This course explores the physical processes that control Earth's atmosphere, ocean, and climate. Quantitative methods for constructing mass and energy budgets. Topics include clouds, rain, severe storms, regional climate, the ozone layer, air pollution, ocean currents and productivity, the seasons, El Ni–o, the history of Earth's climate, global warming, energy, and water resources.

Students use their knowledge of tornadoes and damage. The students will work in groups to design a structure that will withstand and protect people from tornadoes. Each group will create a poster with the name of their engineering firm and a picture of their structure. Finally, each group will present their posters to the class.

Students analyze international oil consumption and production data. They make several graphs to organize the data and draw conclusions about the overall use of oil in the world.

Through ongoing partnership with teachers across New York City, New Visions has developed this course map for a high school earth & space science course fully designed to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and the New York State Science Learning Standards (NYSSLS). Each unit follows a common structure: students engage with an anchor phenomenon and develop questions; go through sequences of learning and sense-making to develop and iterate on answers to those questions; then complete a three-dimensional performance task.

Unit 1: Discovering New Worlds Topic: Solar System
Unit 2: Probability of Life in the Universe Topic: Early Solar System, Orbital Motion, and Origin of the Universe
Unit 3: Earthquakes and Tsunamis: Are we at Risk? Topic: Earth’s Interior_ Waves, Energy and Risk
Unit 4: Climate Change Throughout Human History Topic: Coevolution of Climate and Life
Unit 5: Human Decision Making Topic: Human Sustainability
Unit 6: More Hurricanes and Blizzards in NYC? Topic: Climate Change and Severe Weather

Review the environmental factors that make the Earth habitable and compare them to other worlds within our Solar System. Use creative thinking to design an alien life form suited for specific environmental conditions on an extra-terrestrial world within our Solar System.

This activity asks students to use sports balls as scale models of the Earth and the Moon.  Students will determine the scale of the model system and the distance that must separate the two models.

This activity is a teacher-led demonstration of continental drift and includes a math worksheet for students involving the calculation of continental drift over time. Students will understand what continental drift is, why it occurs, and how earthquakes occur because of it.

The purpose of this lesson is to introduce students to the basic elements of our Earth's crust: rocks, soils and minerals. They learn how we categorize rocks, soils and minerals and how they are literally the foundation for our civilization. Students also explore how engineers use rocks, soils and minerals to create the buildings, roads, vehicles, electronics, chemicals, and other objects we use to enhance our lives.

Students learn about the structure of the earth and how an earthquake happens. In one activity, students make a model of the earth including all of its layers. In a teacher-led demonstration, students learn about continental drift. In another activity, students create models demonstrating the different types of faults.

Students learn how engineers construct buildings to withstand damage from earthquakes by building their own structures with toothpicks and marshmallows. Students test how earthquake-proof their buildings are by testing them on an earthquake simulated in a pan of Jell-O(TM).

Students learn the two main methods to measure earthquakes, the Richter Scale and the Mercalli Scale. They make a model of a seismograph a measuring device that records an earthquake on a seismogram. Students also investigate which structural designs are most likely to survive an earthquake. And, they illustrate an informational guide to the Mercalli Scale.

This is a quick activity that gives students a visual of what is happening when we talk about global warming.

Students will construct a distance model of the solar system to scale, using colored beads as planets. The chart below shows the planets and asteroid belt in order, along with their distance from the sun in astronomical units

This course is designed to be a survey of the various subdisciplines of geophysics (geodesy, gravity, geomagnetism, seismology, and geodynamics) and how they might relate to or be relevant for other planets. No prior background in Earth sciences is assumed, but students should be comfortable with vector calculus, classical mechanics, and potential field theory.

Students learn about fossils what they are, how they are formed, and why scientists and engineers care about them.

In this activity, students are introduced to faults. They will learn about different kinds of faults and understand their relationship to earthquakes. The students will build cardboard models of the three different types of faults as they learn about how earthquakes are formed.

To understand how fossils are formed, students model the process of fossilization by making fossils using small toy figures and melted chocolate. They extend their knowledge to the many ways that engineers aid in the study of fossils, including the development of tools and technologies for determining the physical and chemical properties of fossilized organisms, and how those properties tell a story of our changing world.

This lesson introduces the ways that engineers study and harness the wind. Students will learn about the different kinds of winds and how to measure wind direction. In addition, students will learn how air pressure creates winds and how engineers build and test wind turbines to harness energy from wind.

In this lesson, students investigate sources of fossil fuels, particularly oil. Students will learn how engineers and scientists look for oil by taking core samples from a model of the Earth. Also, students will explore and analyze oil consumption and production in the United States and around the world.

Students investigate how mountains are formed. Concepts include the composition and structure of the Earth's tectonic plates and tectonic plate boundaries, with an emphasis on plate convergence as it relates to mountain formation. Students learn that geotechnical engineers design technologies to measure movement of tectonic plates and mountain formation, as well as design to alter the mountain environment to create safe and dependable roadways and tunnels.