K-3 Earth Science Video

See What Earth Science is all About K-3 is an instructional video program for elementary teachers that covers astronomy, geology, oceanography and meteorology. The video comes with a printed outline that includes lesson plans, observational activities and experiments. The image at the right is a glowing cosmic cloud (NGC 3199) in the southern constellation of Carina and lies about 12,000 light years away. Near the center of the ring is a Wolf-Rayet star, a massive hot, short-lived star that generates an intense stellar wind. This image is courtesy of astronomer Ken Crawford and NASA and is not found in the science program, but is only representative of some of the material found on the science video in regards to astronomy.

Each day you can view a different astronomy photograph with a brief explanation from a professional astronomer - click here!

Section 1 - Astronomy (23 min)

• The earth's rotation
• Time and time zones
• Moon characteristics and motion
• Stars and constellations
• Galaxies

Section 2 - Geology (16 min)

• Properties of rocks and soil
• Sink / float - density of liquids
• Earth's surface features
• Soils - water holding capacity

Section 3 - Oceanography (6 min)

• Sand
• Saltwater
• Growing and observing salt crystals
• Topography of the ocean floor
• Miscellaneous topics

Section 4 - Meteorology (34 min)

• Air: what is it? Characteristics and properties
• Density: gases vs. liquids
• Density vs. altitude
• Heat and air
• Introduction to expansion of solids, liquids and gases
• Wind: what is it? Causes, measuring and pressure
• Collecting water from the air
• Clouds
• Weather charts
• Working with air - experiment using scientific methods

View a sample project from the "Earth Science K-3" section of the teacher handbook.

Grades: K-3, Running Time: 1 hr. 23 min. Format: VHS. Copyright: 1986.
Includes: Printed teaching outline.

ORDER K-3 Earth Science video + teaching outline here.