University of Colorado
Looking Inside Planets
Researchers use scientific data to understand what is inside each of the planets. The first in a series of six, this instructional activity builds off of that concept by having pupils use a data table to create their own scale models of...
Curated OER
Ellipse Lab
Leading the students to draw a representation of ellipses of planets, this handout will help understanding the planet movement around the sun. There are ten questions about the analysis of those orbits and a conclusino specifically...
Scholastic
Lesson Three: The Earth, Movement in Space
If you feel like you're standing still, you're wrong! The Earth is constantly rotating and orbiting under our feet. Demonstrate the Earth's movement within the solar system with a collaborative activity. With a candle or lamp in the...
McGraw Hill
Extra Solar Planets Interactive
Studying what you can't see can be challenging. Discover how scientists use indirect measurements to prove the existence of planets and estimate their sizes. The introduction explains the symbiotic movement of planets and stars during an...
Curated OER
The Physics of the Planets: How 16th and 17th Century Physicist Helped Us Understand Our Solar System
Eighth graders draw the paths of the planets in the solar system. In this astronomy lesson plan, 8th graders calculate speed of objects using distance and time information. They research about the work of scientists in the 16th and 17th...
Curated OER
Changing Planet: The Case of the Leaky Gyre
The fascinating video "Changing Planet: Fresh Water in the Arctic," introduces your oceanographers to the world's gyres. They learn that melting sea ice is making the gyres larger, and that the changes could, in turn, contribute even...
Constitutional Rights Foundation
Rachel Carson and the Modern Environmental Movement
Scholars analyze the environmental movement started in the 1960s. Through excerpts from Rachel Carson's books as well as diary entries, they take a look at the reason for the modern movement to save the planet and then create final...
Curated OER
Hubble Sees a Distant Planet
In this Hubble telescope worksheet, students solve 4 problems about the image of the distant planet the Hubble telescope discovered. Students determine the distance the planet was from its star in 2006, they determine the planet's...
CK-12 Foundation
Revolutions of Earth: Planet Cube
Does assessing Earth Science vocabulary making your head spin? Test scholars' knowledge of revolving and rotating using an interactive tool. The movement of a new planet and its moon is in their hands, allowing them to explore and...
Curated OER
Hot, Hot, Hot, Cold
Learners dance the image of falling snow. They move, swing, fall, and rise to music working to depict snow falling, the sun, and high/low movements. This is a well-thought out lesson that aids them in seeing movement as a form of...
Channel Islands Film
Island Rotation: Lesson Plan 1
How do scientists provide evidence to support the theories they put forth? What clues do they put together to create these theories? After watching West of the West's documentary Island Rotation class members engage in a series of...
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Classroom Activities: EarthViewer
The spot you are standing in right now—how did it look 2,000 years ago, one million years ago, or even four billion years ago? Scholars use a model of Earth throughout history to learn about continental drift, climate change, changes in...
Curated OER
Planet Dance
Students examine Anna Halprin's philosophies and choreography and perform one of her Planet Dances. They find a site that inspires them to create a dance based on the environment's design, levels, textures, and atmosphere.
Curated OER
The Earth and Beyond
Photographs and graphics bring the solar system and Earth to life in this presentation. Viewers are taken on a virtual field trip, beginning with the sun and planet placement, and proceeding through both Earth and the moon's movements....
Mr. E. Science
The Earth in Space
Do you think Earth makes fun of other planets for having no life? The presentation covers the rotation and revolution of both the earth and our moon. It provides explanations for seasons, tides, and eclipses. Lesson is the 20th in a...
Curated OER
Plate and Planet
Learners investigate the health hazards of modern agriculture and how we can choose better food options. In this healthy eating instructional activity, students identify different indigenous people in photographs and discuss what they...
Curated OER
And You Don't Stop - 30 Years of Hip-Hop, Episode 2, Lesson 1
Students discuss Public Enemy's lyrics and compare and contrast them with songs popular during the Civil Rights Movement. They write their own rap song that expresses feelings of oppression or freedom from oppression.
Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics
Where Are We Going?
Come take a ride on the space bus! Scholars go on an imaginary trip to pick up their peers from the inner and outer planets while reinforcing math skills. First, learners round decimals to identify each planets' distance from Earth....
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.
Science Matters
Thermal Energy Flow in Materials
The sun sends the earth 35,000 times the amount of energy required by all of us on the entire planet, every day. The fourth lesson in the 10-part series looks at how light energy from the sun transfers into thermal energy. Scholars build...
Curated OER
SKY PATHS: STUDYING THE MOVEMENT OF CELESTIAL OBJECTS
Students observe the position of an object in the sky by describing its location relative to another object or the background, describe an object's motion by tracing and measuring its position over time, and create their own myths about...
Curated OER
Planets or Not, Here We Come!
Students, working in groups, research planets in terms of the size, temperature, number of moons, and potential for life. They use packets and worksheets as guides for their research. Students may role-play as aliens visiting their...
Curated OER
Changing Planet: Melting Glaciers
Resource links to a video, satellite images, data, and photographs of glaciers provide emerging earth scientists the opportunity to examine how the ice has been retreating over the years. A data table is included for pupils to record...
Curated OER
Physics The Earth and Beyond
Fourth graders will explore our solar system. In this physics lesson students create a model of the solar system to explore the movement of Earth, the Sun, and stars.