Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Sky Stories Curriculum

For Teachers K - 2nd
Students investigate the stories told by ancient cultures about the constellations. They listen to stories told by the Greeks and Romans. The classroom should have posters of constellations for the lesson plan and the teacher performs...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Spacd Day:Probing For Knowledge

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students investigate the uses and purpose of the Hubble telescope. They create a model of the telescope and conduct research about the history behind the invention of it. Students use the information in order to create a context for the...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Internet Activity: More Space About Space

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Students analyze the exploration of space. In this space lesson, students discuss the space race of the 1950s and 1960s. Students identify important events in space exploration and analyze the reasons for a space station.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Out of This World and Into Our Classroom

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Middle schoolers complete a background survey on technology to determine where they need to focus on to complete this project. Using the Internet, they research a topic in Astronomy they are interested in and determine what math...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Hubble Space Telescope

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students investigate the universe through the eyes of the Hubble space telescope. They conduct research from looking at the universe that is simulated with a digital projector. The images are projected onto the wall in a simulation of...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Your Address in the Galaxy

For Teachers K - 8th
Students create a business card after researching their location in space and determining their Galactic Address.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Sundials: Keeping Time Like Native Americans

For Teachers 3rd - 7th
Students explore the use of sundials. They observe the shadows cast by the sun and record the times at various points throughout the day. They create sundials and record the location of the shadows and the time of day. They view a...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Traveling the Planets!

For Teachers 4th
Fourth graders research the planets and create brochures to share their information.  In this planets lesson, 4th graders navigate the Internet to gather information for a brochure about an imaginary trip to their planet....
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Explore the Characteristics of Stars with Microsoft WorldWide Telescope

For Teachers 2nd - 9th
Students explore the characteristics of stars. In this space science activity, students use the Microsoft WorldWide Telescope program to identify the properties of stars and identify the stars in the galaxy.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Impact Craters: Holes in the Ground!

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students simulate crater formation through a lab activity. In this space science instructional activity, students calculate how much energy is transferred during meteorite impact. They identify different factors affecting the size and...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Creating Craters

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Students explore parts of an impact crater and compare and contrast craters found in Earth, the Moon, and Mars. Crater formation is modelled and the relationship of mass, velocity, and size of the projectile to the crater formation is...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Let the North Star Tell You Where You Are

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Young scholars create an astrolabe and locate the North Star in the night sky. They determine the latitude of the North Star, and calculate an average latitude based on class results.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Investigating the Earth-Moon-Sun System

For Teachers 8th
Eighth graders research Native American legends involving the sun, moon, and stars and compare them to the origin of present day knowledge. They create a written report and make an oral presentation of their findings to the class.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

History of the Universe

For Teachers 9th - 12th
High schoolers describe how the universe was formed. In this astronomy lesson, students listen and respond to questions in a PowerPoint lesson that includes various theories about how the universe was created.
Lesson Plan
PHET

CME Plotting

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Young scientists build on their previous knowledge and apply it to coronal mass ejections. By plotting the path of two different coronal mass ejections, they develop an understanding of why most don't collide with Earth.
Lesson Plan
Messenger Education

Give Me a Boost—How Gravity Assists Aid Space Exploration

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
The propellant needed for space explorations runs in the thousands, while paying to get the craft into orbit costs millions! In the second installment of three, two activities explore laws of conservation of energy and momentum. Using...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Walk a Mile in your Orbit

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students create an awareness of the distance between the planets and the complexity of the solar system through a model of an active solar system. they incorporate physical education and math with the ability to convert distances of each...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

How Far Away Is Saturn?

For Teachers 3rd - 4th
Students work together to create a scale model of the solar system. They write a descriptive paper and a paper comparing and contrasting the Earth to Saturn. They discuss their writings with the class.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Star Words

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students identify and categorize apostrophes. They create maps of the solar system and write simple sentences using apostrophes that describe each planet's characteristics.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

In a Galaxy Far, Far, Far Away

For Teachers 6th
Sixth graders compare distances between objects in the solar system. They investigate how light years are measured and when using them to measure how distances compare with one another. They write an essay exploring the possibility of...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Glowing Glimpses of Our Universe

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Students will complete hands-on space activities. In this space science instructional activity, students will create a glow-in-the-dark model of the solar system, visit a planetarium, make star pictures, and paint constellations....
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Energy From Space: The Next Frontier

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students investigate ideas for getting energy from space. In this space-based power lesson, students read articles about ideas for alternatives to fossil fuels. Students define and give examples of vocabulary words. Students answer...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Layering the Soil

For Teachers 6th - 9th
Students study and classify soil. In this soil science activity, students classify soil by texture and size and study soil horizons. Students label the soil types with their specific soil horizon and learn about permafrost. Students...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Plotting Temperature and Altitude

For Teachers 10th - 12th
students convert the temperature readings from degrees Celsius to degrees Fahrenheit. they predict and create a graph of what the graph of altitude (x-axis) versus temperature in degrees Fahrenheit (y-axis) might look like.