Studying the Environment from Local to Global 

A Telemation Unit by Linda Leyva

 Mendocino Middle School 

Unit Length: 6 to 8 Weeks

California State Framework Area: Science
Themes: Systems and Interactions,
Patterns of Change

Produced in conjunction with the NASA NREN K-12 Partner School 
Program and the California Telemation Project

I. INTRODUCTION

	We are all aware of problems caused by human impact on the 
earthÕs environment. Young people have a vital interest in the earth as 
a home for life. This unit builds on student commitment  to caring for 
the environment upon which all life depends.  I hope that a deeper 
understanding of the complexity of environmental systems developed 
in this unit will help students make informed decisions and act in 
environmentally constructive and responsible ways.
	In this unit students will learn about the major land biomes of 
earth and closely examine the biome in which they are located. They 
will create and exchange an ÒEnvironmental BoxÓ with students who 
live in a different biome.  Through telecommunications they will 
discuss their exchange and how each biome affects and is affected by the 
people who live there.
	In addition, students will learn how scientists use state-of-the-art 
remote sensing technology to monitor the earthÕs environment. In 
cooperative teams, they will propose remote sensing experiments to 
study and address an environmental problem of their choice.
	This project incorporates current California State Science 
Framework conceptual themes of Systems and Interactions and 
Patterns of Change. Students will be engaged in activities that teach 
processes of science used in environmental research. They will use 
telecommunications to expand their horizons, and hopefully have 
their interest sparked in science and computing as fields for further 
study. 

II. STUDENT OUTCOMES:

Students will:
	-- Learn characteristics of the major biomes of planet earth.
	-- Map these biomes and view images of them .
	-- Telecommunicate with a class located in a different biome to 
gain a deeper understanding of each environment and how it 
influences lifestyles of the people who live there.
	-- Create an environmental box of items to be exchanged with 
the remote class.
	-- Plan  and discuss the exchange with the other class by email.
	-- Become familiar with ways that scientists use remote sensing 
and satellite images of the earth to understand environmental 
problems.
	--  Create,  in a cooperative team, a proposal to use satellite 
imagery to study an environmental problem .

III. ACTIVITIES

1. The Small Blue Planet
	Students will view and discuss the Smithsonian InstitutionÕs 
Blue Planet  video, filmed by NASA astronauts from five space shuttle 
missions. and study the book Blue  Planet by Lydia Dotto. They will 
learn the characteristics of the major land biomes of the earth (Tundra, 
Desert, Grassland, Tropical Rain Forest, Deciduous Forest, and 
Coniferous Forest), map these regions, and view satellite images.

2. Creating an Environmental Exchange Box
	Students will draw and write about their local biome, its 
characteristics, resources, and products, environmental problems,  and 
how these affect their lives. They will decide what items to include in 
an ÒEnvironmental BoxÓ to be exchanged with a class located in a 
different 
biome.
	 Each student will contribute at least one item for the box, along 
with a Òmuseum catalog cardÓ describing the item, and telling where 
and how it was obtained.  Items for the box may include (but are not 
limited to)  samples of flora and fauna, audio or video tapes, postcards, 
photos, drawings, newspaper articles, a class created mural, and local 
commercial products. After the boxes have been exchanged, students 
will communicate by email to discuss their different environments 
and how they affect and are affected by the people who live there.  

3. Imperiled Planet
	Using a ÒJigsawÓ lesson design, students will describe problems 
endangering earthÕs ecosystems. Resources for this lesson include
the books Blue Planet  and Imperiled Planet. 
  
4. Remote Sensing and Satellite Imagery
	Students will do activities from NASAÕs SIR-CED  CD-ROM, 
which demonstrates how satellite imagery  is used to monitor  
environmental problems such as deforestation and desertification, 
among others. They will also use lessons from Up Close from Afar: 
Using Remote Sensing to Teach the American Landscape. Additional 
images will be provided by 
1. Space Shuttle Repository ( URL 
http://ceps.nasm.edu:2020/SSPR.html) 2. SIR-C/X-SAR space radar 
images of Earth (URL http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/sircxsar.html)
3.  The National Aerial Photography Program 
(URL http://sun1.cr.usgs.gov/glis/hyper/guide/napp)
4. The  NASA - JSC Image Science Division Digital Image Collection, 
Earth Observation Series  URL 
(http://images.jsc.nasa.gov/html/earth.html)
5. The National Space Science Data Center at the 
Goddard Space Flight Center 
(URL http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/photo_gallery/PhotoGallery-
Earth.html)

