The sun sends the earth 35,000 times the amount of energy required by all of us on the entire planet, every day. The fourth lesson in the 10-part series looks at how light energy from the sun transfers into thermal energy. Scholars build...

Students explore solar power. In this solar power lesson, students build simple solar cookers after they study convection, conduction, and radiation. Students transfer their knowledge of how the solar cooker works to climate changes on...

Students discover scales for both the solar bodies' relative sizes and their distances from the sun. They find equatorial circumference and volumes of their solar bodies. Students apply estimation strategies and proportioanl reasoning to...

Young scholars complete research and solve problems that show the factors that determine the temperature of the earth's surface including the effect of greenhouse gases. They look at the relationships between solar energy, atmosphere,...

Students explore the difference between a meteor, meteorite and meteoroid. In this space science lesson, students first read information about these space bodies. Students make Comet Cookies and use them to model a meteor shower with a...

Students arrange various pictures of the Earth to identify its journey through space. In this Earth's rotation instructional activity, students use models of the Earth and demonstrate its journey through space. Students complete the...

Students use SunPath in the yearly mode to investigate seasonal changes in sunrise, sunset, length of day and sun altitude at their own latitude. Sun Path JAVA applet uses equations for a spherical Earth to calculate the sunrise and...

High schoolers engage in a lesson that investigates finding the dates of the solstices and equinoxes. They define the terms related to the concept and conduct research in order to explain the physical occurrences. They also relate to how...

Students apply concepts of magnetism to help them understand the production of solar flares. In this solar flare instructional activity, students complete activities and graphic organizers to help them learn about magnetic fields on the...

Students use a simple physical model of the Earth, sun, and moon to understand why the moon changes phases from the perspective of Earthly observers. They hold up balls representing the moon in a room with a single light source to see...

For this space science worksheet, learners answer 14 essay questions pertaining to the Earth, moon, and sun and their relationship. Prior knowledge is assumed, or this could be a pre-test.

Students study and discuss the planets. They create a visual representation of the layout of the solar system and color it. They also write an informative/narrative summary report on the cultural relevance of the Sun.

In this solar system worksheet, students will write in the nine planets that are found orbiting around our sun in our solar system.

Young scholars research the solar system and it's characteristics.  In this solar system lesson plan, students are broken into 4 groups, each assigned a specific part of the solar system.  Young scholars use the Internet to...

Students experiment with photovoltaic cells and determine the energy use of their appliances. In this renewable energy lesson plan, students calculate the energy emitted by a photovoltaic cell through an inquiry-based lab. They keep...

Students work in groups to create the planets of the solar system.  In this planets instructional activity, students create a hanging solar system taking into account the size, shape and position of the planets.  Students...

The climate at the equator is hotter than the climate at the poles, but why? The lesson goes in depth, explaining how the angles of illumination relate to the heating rate at different latitudes and seasons. Scholars use a strong lamp,...

There is a specific zone, or distance from a star, that a planet must be in order to have water in a liquid form. The activity demonstrates how flux density depends on its distance from the source. A photovoltaic cell gets power to...

The earth only revolves around one thing — and it's not any of your pupils. The instructional activity includes two activities dealing with the distance to the sun and the moon. First, scholars create a pin hole camera and use the rules...

In 150 BC, Seleucus of Seleucia theorized that the moon causes the tides. Scholars learn about what causes tides by studying the interactions of gravity between the sun, moon, and Earth. They use technology to formalize otherwise...

Explore the sun in a lesson plan about space. The lesson spans ten weeks, with students performing activities to answer weekly questions about the Sun and Earth.

Kepler's second law of planetary motion, specifically, the law of equal areas, is demonstrated by your high schoolers. On the provided graph paper, they mark out the designated path of Earth at two different times of the year and then...

Welcome to your new job as an astrophysicist, astrobiologist, engineer, or research scientist at NASA. Your job is to search for alien life in our solar system! Throughout a unit of activities, learners search the galaxy through...

Calculate the speed of the International Space Station. By reading the article, pupils learn about the concept of orbits. Scholars work through a formula to determine how fast the International Space Station is traveling to stay in...