Give your pupils a front row seat at the biggest light show in the sky this year! In addition to admiring the total solar eclipse, young astronomers can explain the phenomenon with a little help from an inquiry-based lesson. The focus of...

Teacher pages for four different activities and three assessments are provided in this resource. Topics deal with how the sun's position and Earth's atmosphere affect the amount of solar energy reaching Earth's surface. The concepts and...

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...

People don't all get the same amount of sun at the same time of the year. Collaborative groups explore how the motion of Earth contributes to the idea in an inquiry-based STEM lesson plan. Learners first investigate how the rotation of...

Laws of motion apply both in space and on Earth. Young experimenters model object impact on the Earth and moon. They use data to determine the effect mass and velocity have on the resulting craters and how that relates to the energy of...

Students participate in a demonstration and complete an online activity that illustrates the earth orbits the sun once a year, and that the moon takes approximately 28 days to orbit the earth.

Students understand basic concepts about Earth, the Sun and the Moon, such as relative movement and the phases of the moon. Through discussion, looking at pictures, listening to Native American stories, observing, and building models,...

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...

Students examine the major events that have taken place in the Earth's development.  In this Earth lesson plan students view a video and put major events in chronological order. 

Young scholars predict and determine the distance between the Earth and the moon.  In this investigative lesson students participate in an activity that helps them to determine the distance from the earth to the moon. 

Sixth graders learn that the moon orbits the Earth in a predictable cycle. Each learner engages in a two-week observation of the moon. They sketch its appearance, and take note of its position in relation to objects in their yard. Some...

Students 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 Earth...

Students become familiar with different times around the world through the reading of 9 O'clock Lullaby.  In this Earth, sun, moon lesson, students recognize the movement of the Earth and the relationship to the sun and the...

If you are looking for an outstanding lesson plan on the Moon for your budding astronomers, look no further! This outstanding plan is full of wonderful, meaningful activities for your charges to engage in. Pupils will discover why there...

Students explain the reason for the changes in season. In this lesson examining the relationship between the Earth and the Sun, students use an applet to discover how the alignment of the Earth and the Sun cause the change in seasons.

Third graders discuss how Aristotle concluded that the Earth was round. As a class, they review theories about the Earth's shape and describe how life on Earth would be different if it were flat. Individually, they make a moon book in...

Third graders experiment to gain understanding of the shape and rotation of the Earth. In this Sun and Moon science activity, 3rd graders understand that the Earth rotates on its axis and how that explains the appearance of the moon and...

Students develop a timeline of all the major events involved in the formation of the Earth and the emergence of humans. In groups, they focus on a specific topic by watching a PBS program and taking notes. After the video, they list...

Students consider the shape of the Earth's orbit around the Sun. They view the first segment of Science Court video and use Timeliner software to construct a scale of the distance between the Earth and the Sun.

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...

Third graders draw what they believe is in space on a dry erase board. In groups, they are given a beaker half filled with water and they add a teaspoon of oil, observing the different layers that form. To end the lesson, they identify...

Ever made solar s'mores? Or recreated the solar system using peanuts? Astronomers young and old investigate all things solar using a variety of activities. Explore how the sun works, types of light it emits, and methods of charting the...

Take your class on a journey through our solar system. Learners explore each planet, from Mercury to Pluto, and discuss various features that differentiate one from another. They complete activities related to the topics and discuss the...

Students investigate the different phases of the moon.  In this lunar cycle lesson, students create models of the sun, earth and moon and investigate why we observe the moon the way we do.  Students observe a PowerPoint...