NCEI data is a unique, authoritative resource for advancing education, in science and academia.. Education is a significant part of NCEI’s mission, and the following resources are designed to empower teachers and educators to use data in new and exciting ways at the K-12 grade level and beyond.
NOAA has many educational materials available across a broad spectrum of topics. Use the NOAA Education page to search resources from all over the organization, or refer to the following pages for curated, subject focused lesson plans, educational videos, games, powerpoints, and other activities.
Educator Toolkits
These toolkits provide hands-on activities and online data tools to create an integrated learning experience for each subject area, and support specific Next Generation Science Standards.
For more educator toolkits and bundles, visit: https://www.noaa.gov/education/explainers/back-to-school-bundles-digital-noaa-resource-kits-for-your-classroom
Printable Activities
- Earth Facts Fortune Teller Activity
- Surface of the Earth Icosahedron Globe
- Tsunami Sources Icosahedron Globe
Printable Reference Posters
- Age of the Ocean Floor Poster
- Surface of the Earth Poster
- Tsunami Sources 1610 B.C. to A.D. 2022 Poster
- Sky Watcher Chart
- Sky Watcher Chart - Spanish
- Significant Earthquakes 2150 B.C. to A.D. 2022 Poster
- Significant Volcanic Eruptions 4360 B.C. to A.D. 2022 Poster
Our Online Store has more posters for free download or sale.
Story Maps
Esri StoryMaps present complex scientific or safety information in easy-to-understand terms. They combine maps, narrative text, images, and multimedia with history, to transform data and products into interactive, visual narratives.
NCEI StoryMap Gallery
- AI at NOAA: Highlighting Innovation in Practice
- Earth's Magnetic Field: The Force That's Always With You
- Exploring U.S. Deep-Sea Corals and Sponges
- Hydrographic Survey Data / Bathymetric Attributed Grids (BAGs)
- In Harm’s Way: Hurricane Ida’s Impact On Socially Vulnerable Communities
- In Hot Water: Ocean Heat and Our Warming World
- Listening to the Sea: Using Passive Acoustic Data to Monitor Ships and Ocean Life
- Mapping NOAA Data
- Monitoring the Melt: Measuring Arctic Sea Ice Loss
- Tracking Tsunamis: Preserving the Historical Record
- Tsunamis in History: Using Data to Improve Public Safety
- Understanding Our Ocean with Water-Column Sonar Data
- Underwater Frontiers: A Brief History of Seafloor Mapping
- U.S. Extended Continental Shelf Project: Determining the Extent of U.S. Sovereign Rights
- Voices from Florida's Changing Coral Reefs
- Where the Water Meets the Land: A Coastal Digital Elevation Model Framework
- When It Rains, It Pours: Extreme Precipitation in the U.S.
Resources by Topic
These interactive modules provide teacher guides, powerpoints, story maps to explore current findings in ocean science. Topics include ocean acidification, El Nino, coral bleaching, water quality, and sea level changes.
This collection of short videos produced by NOAA features topics related to the current state of the ocean, marine life, and the impact of these systems on our lives on-shore.
The NOAA Enrichment in Marine Sciences and Oceanography (NEMO) curriculum features twenty-three consecutive lesson plans accompanied by PowerPoint slides to support teaching marine science and oceanographic principles to high school students.
Ocean Exploration and Research Education
The findings and information from NOAA research vessel trips since 2012 have been formatted into lesson plans, videos, and career profiles that are helpful in teaching concepts surrounding the ocean.
NOAA’s National Estuarine Research Reserve System has collected this searchable collection of activities, lesson plans, and quizzes to support educators in teaching about the estuary environment.
- NOAA Videos Support Climate Literacy - English
- NOAA Vídeos de Conocimiento Climática - Español
- Video on Climate and Weather - English
- Vídeo de Clima y Tiempo - Español
This kid-friendly website provides meteorology and satellite resources for educators and students alike. To explore topics related to weather, the website contains interactive games, lesson plans, posters, videos, and career profiles.
National Severe Storms Laboratory Learning Resources
Resources that help students understand the impact of severe weather, including informative coloring books, worksheets, interactive sites, and games.
On the site you will find datasets, maps, reports, data products, articles, climate and weather news, and education resources. The educational materials consist of more than 500 reviewed lessons.
This collection of lesson plans gives educators background information, quizzes, posters, and activities to aid demonstrating the major concepts of meteorology and extreme weather.
- Tsunami Events Animation Time-Lapse Viewer
- Tsunami Sources 1610 B.C. to A.D. 2022 Poster
- Historic Tsunamis: Grades 4 - 10
- Tsunami Events Animation Time-Lapse Viewer
- Tracking Tsunamis: Preserving the Historical Record
- Tsunamis in History: Using Data to Improve Public Safety
- Tsunami Sources Icosahedron Globe
Science on a Sphere is a technology for exploring earth systems on a large scale and can be explored using a free SOS Explorer Mobile application. This application allows for the 3D interaction with select datasets upon a globe that explore the geographic context of topics from the age of the sea floor, to the spread of drought risks.
Solar Physics and Terrestrial Effects
This teacher curriculum guide is for grades 7-12 and provides NOAA supported background information, demonstrations, class activities, and comprehension questions. The focus of the curriculum is explaining the effects of solar weather on the terrestrial environment through the application of math and physics.
Resources in Spanish
Opportunities for Students and Educators
This searchable directory connects students of all levels, K-12 and university, with NOAA-wide fellowships, scholarships, internships, and camps.
Ernest F. Hollings Undergraduate Scholarships
The Hollings Scholarship program funds students for two years of full-time study during their undergraduate career and for a hands-on summer internship within NOAA. This scholarship is only for college sophomores and applications are accepted September through January each year.
EPP/MSI Undergraduate Scholarship Program
The NOAA Education Partnership Program (EPP) with Minority Serving Institutions (MSI) Undergraduate Scholarship is for rising juniors who are attending Minority Serving Institutions within the United States and its territories. The scholarship funds two years of study and two internships at a NOAA office or site including NCEI locations.
William L. Lapenta NOAA Student Internship
NOAA offers this paid summer internships targeted towards current 2nd and 3rd-year undergraduate and enrolled graduate students to work in areas that will provide robust research and/or operational experience that will prepare the student for further study in NOAA fields, for application to fellowships or for the NOAA-mission workforce. Projects may be focused on research areas or the development of operational products such as decision support tools, climate and weather forecast models, data analysis methodologies, and social science strategies to communicate climate and weather information. Overall, students will focus on areas that will meet the future needs of NOAA’s ever-broadening user community and address strategic weather-water-climate issues.
This searchable directory connects educators with NOAA-wide grants, conferences, professional development, and workshops.
NOAA Fisheries Educator Opportunities
This site covers unique short-term opportunities for educators to collaborate and work alongside NOAA scientists and engineers aboard NOAA vessels and labs.
