Students will explore how energy from the sun is absorbed, reflected and radiated back out into space. They will complete a short lab investigating the effect of surface color, type of material (land or water) or clouds on temperature change to begin to think about how Earth’s varying surfaces might affect overall temperature. Then they will explore Earth’s Energy Budget through a video, demonstration activity/simulation, and interactive animation. As an extension, students will look at NASA data about absorbed and reflected energy and look for seasonal and geographical patterns.

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• Teacher Guide (pdf)
• Student Capture Sheet (pdf)
• Powerpoint Presentation (ppt)
• Albedo Lab (pdf)
• Clouds Lab (pdf)
• Land vs. Water Lab (pdf)

This diagram shows how solar radiation is absorbed and reflected by Earth. Credits: NCAR / UCAR