World Wildlife Fund
Land of the Midnight Sun
From days of 24 hour sunlight, to endless nights that last for days, the Arctic is a very unique place to live. Examine the seasonal changes that occur in the northern-most reaches of the globe and the impact they have on the plants and...
PBS
Invisible Force
Investigate invisible forces. Young engineers design a setup that changes the direction of a steel ball using a magnetic force. The purpose of the setup is to model the gravitational pull of spacecraft by planetary bodies.
Curated OER
Was Kepler Correct?
Students investigate the elliptical orbit around the Sun. They use the information gathered to measure the distance to the Sun from the closest orbital point and the farthest orbital point.
Curated OER
Scientific Inquiry: Periodic Motion
Students construct their own pendulum. In this physics instructional activity, students design an experiment to find the factors affecting its period. They formulate a conclusion based on experimental data.
Curated OER
Ellipses and Kepler's First Law
The class examines graphs in the form r = F(¿¿) in polar coordinates (r, ¿¿), in particular with the circle, ellipse and other conic sections. They determine the nature of an ellipse by studying the role of the semimajor axis and...
Curated OER
Working in Space
High schoolers design and build one of three engineering problems dealing with living and working in space.
Curated OER
Gravity: A Relatively Heavy Subject
Students examine planetary movement and its relation to the tide.In this gravity lesson students describe how and why the high and low tides change every day.
Curated OER
Exploring the Celestial Neighborhood
Ninth graders study the origin and organization of the solar system. They investigate the Earth's place in the system and how planetary motions explain natural phenomena observable from Earth.
University of Arizona
The Exotic Vacation
Students explain the concepts and vocabulary of Earth's rotation. They plan imaginary vacations based on the seasons in different locations. This is a very creative lesson plan, which students enjoy.
Curated OER
Simple Machines
Learners engage in a lesson that is concerned with the concept of a simple machine and uses the law of motion to justify why they operate. Students explore the laws by constructing some simple machines to illustrate the concepts.
Curated OER
Constellations
Students explore the major constellations. After reviewing the Earth's basic motions and their significance, students discuss the moon's orbit and revolutions. Using a Digitarium Alpha portable planetarium projector, they observe at...
Curated OER
Earth's Revolution and Rotation
Eighth graders investigate the regular motions of the sun, Earth and the moon and explain how these are related to days, years, seasons, eclipses, tides and moon cycles. They participate in an exercise where they explore the...
Curated OER
Ellipses And Kepler's First Law
Students explain that planets actually orbit the center of gravity of the solar system, and that distant planets may be detected by motions of their central star around the centers of gravity of their planetary systems.
TED-Ed
Tycho Brahe, the Scandalous Astronomer
Who says scientists are boring geeks? Certainly not the narrator of a short video who dishes up the scandals associated with Tycho Brahe, a Danish scientist and alchemist (now that's two labels you don't often see together) who used...
Curated OER
Leading Scientist of the Scientific Revolution
Quiz your class on how well they know the leading scientist of the scientific revolution. They answer seven multiple choice questions that require them to know each major contribution of each of the following scientists: Galileo, Newton,...
Curated OER
English Vocabulary Skills: AWL Sublist 9 - Exercise 2b
In this online interactive English vocabulary skills instructional activity, students answer 10 matching questions which require them to fill in the blanks in 10 sentences. Students may submit their answers to be scored.
Curated OER
The Earth in Space
Students use computer images to explain why the Earth has seasons and examine the phases of the moon. They create 3-D images and present them to the class. They answer a series of questions at the end of the lesson.
Curated OER
The Science of Changing Seasons
Students explore basic principles of seasonal change, ponder the mechanisms that drive these changes, and perform experiments that show what causes the earth to heat differently during different seasons.
Curated OER
The Seasons
Discover the change of the seasons by modeling the Earth-Sun system. Learners model the orbit of the Earth around the sun and explore how and why the patterns of winter and summer occur.
Curated OER
Application of Ellipses
In this algebra worksheet, 11th graders apply ellipses to real life scenarios such as football, satellite and planet orbits. They discuss a variety of way sto apply ellipses.
Curated OER
Introduction To Orbital Mechanics
Students use NASA drawings to build a model satellite for a specific mission. They design a set of drawings for their satellite showing its subsystems as well.
Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics
The Planets and Scale
Scholars gain an insight into the relative size of planets and distance between inner and outer planets with the help of informational text, a data table, and a series of four questions.
Curated OER
Planets in Our Solar System
Each member of a four-student group takes on a specific aspect of an assigned planet to research. After gathering information, the team works together to create a travel brochure and a presentation intended to convince other classmates...
University of Colorado
Great Red Spot Pinwheel
The great red spot on Jupiter is 12,400 miles long and 7,500 miles wide. In this sixth part of a 22-part series, individuals model the rotation of the Great Red Spot on Jupiter. To round out the activity, they discuss their findings as a...