5. Cooperative Group Proposal
	In a cooperative team, students will develop a plan to address an 
environmental problem using satellite and remote sensing technology. 
They will decide what problem to study, what data would be collected, 
and how it would be collected. They will use internet resources such as 
Ecogopher and Kidsnet  to research the environmental problem that 
their proposal will address, and when possible, consult with scientists 
to develop their proposals. 
	Completed student plans will be submitted to professional 
remote sensing scientists for comments and evaluation. Quality 
proposals will be entered in the NASA/NSTA  Space Science Student 
Involvement Program Contest. 


IV. ASSESSMENT

1. Students will identify photo images of different earth biomes, 
describe the environmental conditions in the biome, and list 
characteristic organisms.
2. Students will identify specimens of organisms from their local biome 
and describe the  organismsÕ adaptations for survival in their natural 
habitat.
3. Students will write about a current environmental problem, its 
causes, contributing factors, potential solutions, and difficulties in 
implementing these solutions.
4. Students will receive a group grade and individual grade on their 
Group Proposal. The group grade will be given by the teacher, based on 
the quality of the proposal and adherence to defined guidelines. The 
individual grade will be based on teacher observations, student 
reflective writings, and student ratings of their groupÕs efforts. For 
example, a group of four students may be given 400 points, and told to 
individually distribute the points to group members, justifying in 
writing  their decisions based on who did what, quality, quantity, and 
timeliness of each group memberÕs contribution.  
  
	
Addendum

Resources:
	Bauman, Paul, Up Close from Afar: Using Remote Sensing to 
Teach the  American Landscape, National Council for Geographic 
Education, 1994. ISBN# 0-9627379-9-2.
	Blue Planet  video (42 minutes) by the Smithsonian Institution . 
Distributed by the Finley-Holiday Film Corp, Box 619, Whittier, CA 
90601 (phone 800-435-6707), $29.95.
	Dotto, Lydia, Blue Planet: A Portrait of Our Planet, Smithsonian 
Institution, 1991. ISBN# 0-8109-2472-2.
	Goldsith, Edward, Hildyard, Nicholas, McCully, Patrick, and 
Bunyard, Peter:Imperiled Planet : Restoring Our Endangered 
Ecosystems , Cambridge: MIT Press, 1990. ISBN# 0-262-07132-0. 
	The Small Blue Planet  satellite image world atlas CD-ROM.
	SIR-CED  CD-ROM Education Program, free from the Teacher 
Resource department at NASAÕs Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Public 
Information Office 186-120, Pasadena, CA 91109. Access via the Net :
 Anonymous FTP Access:  URL:ftp://jplinfo.jpl.nasa.gov/,  
WWWAccess: URL:http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/ , 
newsdesk@jpl.nasa.gov, Phone: (818) 354-5011, FAX: (818) 354-4537.

Image Sources on Internet:
1. The Image Sciences Division of NASA's Johnson Space Center is 
pleased to announce that our digital image collection is now accessible 
on the
Internet.  This collection includes press release and Earth observation
images from the manned space program from Mercury to the present.  
All
press release images (c. 9,000 image files) are currently available,
but for Earth observation only the latest mission's images have been 
loaded
(c. 4-12,000 image files).  These images can be accessed using the File
Transfer Protocol (FTP), Gopher, and World Wide Web (WWW) 
information
sharing protocols over the Internet.  Each of these protocols will
provide access to our JPEG images (average 40k each) and the text files
that describe them.

In the next year we plan to load an additional 200,000 Earth observation
images.  We will also load each mission's press release images as they
are selected.

URLs:
     FTP://images.jsc.nasa.gov   (login as anonymous)
     Gopher://images.jsc.nasa.gov:70/
     http://images.jsc.nasa.gov/html/home.htm

Further information regarding the availability of these images through
the Internet can be obtained from the Customer Services Office in the
Image Sciences Division.  Contact Kevin Marsh at 
(KMarsh@ja6.jsc.nasa.gov).