In this energy through the ages learning exercise, students read about the history of energy use beginning with early civilization and the use of water wheels for the production of energy to hydrocarbon-based coal, oil and natural gas of...

Why do shadows look different in the summer than in the winter? What causes day and night? How can a sundial be used to tell time? Answer these questions and more through two engaging lessons about light and shadows. Fourth and fifth...

Learners access prior knowledge of solar energy and understand that solar energy produces heat. In this solar cooker lesson, students complete grade appropriate experiments using the heat of the sun. Learners complete a worksheet on...

Light, distance, and mathematics come together to help scientists plan for space missions. Groups examine the relationship between distance from the sun and light availability in a hands-on exploration activity. They model the inverse...

Young scientists gain a better understanding of space, the solar system and its vastness by creating a scale model. Students first need to calculate the distance between each of the nine planets according to the size of their scale. This...

Students study what makes Earth warm and explore how different locations on the planetreceive different amounts of solar energy based on the intensity of the sun's rays. They calculate light intensities and compare the amounts of light...

In this Sun-Earth system worksheet, students 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...

How do you make raisins? Do a simple experiment with your class that prompts them to set a bunch of grapes in the sun for a few days, and see what they find!

Students conduct experiments with plants.  In this photosynthesis lesson, students examine plants under different types of lights.  They calculate the amount of dissolved ocygen concentration and compare it to the formula for...

Students participate in an activity that demonstrates the principles and dynamics of food chains. They discover that the sun's energy is captured by individual plants and transferred to animals.

In this magnetic energy worksheet, students are given the formula to calculate the magnetic energy of an object. They use the formula to solve for the magnetic energy of the Earth, a geotail, the Sun, and a solar prominence given their...

In this energetic neutral atoms worksheet, students solve 3 problems including determining the formula for particle speed, writing the equation to show the relationship between mass, energy and speed and determining the speed of protons...

This activity asks learners to interpret data displayed on a graph within the context of the problem. Learners are given three graphs that show solar radiation, or intensity of the sun, as a function of time. They are also given three...

Students explore physics by completing measurement problems in class. In this speed of light lesson, students discuss the importance of knowing the speed of light and how it affects many aspects of human life on Earth. Students identify...

Sixth graders investigate local water. In this water cycle instructional activity, 6th graders take samples from surrounding water sources. Students record data from the samples, compare and graph the results.

Students build a solar oven. In this Science lesson, students construct a functional solar oven. Students design the oven and explain the energy concepts involved.

Introduce starting space scientists to the electromagnetic spectrum, expecially the portion of visible light. Teach them about wavelength and frequesncy. Then give them a roll of adding machine tape and a manila folder to make a...

In this detecting dwarf planets worksheet, students read about the Webb Space Telescope that will be launched in 2014 to detect dwarf planets using an infrared telescope. Students solve 3 problems and create a graph for each using given...

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.

In this STEREO satellites worksheet, students are given a chart with the intensity of the signals from the satellites received on Earth and the distances of the satellite from Earth. Students convert the intensity at each distance to...

Students recognize the importance of plants as they perform an experiment involving photosynthesis. Students determine the optimum wavelength of light for photosynthesis by exposing plants to different colors of light, collecting data,...

Students describe stellar objects using terms such as stars, planets, satellites, orbits and light. In this sun and stars unit, students research stellar objects through seven individual lessons discovering star characteristics, how...

Third graders review the placement and role of the sun in the solar system. Using beads, they create a necklace which they can use to identify the amount of sunlight is being illuminated. In groups, they record observations on the...

What better way to learn about plant life than by creating a class garden? Young botanists start with a brief discussion about radishes before planting seeds and watching them grow. To determine the importance of water,...