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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Scale Models to Planet Size

For Teachers 3rd - 6th
Learners consider the comparative sizes of the planets in the solar system. In this scale lesson, students select balls of different sizes to represent the planets in the solar system.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Star Systems

For Teachers 8th - 12th
Students study a star system and see how the planets move around stars.  In this star system lesson students complete an activity and see what an eclipse is.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Earth, Sun and Moon

For Teachers 2nd - 3rd
Students explore, experiment and study how the Earth orbits the Sun once a year and how the moon takes approximately 29 days to orbit the Earth. They access an online activity to examine the process of how the Sun is at the center of the...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Sun Shadow Cycles

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students use diagrams to review how the Earth rotates around the sun. In groups, they use the same diagrams to explain how the sun shadows are produced and how they differ between seasons. They describe the Earth's rotation and...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Warming the Earth

For Teachers 1st
First graders investigate how the sun warms the Earth and examine the rotation of the Earth and the sun. They create an illustration of the sun, examine a solar system model, and listen to the book "The Sun: Our Nearest Star." They also...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Modeling Hot and Cold Planets

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Students, in teams, design and construct models of two planets, one hot and the other cold, using a variety of materials. They attempt to create the models out of substances that will actually show the greatest temperature differences...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

TE Activity: You're in Hot Water

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students 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

Earth's Orbit Lesson

For Teachers 10th
Tenth graders devise a computational model to explore how the orbit of the Earth might change if its velocity were different. Using accurately recorded data, 10th graders defend a scientific argument.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Stellar Lunar Curriculum

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students engage in a lesson 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
NASA

The Invisible Sun: How Hot Is It?

For Students 9th - 12th
It's getting hot in here! The first in a series of six lessons has learners model nuclear fusion with a simple lab investigation. Groups collect data and analyze results, comparing their models to the actual process along the way.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Voyage Scale

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students identify how models are powerful tools of exploration and that the sizes of the planets and distances between the planets in the Solar System span a large range. They make a sign for each planet they have created in the lesson...
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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
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

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

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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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Seasons and Cloud Cover, Are They Related?

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students use NASA satellite data to see cloud cover over Africa.  In this seasons instructional activity students access data and import it into Excel. 
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Junior Solar Sprint Series: Gears and Drive Belts

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Activate middle schoolers' minds with this physical science activity. Learners vary the diameter of gears and the number of teeth on them to find how energy output is affected. This writeup features well-developed background information...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Electrolysis of Water

For Teachers 9th
Ninth graders examine the electrolysis of water by completing an experiment.  In this water lesson students will explain how hydrogen can be extracted from water and how energy flows through an electrolysis system. 
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Motion of the Sun and Earth: Using a Classroom Model to Explore Rotation and Revolution

For Teachers 1st - 3rd
Students use a concrete model of the Sun and Earth to observe and manipulate a 3-D model of the Sun and Earth.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Discover Magazine: Size and Scale

For Teachers 9th - 12th
High schoolers research measurements of the moon and Earth as well as the distance between the two in order to create scale models of the Earth-moon system. With a marble to be used as the moon, they must determine how large to make...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Being Nosy About Our Neighbors

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students use the scientific method to explore the effect of size on impact cratering. They compare images of landforms on Earth to those of other planets to compare surface processes. Students infer the geologic history of another...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

DASH Sunrise and Sunset/ Seasons Chart

For Teachers 2nd
Second graders rotate as the person to enter the information of sunrise and sunset into a spreadsheet. The teacher also demonstrates how to convert the spreadsheet into a chart.

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