Use United Nations Environment Programme's Global Environment Outlook web-GIS to analyze climate variables, as well as those on freshwater, population, forests, emissions, disasters, health, and GDP, as maps, graphs, and data tables.

Use the Esri Resources pages to teach spatial analysis without any software required except a web browser, thanks to ArcGIS Server technology running behind the scenes. The Message in a Bottle tool uses a particle-tracking model to show where a bottle would travel after a specified number of days if dropped in the ocean and therefore serves as an excellent teaching tool about ocean currents.

In this activity, youth or adults explore a GIS application and maps website to explore how and why GIS is used in earth science and in other fields. Goals: (1) Understand why and how GIS is used in everyday decision-making. (2) Understand that GIS extends into careers far beyond geography, into Earth Science and more. (3) Learn about the variety of scales, topics, and careers in which GIS is used.

Use the no cost, easy-to-use, powerful ArcExplorer-Java Edition for Education software to examine issues pertinent to the Americas and beyond, from local to global scale. For example, lesson 4 in the ArcExplorer-Java Edition for Education tutorial invites you to examine land use in Washington, D.C., while lesson 5 invites you to investigate the relationship of climate to landforms in the United States.

Investigate complex, relevant issues such as urban sprawl in Las Vegas, vegetation change in the Great Lakes, mining in Montana and Colorado, and earthquakes in California in this series of lessons that incorporates satellite imagery, aerial photographs, and GIS to make sense of the history and geography of the United States. The CD and lessons use AEJEE and are available from the National Council for Geographic Education (NCGE).

This activity, as well as the activity Analyzing Field Data in 3D, invites you to use 3D mapping and analysis to investigate your nearest local wild place. Use your field data, sketches, notes, photographs, links, and videos in ArcGIS Explorer to enhance your understanding about your local area.

Without watersheds, what would happen the next time you turn on the faucet? Because they are a 3D concept, perhaps the best way to understand watersheds is by using 3D tools. ArcGIS Explorer is ESRI's no-cost, easy-to-use 3D virtual globe. Download watersheds and river data from the National Atlas for a quick but powerful way of analyzing watersheds in your area.

Discover how GIS can be used for Earth Science inquiry through this demonstration and presentation developed for Earth Science teachers.

Discover how GIS can be used for Environmental Science inquiry through this demonstration and presentation developed for environmental science teachers.

What affect do volcanoes have on climate change? One of the most famous volcanoes in the Americas is Mount Saint Helens, in the state of Washington in the United States. Examine Mount Saint Helens before and after the 1980 eruption in three dimensions by using ArcGIS 3D Analyst software to create surfaces, determine what landscape is visible from a given point, and calculate the volume of material blown sky-high in the eruption.

Get outside! Set up and run your own high-tech treasure hunt by going geocaching with GPS receivers to explore the flora, fauna, people, and history of your own area. The course includes questions that are based on virtual caches�objects already on the ground, such as flagpoles, rocks, benches, trees, and irrigation pipes. This course was established for Earth Day in Colorado, but can be adapted for other themes and areas.