Eighth graders study the objects in our solar system.  In this space lesson students identify and describe planets, then classify them as terrestrial or gaseous.

Your charges will enjoy putting together this model of the space shuttle and completing the three challenge activities described in the lesson. The worksheets embedded in the plan that pupils use to cut out their gliders are beautifully...

Every year we discover new planets including more than 1,000 in 2016 alone. Will we ever find life on another planet? The lesson includes two activities to help scholars understand this concept. First, they analyze the temperature range...

What is an alien's favorite game? All-star baseball! Scholars start defining living and non-living. Then, they conduct experiments to research if life exists, keeping in mind that life could be in many forms, not just human. 

Historians have proven that as early as 1497 skilled navigators were using a kamal to sail across oceans. Scholars learn about navigation tools and astronomy before building their own kamals. They then learn how to use it to determine...

There are so many topics touched upon in this Jeopardy-style science game, that it is difficult to classify! The categories include electricity, matter, ecology, earth and space, and scientific investigation. This would best be used at...

There are only 10 types of people in the world: those who understand binary and those who don't. The lesson includes four activities in which students learn binary, convert binary to images, understand CCD arrays, and interpret...

Take the old baking soda and vinegar volcano to the next level by using it to study repeated lava flows over time, examine geologic features on Earth and Mars, and speculate about some of the formations on Mars. 

Dive into a lesson on the hydrosphere with this Powerpoint presentation. Building on prior knowledge of the water cycle, young scientists learn what happens to water after it falls as precipitation and explore the...

Use science fiction movies to teach pupils about antimatter and alternate universes. Individuals learn about the portrayal of antimatter and alternate universes in movies such as Star Trek and Angels & Demons. They consider three...

Teams must determine the size of cavern needed to house the citizens of Alabraska to protect them from the asteroid impact. Using scaling properties, teams first determining the number of people that could sleep in a classroom and then...

Super science learners examine the sun's production of energy by the process of nuclear fusion. Hands-on activities make this instructional activity engaging for middle schoolers. The instructional activity is made up of four parts. Part...

NASA has crafted an imaginative and memorable series of lessons, "NASA and Jamestown Education Module." This activity is one of the five components. In it, middle schoolers connect history and science by comparing the settlement of...

Students obtain remote sensing data to compare and contrast global biomass data with global temperature data.

Your older elementary students investigate electromagnetic energy and the electromagnetic spectrum. They will observe 7 items represented in the electromagnetic spectrum and make a poster of all the things the items have in common. After...

In this earth and sky learning exercise, students review terms associated with map reading. Students also review topographic maps and how contour lines represent elevation. This learning exercise has 5 matching, 5 true or false, 5 fill...

Eighth graders study the earth's surface.  In this planet structure lesson students view a PowerPoint presentation then draw and label the earths layers. 

Young scholars explore environmental and geological conditions on other planets in our solar system, comparing their findings to information about Earth. They propose technologies that might assist in supporting human life on those planets.

Middle schoolers discuss what heat is and how it travels. They discover that one way to cool an object in the presence of a heat source is to increase the distance from it or change the angle at which it is faced.

Trying to understand the vastness of outer space can be quite a challenge for young scientists. Help put things in perspective with this cross-curricular activity as students work in pairs creating scaled models of...

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.

Exactly what do groundhogs know about weather? Not as much as your science students will after completing these lessons and activities that cover everything from the earth's rotation and the creation of shadows, to cloud...

How in the world can something as big as the solar system possibly fit in your pocket? Complete this simple modeling activity and find out, as young scientists gain an appreciation for the incredible scale of outer space.

Travel through space as you learn about the galaxy, solar system, planets, and much more. An extensive resource for studying astronomy in upper-elementary and middle school classrooms.