Curated OER
NIGHT AND DAY: DAILY CYCLES IN SOLAR RADIATION
High schoolers examine how Earth's rotation causes daily cycles in solar energy using a microset of satellite data to investigate the Earth's daily radiation budget and locating map locations using latitude and longitude coordinates.
Curated OER
Storm Clouds-- Fly over a Late Winter Storm onboard a NASA Earth Observing Satellite
Students study cloud data and weather maps to explore cloud activity. In this cloud data activity students locate latitude and longitude coordinates and determine cloud cover percentages.
Curated OER
Sun and Weather
How is the Earth's weather created? Middle schoolers will explain how the Sun's energy is transformed into different forms. They will perform mathematical calculations of volume, mass, and temperature. They they will explain the...
Curated OER
Get a Leg Up
Traveling through space is an amazing experience, but it definitely takes a toll on the body. After reading an article and watching a brief video, learners perform an experiment that simulates the effects of zero gravity on the...
Curated OER
Making Regolith
You may not be able to take a field trip to the moon, but that doesn't mean your class can't study moon rocks. Using graham crackers as the moon's bedrock and powdered donuts as micrometeorites, young scientists simulate...
Curated OER
Food for Spaceflight
When astronauts get hungry in outer space, they can't just call and have a pizza delivered. In order to gain an appreciation for the challenges associated with space travel, young learners are given the task of selecting,...
Curated OER
Universal Proportions: Earth and Moon
Students create scale models of Earth, the Moon, and the distances within the universe. Working in groups, they construct their models of Earth and the Moon on a scale of 50:1 and calculate how far apart to place their models. They...
Space Awareness
History of the Universe
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...
Curated OER
Space Shuttle's Heat Shield Problem
Students participate in a role-play activity to determine how to replace heat shields on the space shuttle using polar coordinates.
101 Questions
Speed of Light
How quickly does light travel long distances? A short video simulates light going from the earth to the moon at two different paces. Scholars relate the distance to the rate to understand which simulation is correct.
Teach Engineering
Ranking the Rocks for Desired Properties
Math rocks! Cavern design teams determine the rankings of rock types based upon desirability points. The points are connected to the properties of the rocks and their usefulness in building a cavern.
Curated OER
A Bird's Eye Look at the Sun-Earth System
In this Sun-Earth system worksheet, learners fill in blanks with the proper terms from a given list to complete a summary of the relationship between the Sun and the Earth. A major topic includes how solar storms effect the Earth and the...
Curated OER
Earth and Space Science: Exploring Earthquakes
Students explore earthquakes. In this earthquake lesson, students research earthquakes and identify where they take place. Students use map skills to track down earthquake locations. There are internet sites suggested in this lesson.
Curated OER
Comparing Earth and Mars
Students work together to compare and contrast Mars and Earth. Using the internet, they answer questions given to them by their teacher and calculate answers showing their work. They graph their answers and discuss the results of the...
NASA
Down to Earth
There are only 10 types of people in the world: those who understand binary and those who don't. The lesson includes four activities in which students learn binary, convert binary to images, understand CCD arrays, and interpret...
University of Colorado
Looking Inside Planets
Researchers use scientific data to understand what is inside each of the planets. The first in a series of six, this lesson builds off of that concept by having pupils use a data table to create their own scale models of the interiors of...
Space Awareness
Navigating with the Kamal
Historians have proven that as early as 1497 skilled navigators were using a kamal to sail across oceans. Scholars learn about navigation tools and astronomy before building their own kamals. They then learn how to use it to determine...
Curated OER
Can an Astronaut on Mars Distinguish Earth from its Moon?
Learners explore the possibility of being on Mars and being able to identify the Earth. In this space lesson students complete a set of calculations to see if this is possible.
Curated OER
Fermi Observatory Measures the Lumps in Space
In this gamma-ray worksheet, students read about the Fermi Gamma-ray Observatory and how it measures the invisible lumps in space. Students solve 3 problems using an equation to determine the time that gamma-rays travel in space and the...
Curated OER
Earth's Magnetic Pole
In this Earth's magnetic pole worksheet, students use a diagram showing the changes in the magnetic pole of the Earth over time. Students use the given scale of the changes to answer 6 questions about the average speed of the magnetic...
Curated OER
Mass, Volume, and Weight
Students explore mass, volume, and weight. In this science and measurement lesson, students compare volume, mass, and weight after listening to the teacher's description of each. Students explore different scales and balances and...
Curated OER
Sun's Impact On Earth's Temperature
Young scholars view NASA images and movies of Venus, Earth, and Mars to deduce weather patterns and manipulate computer models to test competing hypotheses. They manipulate computer models to investigate the influence of solar distance...
NASA
Let's Investigate Mars
Take your science class on a hypothetical field trip to Mars with an engaging astronomy lesson. After first learning about NASA's Mars rover missions, young scientists plan their own scientific investigations of Earth's...
Curated OER
Moon Mining
Go on a moon mining expedition from the safety of your classroom with this space exploration simulation. Using simple models of the moon's surface prepared ahead of time by the teacher, young scientists are challenged with locating and...