Educator Features

Our Space ... Keep It Clean Extra
11.21.05
The international space station flies over Earth
What's an Extra? Each month a list of resources is gathered for educators to support a theme related to NASA's unique content. Educational materials, classroom activities, games, pictures, NASA TV broadcasts and Web sites are listed for browsing and collecting. Visit each month for new items. And don't forget to join NASA TV during the week of Dec. 12-18, 2005, as NASA showcases some of its award-winning videos that highlight "Our Space ... Keep It Clean."

Image to the right: This photograph of the ISS was taken from the space shuttle Discovery during the STS-114 Return to Flight mission. Credit: NASA

NASA TV Education Schedule
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This 'Extra' feature highlights educational products, activities, multimedia and Web sites related to this month's theme "Our Space ... Keep It Clean."

NASA Educational Products

The front cover of The Air We Breathe Picture Book with an illustration of an astronaut with the words The Air We Breathe above him The Air We Breathe Picture Book (Grades K-4)
This colorful picture book is about Earth's atmosphere and its importance to life on Earth.
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The front of the lithograph showing various images of Earth Earth Lithograph (All Grades)
The images of Earth on this lithograph include snapshots of the Pacific Ocean with the Americas, Earth's biosphere, a temperature map, a false-color radar image of central Africa and an ozone hole over the South Pole.
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The front of the air poster showing Earth Earth Observing System Posters
Explore the facets of the EOS project with these informative, eye-catching posters. Each poster takes a specific topic, ranging from ice sheets to volcanoes and explains what NASA scientists are doing to understand that topic. Colorful and instructional satellite images, graphs and pictures complement the fact-filled information making the posters ideal for the classroom.
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NASA Educational Multimedia Materials

Picture of CD, tape, slides and guides
The Central Operation of Resources for Educators is the worldwide distribution center for NASA-produced multimedia materials. Education Modules for themes are bundled by topic and may include CD-ROMs, videotapes, educator guides, posters, lithographs, books, lesson plans, bookmarks, fact sheets, slide sets and activity kits.

Image to right: NASA develops multimedia resources for educators.

Module Spotlight:

Earth Science (Grades K-4)
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Earth Science (Grades 5-8)
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Search words for CORE Materials: environment

CORE
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Follow the Theme - Activities, Adventures and Web Sites of Interest

Puzzle with module names Exploring the Environment Modules
These modules for grades 5-12 are about things that affect Earth's environment such as weather, fire and humans.
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A photograph of contrails from jets in a cloudless sky S'COOL: Observing Contrails
Contrails are clouds formed around the small particles (aerosols) which are in aircraft exhaust. When these persist after the passage of the plane, they are of great interest to researchers.
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A boy and a girl look at a map on a computer screen

Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment
K-12 students in the GLOBE Program make environmental measurements and send their data, via the Internet, to the GLOBE Student Data Archive. GLOBE is a worldwide hands-on, primary and secondary school-based education and science program.
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Amelia the pigeon The Interactive Multimedia Adventures for Grade School Education Using Remote Sensing Program
This NASA Earth science education resource introduces remote sensing and satellite imagery to children in grades K-8. The program includes two multimedia Web sites: "Adventures of Amelia the Pigeon" and "Adventures of Echo the Bat."
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A woman in a spacesuit holds a rock Astromaterials
The Johnson Space Center is NASA's center of excellence for astromaterials -- or materials from space. Scientists at JSC collect and study samples from the moon, meteorites from Antarctica, and cosmic dust from the Earth's stratosphere.
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A man in a special white suit that is worn in a clean room Dynamic Design: The Cleanroom
This education module focuses on the Genesis mission clean room at NASA Johnson Space Center near Houston, Texas. In Dynamic Design: The Cleanroom, students experience the requirements and conditions of working in NASA's cleanest room.
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A graphic of Earth showing the layers of the atmosphere Intercontinental Chemical Transport Experiment
The Intercontinental Chemical Transport Experiment is a major NASA science campaign to understand the transport and transformation of gases and aerosols on transcontinental and intercontinental scales and their impact on air quality and climate. The Teacher Resources section benefits those educators desiring new and fun teaching activities.
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The Astro-Venture character Astro-Venture
Students in grades five through eight are transported to the future where they role play NASA occupations and use scientific inquiry, as they search for and build a planet with the necessary characteristics for human habitation.
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At Work in the Ocean
This CD contains three units. They introduce students to the importance and complexities of regular monitoring of our underwater world.
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Fragile Earth Slide Show
This slide show focuses on many of the conditions that affect Earth's crust, waters and atmosphere. Space photographs and satellite images illustrate how both nature and people have changed Earth -- and not always for the better. This presentation encourages students to become active participants in restoring our sick and injured Earth to good health. The slide show was produced by the Smithsonian Institute.
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NASA's Earth Observatory
The public can obtain new satellite imagery and scientific information about our home planet from this exciting and up-to-date site. The focus is on Earth's climate and environmental change.
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Visible Earth
This site is a catalog of NASA images and animations of our home planet.
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The NASA SCIence Files™: The Case of the Ocean Odyssey
Floating tennis shoes and oil globs wash up on the beach and set the tree house detectives in motion to investigate a unique world under the sea. Join them as they dive into learning about ocean floor topography, currents, ocean zones and more.
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The Measurement of All Things: Atmospheric Detectives
NASA scientists and researchers introduce students to the study of atmospheric science. They demonstrate the use of mathematics and remote sensing to measure the amount of aerosols in the atmosphere and how human activity contributes to the amount of these aerosols in the atmosphere.
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NASA Orbital Debris Program Office
Orbital debris is any man-made object in orbit about the Earth that no longer serves a useful purpose.
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What's Orbiting in Our Near-Earth Space Environment?
Orbital debris in the near-Earth space environment is made up of micrometeoroids and man-made debris.
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KSNN: Did You Know Astronauts Will Recycle Water in Space?
NASA is using research on the international space station to help develop better ways to re-cycle the air, water and food.
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Blue Planet
Astronauts from five space shuttle missions filmed this videotape with the IMAX camera. Experiments focus on infrared detection of atmospheric remnants from volcanic eruptions, ozone concentration levels and solar ultraviolet radiation related to global warming, among other topics.
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Videos showcased in the December 2005 Education File Schedule to support "Our Space... Keep It Clean" are: Case of the Prize-Winning Plants, The "A" Train Express, Atmospheric Detectives, Case of the Wacky Water Cycle, Live from the Rainforest Programs 1, 2 and 3, Case of the Inhabitable Habitat, Case of the Ocean Odyssey, Case of the Unknown Stink, and Case of the Mysterious Red Light.
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Additional Resources

Black and White: Soot on Ice
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Life on Earth: The Environment
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What Spacecraft Gets the Best "Gas Mileage"?
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Destination Earth
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Worldbook @ NASA: Global Warming
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Exploring the Environment: Water Quality
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Worldbook @ NASA: Ozone
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Destination Tomorrow Program 8: Tech Watch
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Next Month's Theme: X Is Experimental

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