Digital Earth Watch (DEW) brings together biology, physics, chemistry, technology, art, engineering, and math in a project that supports environmental science field studies in middle schools, high schools, self-guided education, and citizen science. This site has free software, ideas for activities and challenge questions.
DEW is a product of a NASA education grant project: Measuring Vegetation Health.
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Plants are like "green canaries:"
if they die, other organisms will likely follow. By measuring the
health of plants, we measure the environmental conditions that
affect all nearby organisms, including humans. We monitor plant health by measuring proportions of
light reflected from leaves, and with our understanding
of plant behavior and physiology we
assess the quality of the local environment.
Plants are indicators of changing environmental conditions, causing them to respond to those factors. That response can be monitored to determine environmental conditions. Human and natural processes influence environmental conditions.
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