How do scientists know the difference between a meteorite from space and a regular rock from the earth? Scholars read a passage and answer comprehension questions about the creation of the solar system. They extrapolate the main ideas to...

This worksheet tests general knowledge of scientific fields with a focus on those involved in earth science. Learners fill in 9 blanks using the provided word bank of scientific fields. In addition, there are 2 questions specifically...

This assignment is out of this world! It is an online instructional activity about sunspots and solar cycles, a sort of WebQuest if you will. Links to two NASA websites and spaceweather.com are written into the questions so that...

Take your class up, up, and away with an engaging weather balloon simulation! Individuals get hands-on experience in creating and launching their own airborne labs to study how temperature and pressure affect substances at 100,000...

How do you know there is air? Can you see it, smell it, feel it? To begin the investigation, learners watch a video and discuss what they know about air and the atmosphere. Then, they participate in five different hands-on, inquiry-based...

Neptune takes 164.8 Earth years to travel around the sun. In the fifth of 22 lessons, young scientists create a travel guide to a planet in our solar system. They provide tips for others on what to bring, what they see, and their...

The moon orbits Earth while the Earth is rotating, and the Earth revolves around the sun. This can be a tricky concept for young astronomers. Implement an activity that helps distinguish between the movements of Earth's systems around...

How do different parts of the world experience day and night? Introduce scholars to the concept of global citizenship while teaching about animal behavior with discussion of nocturnal and diurnal animals. Then, learners complete...

How did the 2017 eclipse look in Los Angeles—or Chicago? Experience both views, plus many more, using a lesson from PBS's Space series for middle schoolers. Scholars follow the movements of the sun, moon, and Earth during the most recent...

Venus is the second brightest object in the night sky after the moon. Here is an interesting lesson that explores three planets — Venus, Earth, and Mars — specifically their surfaces and atmospheres. Through an analysis of their spectra,...

Radio signals transmitted to Pluto take five hours to reach their destination! In these two activities, young scientists explore data communication in space. In activity one, pupils learn how data is gathered and sent back to Earth....

Introduce basic Earth and space science to your budding astronauts. This handout works in two ways, the first part provides information about the sun, moon, eclipses, and Earth to be read to or by the class. The second part is composed...

Earth is a complex structure. Learners explore their home, the earth, using a fun hands-on activity. They create tactile models of the earth using ordinary household materials that represent some common features: land, polar caps,...

Almost every phone has GPS installed, but a large number of teens don't know how the technology works. An initial activity illustrates how GPS determines a location on Earth. Scholars then apply trilateration procedures to a...

Winter, spring, summer, and fall—Earth experiences them all! But what about Mars? Scholars compare the planets in terms of distance, tilt, and rotation during a lesson from PBS's Space series. Great visual models of Earth and Mars, plus...

High school physicists apply their knowledge of planetary motion. Using Kepler's three laws, Newton's law of universal gravitation, and the provided properties of the moon, sun, and Earth, they proceed to solve 23 problems. An...

Blast off! How do satellites, space shuttles, and space stations escape Earth's gravity and achieve orbit? Young astronauts study rocket science (literally) with an interactive lesson. They discover the four main uses for satellites, how...

Explore outer space and decorate your classroom with an astronomy project. Learners create a visual model with the creation of a scaled solar system using different sized balls.

Your pupils may believe that you and their parents are the oldest things in the universe, but surprise! There are elements of the universe that are even older. Elementary scientists create a class timeline to demonstrate the...

How much astronomy can you study with the naked eye? Learn more about the ways scientists explore the galaxy with a short reading passage and set of short-answer questions.

Assess your young scientists' understanding of the difference between observation and inference with this 20-question multiple choice quiz. It reviews a variety of physics and astronomy concepts, such as solar eclipses and sunspots, the...

Get an in-depth look into erosion and deposition with a 23-slide presentation that details how gravity, water, waves, wind, and glaciers cause changes to the Earth's surface. Each slide consists of detailed images equipped with labels,...

Why is there more daylight in June than in December if you live above the equator? How does the angle of sunlight shift throughout the year? Answer these questions and more with an interactive article about the sun, its path through the...

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...