NOAA
The Climate Team: Make a Solar Heat Engine
Learners investigate how solar energy is converted into heat in part two of the 10-part Discover Your Changing World series. They build and test homemade solar cookers to boil water and cook rice. Pupils consider the impact of heat...
Curated OER
Our Solar System - Comparing Planetary Travel Distances
NASA presents a mini-unit on distances in our solar system. It incorporates scientific concepts of gravity, mass, density, and payload while your aspiring astronauts also employ mathematics skills. They calculate speed, they determine...
PHET
The Earth as a Magnet
Everyone loves playing with magnets and iron filings. Here, young scientists first observe and then participate in an activity demonstrating magnetic fields. After completing their observations, they apply this knowledge to...
NASA
Exploring Data
Bring the sun to your class! Young scholars analyze actual solar wind data in the second lesson of a five-part series. Their analysis includes speed, temperature, and density data.
McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center
Global Warming in a Jar
This well-organized lab activity introduces earth science pupils to the greenhouse effect. They will set up two experiments to monitor temperatures in an open jar, a closed jar, and a closed jar containing water. Ideally, you would have...
Big Kid Science
Create Dynamic Art Using the Eclipse!
What happens to light as it passes through a hole? This is the main question centered around the designing of a solar eclipse dynamic art piece that uses a solar eclipse and paper to create a pinhole projection of the art.
It's About Time
The Sun and Its Effects on Your Community
Why is the sun round? Examine this question, and others, with your pupils while teaching them how to live in a more earth-friendly environment. Pupils explore Sun composition and discuss how solar wind, sunspots, and solar energy affects...
Curated OER
Exploring Seasonal Shadows and Sunlight
What can shadows tell us about the changing season? Over several months, astronomy learners record length and position of an outdoor object's shadow, such as a flagpole. They apply the data to a growing hypothesis and note the patterns...
Curated OER
Attributes of Renewable Energy: From Nanopossibilities to Solar Power
High schoolers explore solar energy, why we use it and how we use it. In this renewable energy instructional activity students compare active and solar techniques.
University of Colorado
Are All Asteroids' Surfaces the Same Age?
There are more than 600,000 asteroids in our solar system. Pupils analyze images of two asteroids in order to determine if they are the same age. They count craters for each asteroid and compare numbers.
Glynn County School System
The Outer Planets
Are outer planets just like inner planets? Nope! The outer planets are much more spread apart than the inner planets. An informative PowerPoint presentation shows why this is true as well as facts about the individual planets in the...
Core Knowledge Foundation
A Time for All Seasons - Winter
As the days get shorter and a chill enters the air, it's time to start teaching your little ones about the wondrous winter season. Through a series of teacher demonstrations, whole-class read alouds and discussions, and hands-on...
Core Knowledge Foundation
A Time for All Seasons - Summer
The sun is shining and the birds are singing, what better time to teach young learners about the fun season of summer. In this week-long science series, children learn how the rotation and orbit of the earth influence the days and...
Curated OER
The Solar System: Go Green with the Sun!
Third graders learn how to use solar power. In this sun, technology and energy instructional activity, 3rd graders learn how the solar power from the sun can give off energy, learn about solar panels, discuss their uses and benefits,...
Curated OER
Solar Storms: Odds, Fractions and Percentages
In this solar storms activity, students read about the correlation between different astronomical events to find patters and new 'laws' of nature. Students use given statistical information about solar flares and coronal mass ejections...
Space Awareness
Star in a Box
What happens to stars as they get older? A simulation takes pupils through the life cycle of stars based on their masses. The resource introduces the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram and the common relationships and life cycle patterns observed.
University of Colorado
Are All Asteroids' Surfaces the Same Age?
Did you know scientists can tell the age of an asteroid by looking closely at its craters? This final lesson of a six-part series focuses on two asteroids, Gaspra and Ida, in order to demonstrate the concept of dating asteroids. Scholars...
G. Turrell
Science Activity 2: Light & Sound
Little learners experiment with sunlight and map out how light travels. Using a mirror and slotted card, they find out about items that can reflect or absorb the light. They experiment with a variety of materials to find out how light...
Curated OER
The Climate Change Skeptic's Argument: Natural Solar Cycles or Human Activity?
Teachers explore patterns in sunspots and total solar irradiance to understand the counterpoint to the human effect of global warming. In this professional development tool, teachers work through a lesson on the sun's natural patterns to...
NASA
Earth's Global Energy Budget
Introduce your earth science enthusiasts to the earth's energy budget. Teach them using an informative set of slides that include illuminating lecturer's notes, relevant vocabulary, embedded animations, colorful satellite maps, and a...
Columbus City Schools
Force Field Physics
Attracted class members to an activity-packed journey through the science behind the invisible forces at work all around us. From jump rope generators to junkyard wars, there's never a dull moment when eighth grade physics scholars...
Curated OER
Physical Science: Solar Energy
Students review and discuss how Solar energy and electricity produce light and heat. They create a photo/picture journal and include pictures taken during solar energy activities to a PowerPoint slide presentation.
Curated OER
Tracking the Sun with a Solar Dome
Pupils study the sun and how it moves throughout the day. In this tracking the sun lesson students create a model of the celestial sphere.
Curated OER
Solar Cycle
Students explore the solar cycle through a series of experiments. In this space science lesson, students construct and evaluate solar cycle graphs. They explain how this phenomenon affects the Earth.