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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Daily and Seasonal Cycles

For Teachers 1st
First graders identify the sun as a source of heat and light. They identify features of houses that help keep use sheltered and comfortable throughout daily and seasonal cycles. Students are told that summer is the best season to...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Cooking with the Sun!

For Teachers 3rd - 6th
Students access prior knowledge of solar energy and understand that solar energy produces heat. In this solar cooker lesson, students complete grade appropriate experiments using the heat of the sun. Students complete a worksheet on...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

TE Activity: You're in Hot Water

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Young scholars study different ways of using solar energy. They design a solar water heater and determine how much water it can heat in a set amount of time. They examine how the heaters work by solar radiation and convection.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Pioneers of Space

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Students explore how to use natural resources in the next millenium. Students create a KWL chart and then research information on our solar systsem, natural resources, and environments. Students build a model of a future community and...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Up in the Sky

For Teachers 1st
First graders associate events and objects with day or night. They create a word bank and use is as a reference to create sentences about the sun. They conduct sun-themed experiments and art projects.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

An Overview of Solar Radiation

For Teachers 10th - 12th
Learners examine the Stefan-Boltzmann Law. Students compute basic radiative "constants" of the sun-Earth-atomosphere system. They examine the wavelength of maximum radiation emission.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Make a Sundial

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students explore space science by conducting a sun experiment in class. In this time telling instructional activity, students discuss how the sun sits in our sky at exact times each day and how astronomy is based on our perspective of...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Solar

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Students study solar energy.  In this renewable energy instructional activity students complete several lab activities using different controls and variables. 
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Exploring the Interstellar Medium

For Teachers 9th - Higher Ed
Young scholars 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...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Determining Red-Shift in a Receding Star

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students practice manipulating algebra formulas with more than one variable. They examine the topics of velocity, wavelength and frequency. They determine the amount of red-shift in a receding star.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Phases of the Moon

For Teachers 11th - 12th
Learners use a simple physical model of the Earth, sun, and moon to understand why the moon changes phases from the perspective of Earthly observers. They hold up balls representing the moon in a room with a single light source to see...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Stellar Lunar Curriculum

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students engage in a lesson plan that covers the concept of different phases of the moon. They name the cycles of the phases of the moon while using flashlights to simulate the light of the sun. They research information about several...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Objects in the Solar System

For Teachers 8th
Eighth graders define a planet by the orbit around the sun, have a large enough gravitational force to hold a sphere shape and needs to clear the neighboorhood of it own orbital zone. They describe comets, meteoroids, meteor, meteorites...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Cometary Orbits

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Young scholars study orbits and ellipses and see the differences between orbits and comets.  In this investigative lesson students do an activity that shows them what objects are more like comets and fill out a worksheet. 
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Exploring the Sun's Role in Living Systems

For Teachers K - 8th
Students create graphic organizer webs that illustrate their thinking about seasonal physical and biological changes caused by changes in sunlight. They identify the central role of sunlight in living systems.
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Lesson Plan
Space Awareness

History of the Universe

For Students 3rd - 5th
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 expansive...
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Lesson Plan
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Baylor College

Needs of Plants

For Teachers K - 3rd Standards
What better way to learn about plant life than by creating a class garden? Young botanists start with a brief discussion about radishes before planting seeds and watching them grow. To determine the importance of water, sunlight, and...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Magic School Bus Lost in Space

For Teachers K - 2nd
Students learn along with Ms. Frizzle's class. In this Magic School Bus lesson plan, students explore outer space as they visit the Sun, Mercury, Venus, and Mars in order to learn about our solar system.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Paper Rockets

For Teachers 4th - 10th
Students design, construct, and fly paper rockets that travel the greatest distance possible across a floor model of the solar system. They construct small flying rockets out of paper and propel them by blowing air through a straw.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Meet the Neighbors: Planets Around Nearby Stars

For Teachers 11th - 12th
Students explain why a transiting planet causes a periodic dimming in the light from its parent star. They determine the radius of a planet, and its orbital distance, by analyzing data and manipulating equations. Students compare the...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Why Do We Have Night?

For Teachers 2nd - 4th
Students engage in a fun, creative way to discover how the Earth moves. This lesson helps students explain why there is day and night. It can also create curiosity to further study the solar system and eclipses!
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Investigating Planetary Soils

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students study soil characteristics and identify properties of soils from different parts of the solar system.  In this soil lesson students divide into groups, read soil descriptions, test and record soil samples. 
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Sand or Rock? Finding Out From 1,000 km

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students observe how measurements are made with different instruments.  In this remote sensing lesson students investigate the physical state of surfaces including the surfaces of the solar system. 
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Sun in Our Lives

For Teachers 3rd
Third graders identify the different parts of the sun. In this astronomy lesson, 3rd graders examine how the sun's energy drive life processes on Earth. They construct a model of a solar system using large rolls of toilet paper.

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