Curated OER
Strawkets and Control
Students investigate the effect that fins have on rocket flight. They construct two paper rockets that they can launch by blowing through a straw, one with fins and one with wings, and observe and record the results of the rocket flights.
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Beyond the Earth Part II
Students explore the solar system. In this solar system lesson, students use Internet and print resources to research a component of the solar system. Students create travel brochures based on their research findings.
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Bringing the Solar System Down to Earth
Students develop a scaled down model of the solar system. In small groups, they calculate the scaled-down diameters of the planets and the sun, the scaled-down distance of the planets from the sun, complete two charts, and create a...
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Mass vs. Weight
Students explore physical science by conducting a measurement experiment. In this mass lesson, students identify the differences between mass and weight and define a list of other vocabulary terms. Students utilize electronic scales and...
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Strawkets and Thrust
Students investigate the effect of thrust on rocket flight. They construct two paper rockets, one with a smaller exit nozzle, and compare/contrast the distances traveled by the rockets.
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Understanding the Indoor Environment:Preventing and Fixing Indoor Air Pollution
Students explore air pollution. In this environmental studies instructional activity, students work with a partner to create a Venn diagram comparing and contrasting possible solutions to prevalent indoor air pollution...
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Show Me the Way To Go Home
Students place a pencil perpendicular to the ground and trace its shadow between 11:30 AM and 12:30 PM. They measure the length of the shadow, periodically over several hours, in either English or Metric units. Using the data, they find...
NASA
Solar System Scale & Size
Use a variety of whole fruits to represent the different planets in the solar system to introduce scale sizes to your math or space science class. They follow suit by creating a non-scaled model of the solar system using specific-colored...
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Earth Epochs
Students explore earth epochs, i.e, Permian, Precambrian, Cambrian, Ordivician and through pictures they see what life on Earth and animals looked like. They organize Earth Epochs according to years going from greatest to least...
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Working in Space
Students design and build one of three engineering problems dealing with living and working in space.
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Chart the Stars
Seventh graders find constellation distances and plot the stars. In this star lesson plan, 7th graders plot the star points for Canis Major. Students use graphing calculators to graph the constellation. Students choose another...
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Coronal Mass Ejection
In this coronal mass ejection worksheet, students read about the coronal mass ejections detected by the IMAGE satellite and the Hubble Space Telescope resulting in auroras. Students solve 6 problems and determine the speed of the coronal...
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The Deadly Van Allen Belts?
In this Van Allen Belts worksheet, students read about the deadly affects of the high energy particle clouds located around the Earth. Students answer 4 questions about the dosages of radiation astronauts receive in the zones of the Van...
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SDO: Measuring the Speed of an Eruptive Prominence
In this eruptive prominence worksheet, students read about a plasma ejection from the sun measured by the Solar Dynamics Observatory. Students solve 3 problems using the given diagrams of the ejection. They determine the scale of the...
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Seeing a Dwarf Planet Clearly: Pluto
In this dwarf planet worksheet, students use images from the Hubble Space Telescope and they determine the scale of the image, they identify the largest features in the images, they calculate the volume of Pluto and they create a model...
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Fly Me to the Moon!
For this Moon travel worksheet, learners construct a simple rocket trajectory called the Hohmann Transfer orbit using a compass, string, paper and a pencil. Students solve 2 problems which include finding the number of hours it takes to...
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Spotting an Approaching Asteroid or Comet
For this asteroid and comet worksheet, students read about the formula used to determine the brightness of asteroid. They apply this formula to solve 2 problems about asteroids and their brightness.
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Changing Perspectives on the Sun's Diameter
In this sun's diameter worksheet, students use a photograph taken by the SOHO satellite of the sun showing a change in diameter from one month to another. Students find the average diameter of the sun, they determine the percent change...
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SDO Reveals Details on the Surface of the Sun
In this images of the sun worksheet, students read about the images released by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory and they solve 3 problems using the given photograph of the sun. Students find the scale of the image, they compare the...
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Solar Surface Details
In this solar surface activity, students use a photograph taken by the Swedish Vacuum Telescope to answer 6 questions about the solar features in the photograph. Students determine the scale of the image, they determine the smallest...
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Kepler Spies Five New Planets
In this discovering new planets worksheet, students read about how the Kepler spacecraft detects new planets by observing the dimming of light emitted by stars as the planets pass in front of them. Students solve 2 problems using a...
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The Changing Atmosphere of Pluto
In this atmosphere of Pluto worksheet, high schoolers use an equation for the orbit of Pluto to determine the semi-major axis, the semi-minor axis, the ellipticity of the orbit, the aphelion and the perihelion. They also determine the...
Curated OER
The Solar Neighborhood within 17 Light Years!
In this distance between stars instructional activity, students plot the distance between the sun and 11 other stars on a 2 dimensional grid using a protractor and a ruler. They determine the distances between various stars and they find...
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Eagle Nebula - Close-up
In this Eagle nebula activity, students solve 4 problems including finding the size of the nebula field, determining the scale of the image, determining how large the nebula is in millimeters and determining the size of the smallest...