AN INTERACTIVE WEB-BASED TUTORIAL ON VIEWING GLOBAL-SCALE EARTH SYSTEM INTERACTIONS USING SPACE SHUTTLE PHOTOGRAPHS

This tutorial provides a technologically based educational resource concerning Earth system interactions for secondary earth science teachers. It is web-accessible, uses Space Shuttle photographs taken by NASA astronauts and other remotely sensed images, and provides educators a global-scale perspective on Earth systems and how they interact. The tutorial provides definitions and descriptions of Earth systems, processes, and cycles but focuses particularly on examples of large-scale system interactions as documented on Space Shuttle photographs. Implications on global change and human impact are elucidated. For example, interaction between hydrosphere and lithosphere has given rise to the red tide off the U.S. Gulf Coast. The result is an area where little life is found due to chemical run-off from the Mississippi River delta. Biosphere and hydrosphere interact to give rise to blooms off the Florida and Australia coasts. These interactions give students a look at the distribution of algal populations and the influence of humans on those populations. Other examples include volcanic eruptions, new lakes west of the Nile in Egypt, shifts in the Yellow River delta, drying of the Aral Sea, and dust storms in the U.S. Midwest and Africa. Photos and descriptions allow students to explore large-scale Earth interactions from Space. Students may also test their knowledge of various Earth systems. Resource links are available on the web site for teachers and students for further investigation or additional photos. You may view the tutorial at Earth Systems Science Tutorial (www.homestead.com/esstutorial). Photos and images are from NASA’s Earth Observatory (www.earthobservatory.nasa.gov). Supplementary materials are from NASA (www.nasa.gov), Earth System Science Pathway (http://essp.gsfc.nasa.gov/), Earth System Science Online (http://www.usra.edu/esse/essonline/), the Pedosphere and its Dynamics (http://www.pedosphere.com/), and An Introduction to Global Change (http://ess.geology.ufl.edu/). We want to bring Earth System Science and more technologically based instructional materials to the forefront in secondary science classrooms.