Curated OER
Food for Spaceflight
When astronauts get hungry in outer space, they can't just call and have a pizza delivered. In order to gain an appreciation for the challenges associated with space travel, young learners are given the task of selecting, testing, and...
Curated OER
Milestones in Human Spaceflight
Students investigate the history and goals of NASA and human spaceflight. In this space science instructional activity, students answer questions about one of seven manned space programs and print pictures from the mission. As a class,...
Curated OER
Exploring the Solar System: All About Spacecraft/Spaceflight
Rarely do you find resources that reach high school astronomy learners. Here is something at their level! The physics of flyby missions is explained via several examples. Landing, penetrating, and roving spacecraft are examined. Diagrams...
Curated OER
Milestones of Flight
Discover seven of the most historic aircraft and spacecraft in the collections of the National Air and Space Museum. By research into the major milestones of aviation history your students will recognize features that enable flight,...
Curated OER
TE Lesson: Out of Breath
Young scholars study the parts of the human respiratory system while examining the gas exchange that takes place in the lungs. They make a model lung. They look at how the respiratory system is affected by spaceflight.
Curated OER
Nerve Racking
Fifth graders study the components and function of the nervous system. They investigate how engineers design biomedical equipment to assist the nervous system and explain how the five senses are affected during spaceflight.
Curated OER
Momentum
High schoolers learn the concepts of momentum and its conservation, using the recoil of a cannon as an example. They examine how momentum is a vector, allowing its conservation to be applied to problems in 2 and 3 dimensions.
Curated OER
The Celestial Sphere
Pupils are introduced to the celestial sphere, describing its apparent rotation and the special role of the pole star.
Curated OER
Seasons of the Year
Students examine how the link between the tilt of the Earth's axis to the ecliptic and seasons of the year--length of day, effectiveness of sunlight, polar day and night, and seasons south and north of the equator, as well as near it.
Curated OER
Newton's 3rd Law
Students examine how the formal definition of Newton's 3rd law: forces always originate in pairs, equal in magnitude and opposite in direction. They also examine how the informal, qualitative version: Each action has an equal and...
Curated OER
Motion in a Circle
Students explore uniform circular motion, and the relation of its frequency of N revolutions/sec with the peripheral velocity v and with the rotation period T. They examine how uniform circular motion is a type of accelerated motion.
Curated OER
Frames of Reference: The Basics
Learners learn the concept of frames of reference in physics. They examine how two frames of reference, each moving with respect to the other with a constant velocity v (constant speed, constant direction).
Curated OER
Airplane flight
Students learn the basic concepts about airplane flight. They learn the reason jetliner wings are swept back and why jet engines have replaced propellers in high-speed flight.
Curated OER
Destination Outer Space
Students investigate space travel. In this space travel instructional activity students examine space exploration history, engineers and scientists involved in space exploration, and Newton's third law of motion. Students make rockets.
NASA
Newton’s Cool in the Pool
Pupils work together to investigate the cooling of NASA’s Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory. Using data collected as the pool cooled, groups determine the values needed in Newton's Law of Cooling equation to model the situation. They...
NASA
Earth, Can You Hear Me Now?
How long did you say? Class groups plot the distances between Earth and Mars and determine the trigonometric function that models the data. Using a calculator, they graph the function to determine when the distance and communication...
NASA
The NBL Pool
That is a lot of water. Class groups explore the size of the NASA's Neutral Buoyancy Pool and calculate the volume of water needed to fill it. They then compare that volume to the amount of water needed to fill a pool the size of a...
NASA
Spacewalking
Hold your breath. The video and interactive website introduce the class to spacewalking and spacesuits. Using oxygen data from two astronauts, individuals determine a mathematical model to fit the data. Using that mathematical model, the...
NASA
Suit Yourself: Fitted for Space
If he keeps this up, will he have enough air? After watching a video about spacewalks, groups of four brainstorm aspects of spacesuit design and present it to the rest of the class. Groups create mathematical models of oxygen use for two...
NASA
Space Shuttle Ascent: Mass vs. Time
Set the stage for groups of rocket scientists to explore the change in mass of the space shuttle during ascent. Teams work together to graph actual launch data in order to determine the rate of propellent burn.
NASA
Space Shuttle Ascent: Altitude vs. Time
How long did it take to get to that altitude? Using a Google Earth file, groups explore a space shuttle launch. Using a calculator, groups determine the function that models the altitude/time data from an actual launch. With the model in...
NASA
Ascent: 50 Seconds to MECO
All systems go! With a video and a Google Earth tour as background, pairs investigate two graphs. The graphs display acceleration vs. time and velocity vs. time of a space shuttle launch. Using graphing calculators, the pairs take a...
NASA
Lost in Space: Bone Density
If you don't use it, you lose it. Groups work together to compare bone loss on Earth as opposed to bone loss in space. They determine the equations that model bone loss and make calculations to determine the amount of bone loss for...