Extension, the third phase, gives students the time and opportunity to explore inductively generalizations of their own experimental results, to critique other students' work formally and constructively, or to conduct further experiments regarding identified weakness in their investigative projects. The important component of this extension phase is simulating the ongoing authenticity inherent in scientific investigations. The NMP Earth System Science activities that serve as classroom examples are not comprehensive curricula. Activities like learning kits facilitate creative adaptation to your unique classroom environment. The atmosphere component looks at weather patterns and currents associated with weather fronts and major storms.
Hydrosphere activities deal with the currents and patterns of the Earth's oceans and waterways.
Mountain environment activities focus on problem-solving strategies using stream flow, erosion, mapping, and wildlife habitats. Participants will learn to use NMP's Earth System Science curricular materials and adapt these materials to their own instructional environments. The twofold goals of the course involve teachers in information and scientific problem solving in a systematic format. The WWW's hypermedia environment and the management of learning and information focuses teachers on developing the skills necessary to integrate these new technologies into the classroom. As with any hypermedia project development, the flexibility of the hypertext environment well suits the random way in which people learn.