Earth and Space Sciences
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Earth
Carbon dioxide’s ecological footprint
Students will answer questions based on the Science News article "Rising CO2 threatens lake food webs" and an accompanying graph tracking pH.
- Physics
When science and gravity meet
These discussion prompts encourage students to explore concepts related to gravity and how scientists measure it.
- Physics
The equivalence principle in the archive
Use this short section to explore and compare other articles about measurements of the equivalence principle as reported by Science News since 1924.
- Space
Testing the equivalence principle
Students will answer questions based on the Science News article "Galileo experiment re-created in space."
- Life
Boosting your background knowledge
These discussion prompts help students gain a better understanding of key vocabulary and concepts covered in the Top 10 articles of 2017.
- Life
Tracking the latest developments
Students will compare and contrast one of the Top 10 stories of 2017 with an earlier related article from the Science News archive.
- Life
Analyzing a top article
Students will read and summarize one of the Top 10 stories of 2017, as reported by Science News.
- Chemistry
Making carbon connections
These discussion prompts cover the basics of radioactive decay and carbon-14 dating, as well as concepts related to climate change.
- Plants
Uniting past and present
Students will search the Science News archive for stories related to frozen mosses, radioactive carbon-14 dating and global warming.
- Plants
Mosses exposed and analyzed
Students will answer questions about how scientists measure the age of newly thawed mosses in the Arctic, and the implications of those scientists' findings.
- Physics
The pressure to be a star
To better understand the life cycle of stars, students will estimate the conditions involved in stars and element formation.
- Space
Star light, star bright
These discussion prompts cover the principles of spectroscopy, stellar evolution and fusion reactions.
