Ready, set, go! As promised in our previous post, we are going to do an overview of the recently published AmericaView lesson plans. The first lesson from the 2024 Earth Observation Day lesson series is, “Exploring the Electromagnetic Spectrum (EMS).” This lesson is intended to be an introductory lesson to help give students a basic understanding of the electromagnetic spectrum, energy waves, and remote sensing. Students will gain background knowledge and learn vocabulary from this lesson to help them as they move through other lessons that are focused on specific disciplines. The lesson is broken into two sessions.
Session One
The first session has four activities. First is an introductory video explaining electromagnetic radiation, waves, and visible light. Second, a reading activity called “Anatomy of an Electromagnetic Wave” to reinforce concepts from the video. Third, students examine two diagrams. The first diagram shows energy waves across the EMS, and a second diagram shows a timeline and introduction to the US Landsat Mission, which has been collecting Earth data across the EMS since 1972. The final activity is a physical activity using a jump rope to demonstrate further concepts of energy waves (frequency, wavelength, energy).
Session Two
The second session’s activities include a warm-up that examines a satellite image to identify various features. Next, students read “Wave Behaviors,” exploring different vocabulary related to EMS waves, and “Visualization: from Energy to Image,” to learn how invisible EMS waves are converted into different forms of imagery. Then, students apply knowledge in “Exploring Remote Sensing Activity.” They will get to explore how different surfaces emit different light energy. Students will also get a chance to explore remote sensing using Google Earth. Finally, to wrap up this lesson, students will wrap up this session with a quiz-style game or a printable quiz.
Here is the link to view the full lesson plan as a pdf: https://ckan.americaview.org/data/AmericaView/EOD/2024_eod_ems.pdf
