FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT US AT connect@space.rice.edu Funded by NASA as part of the Earth Science Information Partners   Activity 9: Seasonal Vegetation Changes Level: Grade 5-8, but easily adaptable for older or younger students Learning Objective: Students will compare vegetation maps in January and July. They will see that some regions are green all year long, but other regions (in the Southern Hemisphere) are greener in January, and yet other regions (in the Northern hemisphere) are greener in July. Some regions (deserts and polar ice regions) are green neither time. Specific Science Content Standards Changes in earth and sky Populations and ecosystems Structure and evolution of an earth system's history Geography: Using maps to acquire and process data Earth Update: Biosphere Introducing the activity: Tell students that measuring the color of the Earth can be used from space as a way to tell how healthy the Earth is. This can be done both to help farmers grow crops and to observe how deforestation has affected the Earth. As a follow-on, you can download the most recent vegetation maps in the "latest images" section of the Biosphere module, to compare today's data to an average January or July. Activity 9: Seasonal Changes in Vegetation You will need to have Adobe Acrobat Reader to view this activity. To download, click on the link below. http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep.html

Last Update: December 12, 2001