Groups explore illumination with NASA's Lighting Environment Test Facility (LETF) as a context. Using the TI-Nspire app, groups determine the lux equation that models their simulation. They then use the lux equation to...

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...

Many phenomena in life are periodic in nature. A task-based lesson asks scholars to explore one of these phenomena. They collect data showing the sunrise time of a specific location over the period of a year. Using the data, they create...

How temperature affects the efficiency of a solar panel is the focus of the third in a series of eight resources that presents how engineers are able to control the temperatures of photovoltaic panels. Class members find out how the...

Desert regions are hotter for multiple reasons; the lack of vegetation causes the sun's heat to go straight into the surface and the lack of moisture means none of the heat is being transferred into evaporation. This concept, and other...

What does math have to do with the behavior of the earth and sun? Learn how the movement of celestial bodies has influenced the development of trigonometry. Scholars connects the details in mathematics to their...

The sun will continue to rise in the east and set in the west, no matter what. The first lesson in a series of eight introduces the class to solar angles. It makes connections between a person's latitude and the angle of position of the...

If Earth is modeled by a grapefruit, what planet could be represented by a golf ball? This activity uses everyday and not-so-everyday objects to create a model of the Solar System.

It's no fun catching a fungus. Scholars first investigate how the seasons affect the angle of the sun and the lengths of shadows. They then apply right triangle trigonometry to determine the height of trees based on their shadows to...

Young scholars measure and calculate the angle of the sun. They compare the leaf types on the north and south to compare the effects of the sun on the type of vegetation. They complete the activities inside the classroom or on a trip to...

Logical thinking is at the forefront of this jam-packed lesson, with young mathematicians not only investigating geometric concepts but also how they "know what they know". Through each activity and worksheet, learners wrestle with...

Use inverse trigonometric functions to work with ramps, rabbits, and Talladega. The class models real-world situations with trigonometric functions and solves them using inverses in the 15th installment of a 16-part series. Pupils solve...

Students build a scaled model of the solar system. In this space science instructional activity, students arrange them according to their distances from the sun. They analyze each planet's unique features such as density and relative...

How did ancient peoples determine the height of really tall objects? Young scientists and mathematicians explore the concept of using shadows to measure height in a hands-on experiment. Paired pupils measure shadows, then calculate the...

Students explore the average surface temperature of planets. They use the Planet Temperature Calculator to find the average temperature. Students explore how the distance from the sun affects the Earth's average surface temperature. They...

Investigate the maximum power output of a photovoltaic panel with a lesson that introduces the class to the maximum power point. Individuals learn how to determine the maximum power point of a solar panel by using Ohm's law and the power...

Controlling the efficiency of a greenhouse is a mathematical task. A collaborative project challenges learners to create an efficiency plan for a closed greenhouse. Using algebraic equations, they consider a set of constraints, design...

Students make a sundial. In this time lesson, students determine the time of the day by creating a sundial. They check the time on the sundial, hourly, for one week. Afterward, they explore what happened to the shadows in reference to...

Students investigate the Interstellar Medium and the Local Bubble that the Sun is inside. They read and discuss a handout, answer discussion questions, observe a demonstration of light scattering, and conduct an experiment on the...

How many birthdays do leap year babies have in a lifetime? Learners explore the question among others in a lesson focused on different calendar systems. Given explanations of the Julian, Gregorian, and Martian calendars, individuals use...

Most young mathematicians are aware that the planets don’t orbit the sun in a circle but rather as an ellipse, but have never studied this interesting feature. This resource looks at the planetary orbits in more detail and helps learners...

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...

Students explore the different methods used in celestial Navigation and astronavigation. In this math lesson, students construct a sextant and demonstrate how it works.

High schoolers construct a sketch of the planets in our solar system using concentric circles and angles. In this solar system lesson plan, students plot the position of each planet on concentric circles using graph paper. The sun is...