NASA
Climate Change Inquiry Lab
With global temperatures on the rise faster than ever recorded, the effects of a heating planet could be devastating. Allow learners to discover just what the world is in store for if the warming continues through a series of videos, a...
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Mars: Off the Charts--Until You Put It There
Students explore the night sky and make illustrations which are shared in class the next day. Distinctions are made between the stars and the planets and views of the constellations for the season are made available. The work of early...
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Interplanetary Travel Guide
In groups of six, middle school space scientists create an imaginative travel brochure for attracting visitors to the planet Mars. Information must include surface features and atmospheric conditions. Although time-consuming, this is a...
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Where Is Saturn in the Solar System? Where Am I in the Solar System?
Students discover the planets and their location in the solar system. They complete a KWL chart on Saturn and discuss. They complete the lesson with a writing activity.
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Awesome Saturn
Pupils brainstorm words that describe Saturn. They view images sent to Earth from satellites. They write poems about the planet using different poetic forms.
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Mars Colonization Assignment #1
Eighth graders recognize the some day humans may wish to colonize Mars. They participate in an Internet adventure where they compare and contrast Earth to the other nine planets in the solar system.
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Are There Other Neighborhoods Like Our Own?
Students investigate the possibility of life existing on other planets. They conduct research using a variety of resources. The lesson includes an overview that is used for classroom discussion practices. They tell the teacher how to...
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Mission Impossible! Are We Alone in the Universe, or Are We Just One of Its Citizens?
Students examine NASA strategy for scientifically studying any celestial body. They brainstorm about all previous space explorations and missions they can recall, and propose an expedition plan to become space explorers of the future.
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The Lesson: Space Exploration
Students explore space. In this current events lesson, students visit selected websites to learn about NASA, Mars, the Seti Institute, and space exploration terminology. Students make space glossaries and their own telescopes.
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Where Is Saturn in the Solar System? Where Am I in the Solar System?
Students engage in a solar system activity, In this activity, students will read aloud as a class about the solar system. The students will then listen to the teacher read a solar system book prior to filling out a worksheet about their...
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Searching For Protoplanetary Disks
Young scholars download NASA Hubble Space Telescope views of star-forming regions in nebulae and look for evidence of planetary systems forming beyond our own solar system. They hypothesize about mysterious objects in NASA HST images.
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Exploration to Mars... or Not? An Exercise with Split-Screen Electronic Peer Review
Students use split-screen technology which is utilized for an electronic peer review assignment that has students justify whether humans should continue their investigations of the Red Planet or not.
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Planet X
Learners select a wide variety of presentation methods to compare Planet X and Earth. Students share these with their classmates. Learners select other methods to present their ideas about a livable planet for human life forms. ...
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What Do I See When I Picture Saturn?
Students create their own Saturn Discovery logs. They draw pictures of the planet and its founder. They share their drawings and writings with partners.
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Wondering About Saturn: A Short History
Students read an article about the history of Saturn. They complete reading comprehension tests. They examine what has been discovered on the planet.
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What Do You Know About Saturn?
Students discuss what they know about Saturn. They create drawings to show what the planet looks like and identifies its characteristics. They write a paragraph about the planet as well.
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Putting It All Together
Students organize their daily observation logs to write a nonfiction piece. They compare and contrast Saturn to other planets or write a summary. They use this piece of writing in future lessons.
Voyage Solar System
Round and Round We Go — Exploring Orbits in the Solar System
Math and science come together in this cross-curricular astronomy lesson plan on planetary motion. Starting off with a hands-on activity that engages the class in exploring the geometry of circles and ellipses, this lesson plan then...
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Being Nosy About Our Neighbors
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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Solids, Liquids, and Gases
Students investigate and explore the three states of matter. They read and discuss the NASA article "The Engine That Does More," identify examples of each state of matter, and as a class complete a section of two worksheets. They...
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Modeling Martian Motion
Students explore the difference between stars and planets and take on the role of these objects to simulate the relative motions of Mars and the Earth around the Sun.
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The Discovery of the Solar System
High schoolers study the ideas behind the heliocentric theory of Copernicus. They examine about retrograde motion of the planets as they move around the sun. They study astronomers who include Ptolemy, Copernicus, and Galileo.
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Kepler and his Laws
High schoolers examine Kepler's Laws. They confirm Kepler's 3rd law by comparing orbital periods and mean distances for all major planets and study conic sections, qualitatively.
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Investigating the Dynamic Martian Polar Caps
Students download NASA Hubble Space Telescope images of the Martian polar ice caps in summer and winter, and measure and compare various images of the changing Martian and Earth polar ice caps.