audio

(2)

Extinction Happens
MIT geologist Sam Bowring muses on mass extinctions and why we can’t take Earth’s hospitable climate for granted.
Tracking Twisters With Radar
Can new weather radar networks spot tornadoes earlier and thereby save lives?