Human Impact and the Creation of Urban Heat Islands

Provided by: My NASA Data |Published on: January 7, 2026

Lesson Plans

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Synopsis

In this interactive story map activity, students will analyze maps of the U.S. to understand the relationship between population density, land type, and surface temperature.
This activity will help students construct an understanding of what types of land cover tend to be hotter and how urbanization affects surface temperatures.

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Subjects: Earth and Space Sciences

Authors: My NASA Data

Region: Global

Languages: English

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Teaching Materials

Positives

The overlaid maps with a slider help illustrate the relationship between components in a way that is easy to see.
Provided questions seamlessly guide students through exploration of the maps.

Prerequisites

Teachers can receive an answer key by filling out the request form linked at the bottom of the page.

Differentiation & Implementation

Teachers can make connections to climate change by discussing how this will increase the temperatures in cities even more and the importance of “greening" urban spaces.
After discussing their takeaways from this activity, students can move on to exploring solutions for urban heat, such as green roofs, more trees along sidewalks, more parks and trails, or more protected natural spaces within cities.
This article describes an example of an interesting solution being implemented that can connect to visual arts classes.
After this activity, teachers can move on to this lesson to make connections between urban heat islands and environmental justice.
For younger students, and to provide local context for this issue, students can explore their own schoolyard, taking temperature data for different areas, such as shaded, grassy, or concrete. This lesson plan provides instructions for a similar activity.

Scientist Notes

Teaching Tips

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Resource Type and Format

About the Partner Provider

My NASA Data

NASA offers petabytes of global Earth science data collected from satellites, but accessing these data in a traditional (or virtual) science classroom can be tricky. Since 2004, My NASA Data has supported students and teachers of grades 3-12 in analyzing and interpreting NASA mission data.

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All resources can be used for your educational purposes with proper attribution to the content provider.