Super science learners examine the sun's production of energy by the process of nuclear fusion. Hands-on activities make this lesson engaging for middle schoolers. The lesson is made up of four parts. Part I is an introduction to the sun...

Students explore using energy from the sun for heating and cooking as they build and compare the performance of four solar cooker designs. This excellent two-day lesson has groups of students build and test a variety of solar cookers....

Let's heat things up! This simple experiment demonstrates for learners the important role the sun plays in providing the earth with energy. Place one cup of water in direct sunlight and one in shade, then take measurements in order to...

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 discover the properties of light (radiant) energy from the sun by experimenting with solar collectors, cookers, and calculators. After a lecture/demo, students create their own solar collectors and test their efficiency.

Teacher pages for four different activities and three assessments are provided in this resource. Topics deal with how the sun's position and Earth's atmosphere affect the amount of solar energy reaching Earth's surface. The concepts and...

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...

In this second lesson plan of the series, pupils learn to observe similarities and differences in photos of the sun and record them in a Venn diagram. Then, small groups practice the same skill on unique images before presenting...

Third graders learn how to use solar power.  In this sun, technology and energy lesson, 3rd graders learn how the solar power from the sun can give off energy, learn about solar panels, discuss their uses and benefits, and design a...

Should every school have solar panels? The 19th lesson in a series of 21 has scholars research the feasibility of using solar panels at their school. They begin by gathering data on the solar energy in the area before estimating the...

Pupils study the sun and how solar energy works. To learn about renewable energy, they complete a lab activity using a pizza box as a solar heater. Quite clever!

The sun isn't just a ball of yellow! Young scientists learn about the features of the sun using a hands-on modeling activity. They build models of the sun using common household items to represent sunspots, solar prominence, and the...

Earth is 149,600,000 km, or 92,957,130.4 miles, from the sun. Young astronauts create an interactive model to learn the distances between planets. Nine groups, each representing a different planet, are spread around at class-calculated...

Introduce your earth science enthusiasts to the earth's energy budget. Teach them using an informative set of slides that include illuminating lecturer's notes, relevant vocabulary, embedded animations, colorful satellite maps, and a...

Using a Maori legend, How Maui Tamed the Sun, youngsters are introduced to the importance of sunlight to civilization. Teach them about nuclear fusion that occurs to produce the solar energy we later receive on Earth as...

Sixth graders examine how the sun's energy arrives as light with a range of wavelengths. They discuss the characteristics of light, examine the color of light using a spectroscope, and conduct an experiment using water and thermometers....

The greenhouse effect is important, for without it, life on Earth would not exist. An activity that includes modeling the greenhouse effect and acting out the Earth's energy balance makes up the first part in a series of seven...

As a way to combine life and physical science, or simply as an investigation of plant transpiration, this lesson plan is sure to inspire! Middle schoolers capture the moisture given off by plants that are placed in different conditions....

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...

Can you listen to Jupiter on a simple radio? Turns out the answer is yes! The resource instructs scholars to build a simple radio to pick up the radio waves created when the charged particles from the sun hit Jupiter's magnetic...

There's no need to stay inside; get out of the classroom and create a scaled map of the solar system on your playground field! In collaborative groups, scholars identify the distance between the sun and other planets, place planet...

In this first part of a two-part instructional activity, learners track and record the sun's azimuth using a solar panel. They graph and analyze the data to identify relationships among the time of day, the altitude and azimuth of the...

Swirling and churning, the waters of the North Atlantic play a vital role in Earth's climate! Discover the many factors that produce circulation using a multimedia lesson from PBS's Weather and Climate series for high schoolers. Scholars...

Students attempt to understand seasonal variation by viewing images of the energy received by the earth. In this weather lesson, students view images from NASA of the influx of energy from the sun and make predictions about resulting...