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This USGS site allows students to access a variety of stream flow information. There is an interactive map where the user can select stream flow data for selected stream gauging stations in the United States. Stations can be selected in list form, an interactive state map, or 10 nearest stations to position selected. Each retrieval form allows the user to refine their data search through predefined displays, such as tables, maps, or reports. Tables can be called up and further defined by basin, county, or hydro-logic unit.

Type: Data Set

This BLOSSOMS lesson discusses Carbon Dioxide, and its impact on climate change. The main learning objective is for students to become more familiar with human production of Carbon Dioxide gas, as well as to gain an awareness of the potential for this gas to effect the temperature of Earth’s atmosphere. This lesson should take about an hour to complete. In order to complete the lesson, the teacher will need: printed copies of signs representing the different products and processes that take place in the carbon cycle (included), samples of matter that represent those products, handouts for the students to create a graphic of the carbon cycle (included) and graph paper or graphing software for students to create graphs. In the breaks of this BLOSSOMS lesson, students will be creating models of the carbon cycle as well as observing experiments and analyzing data from them. It is hoped that this lesson will familiarize students with ways in which carbon moves through our environment and provide them with some personal connection to the impact that an increased concentration of CO₂ can have on air temperature. The goal is to spark their interest and hopefully to encourage them to ask and investigate more questions about the climate. 

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will analyze an informational text intended to support reading in the content area. The article compares carbon emissions from human activities to those from natural volcanic processes. The authors outline the methods, data collection, and findings of carbon emissions, closing the debate on what releases the most carbon. The lesson plan includes a note-taking guide, text-dependent questions, a writing prompt, answer keys, and a writing rubric. Numerous options to extend the lesson are also included.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will design their own projects to prove that transpiration actually exists. Through this laboratory design and execution, students will understand that light catalyzes the water cycle and that it never ends.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will analyze an informational text intended to support reading in the content area. The article analyzes the hydrologic cycle and touches on its connection to the carbon cycle. This text describes how our understanding about the water cycle has changed over time, particularly due to information gathered in a recent study. The article gives a good representation of the scientific method and the importance of the water cycle. The lesson plan includes a note-taking guide, text-dependent questions, a writing prompt, answer keys, and a rubric. Numerous options to extend the lesson are also included.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson is designed for educators to teach the carbon cycle. Students will create a poster board with information on the carbon cycle, give a class presentation, and answer questions posed by their classmates.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson provides students with an interactive activity that demonstrates the movement of water through the water cycle as it fluctuates in energy. Students will be able to analyze patterns in the fluctuations of energy in order to conclude correlations between energy in particles of water and the various stages of the water cycle.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students work to understand the movement of matter and energy in the Earth's water cycle. First, they confront a common occurrence in our lives: the "sweaty" water bottle. Then, after a combination of collaboration and direct instruction, students create a working model of the water cycle and analyze the movement of energy within it.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will investigate the question, "Do plants absorb carbon dioxide at the same rate?" The students will design their own method for gathering the information needed to answer this question. Students will leave with a thorough understanding of the carbon cycle.

Type: Lesson Plan

Learn how to trace matter and energy through living and non-living systems and understand that matter and energy are transferred on a global scale.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Michael Kozar talks about the influence land and water have on severe weather.

Download the CPALMS Perspectives video student note taking guide.

Type: Perspectives Video: Expert

Sandra Brooke, from FSU Marine Lab, talks about undersea canyon ecosystems.

Download the CPALMS Perspectives video student note taking guide.

Type: Perspectives Video: Expert

Dean Grubbs discusses biogeochemical cycles in the oceans and their impact.

Download the CPALMS Perspectives video student note taking guide.

Type: Perspectives Video: Expert

Dissolved oxygen is important to all life in and out of the water! Learn more in this video!

Download the CPALMS Perspectives video student note taking guide.

Type: Perspectives Video: Expert

Description needed. Light Reflection, Refraction, & Absorption

Download the CPALMS Perspectives video student note taking guide.

Type: Perspectives Video: Professional/Enthusiast

Kent Koptiuch talks about watersheds and water quality.

Download the CPALMS Perspectives video student note taking guide.

Type: Perspectives Video: Professional/Enthusiast

Kent Koptiuch talks about aquifers and the importance of water quality.

Download the CPALMS Perspectives video student note taking guide.

Type: Perspectives Video: Professional/Enthusiast

Glass artist Russel Scaturro explains how fine control of gas flow aids efforts to minimize his carbon footprint toward a larger goal of environmentally-conscious fabrication methodology. 

Download the CPALMS Perspectives video student note taking guide.

Type: Perspectives Video: Professional/Enthusiast

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. This article answers the question of whether volcanic activity or human activities contribute more to global warming. With evidence and support, they easily conclude human activities are the heaviest contributor

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. The article describes how scientific thoughts about the water cycle have changed over time, particularly due to information gathered in a recent study. The article gives a good representation of the scientific method and the importance of the water cycle.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. This is a fascinating article about the large role one tiny organism plays in its ecosystem. The author explores the predatory habits of the salamander, how this amphibian can affect the carbon cycle, and the changes that have been taking place in the salamander populations over time.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. This article by NASA explains the physical reasons why the shape of a raindrop is more bun-shaped than tear-shaped.

Type: Text Resource

What exactly is the carbon cycle? Nathaniel Manning provides a basic look into the cyclical relationship of carbon, humans and the environment.

Type: Tutorial

This lab simulation will allow you to explore how carbon circulates through the environment. Through data collection and analysis, you will experiment with the impact that humans are having on the cycling of carbon and make data based predictions on how these impacts may change environmental outcomes to the year 2100.

Type: Tutorial

This unit/ lesson sequence describes the biogeochemical cycles of carbon and nitrogen. It includes descriptions of class room inquiry-based activities including worksheets and assessment items.

Type: Unit/Lesson Sequence