Journey Through the Universe
Impact Craters: A Look at the Past
The Galle crater on Mars is also known as the Happy Face crater because of its appearance. First, scholars use pebbles and flour to simulate craters and study their properties. They then apply this knowledge to help decipher the history...
Curated OER
Impact Craters Activity
Lunar explorers perform an experiment to understand the size of the craters on the surface of the moon. They layer flour, laundry detergent, and cocoa powder in a pan to model the lunar surface. They drop marbles from different heights...
Curated OER
Creating Impact Craters
Sixth graders simulate the creation of impact craters on Mars.Through the creation of model surfaces, the effects of an impacting object's mass, velocity and size are determined, and the features of the resulting crater are identified.
PBS
Impact Craters on Earth
What does it look like when a meteorite strikes Earth? A slideshow resource gives pupils a firsthand view of common meteorite strikes. Using the ages of the craters, scholars analyze how the shapes erode over time.
Las Cumbres Observatory
Down2Earth: Making Impact Craters
Is the sky falling? Learners use a simulator to modify the mass and velocity of asteroids and collect data on how they influence the diameter and depth of the impact crater. They use their results to draw conclusions and make predictions...
Alabama Learning Exchange
The Moon's Craters
Fifth graders investigate the formation and size of impact craters. In small groups, they conduct an experiment that involves dropping marbles into flour and measuring the impact from various heights and discussing their hypothesis and...
Curated OER
Impact Craters and Water on Mars
Students explore for water on Mars using impact crater morphology. During this lab, students: investigate how to use the equation writing and graphing capabilities in Microsoft Excel, then develop and apply an impact crater...
Teach Engineering
Making Moon Craters
Create an egg-citing study of energy. Pupils investigate the effect of height and mass on the overall amount of energy of a falling object. The fourth segment in a six-part series on energy uses a weighted egg falling from different...
Curated OER
Deep Impact Comet Encounter
Physics apprentices analyze the impact of NASA's Impactor as it collided with the comet Tempel 1 in July of 2005. They calculate the mass and speed of the comet, along with the distance it might drift off of its orbit over time. This...
Curated OER
Impact Craters
Students investigate the factors affecting the size of a crater. In this space science lesson plan, students collect data from the activity and graph them. They explain how velocity of impact relate to crater size.
Curated OER
Creating Craters
Students explore parts of an impact crater and compare and contrast craters found in Earth, the Moon, and Mars. Crater formation is modelled and the relationship of mass, velocity, and size of the projectile to the crater formation is...
Curated OER
Impact Craters: Holes in the Ground!
Students simulate crater formation through a lab activity. In this space science lesson, students calculate how much energy is transferred during meteorite impact. They identify different factors affecting the size and depth of craters...
It's About Time
Impact Events and the Earth System
What would happen to Earth if an asteroid struck it? Assist young scientists as they explore the mechanics of an impact event and effects caused by it; calculate the energy released once an asteroid strikes Earth's surface; and compare...
Las Cumbres Observatory
Craters in the Classroom
Laws of motion apply both in space and on Earth. Young experimenters model object impact on the Earth and moon. They use data to determine the effect mass and velocity have on the resulting craters and how that relates to the energy of...
Curated OER
Making Impact Craters
Students examine images of Moon craters and speculate about what caused them. They create craters using sand weighted balls. Students measure crater sizes and draw ejection patterns to see what effect size, weight, and velocity have on...
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Finding the Crater
A mass extinction event caused by an impact usually leaves a crater. Scholars use data from 10 different sites around the world trying to determine where to look for the crater. They use data, listing the amount of various minerals to...
Curated OER
Counting Craters on the Hubble Space Telescope!
In this Hubble Space Telescope activity, students are given a photograph of the radiator recovered after being in space on the Hubble Space Telescope since 1993. Students solve 6 problems about the impacts that left craters on the...
Curated OER
Mud Splat Craters
Students simulate crater formation using mud. In this earth science instructional activity, students identify the features of a crater. They explain how the force of impact affect the crater's appearance.
Curated OER
Lunar Meteorite Impact Risks
In this lunar meteorite impact worksheet, students read about the dangers of meteorite impacts while exploring the moon. Students solve 7 problems including finding the area of the side of the moon that faces the Earth, calculating the...
Curated OER
Comet Cratering
Students measure craters. In this crater lesson, students make a flat surface of flour and drop different size craters from different heights. They measure each of the craters to see how height, size and mass affects the crater size.
Curated OER
Making a Crater
Learners examine the characteristics of craters. In this crater lesson, students discover how meteors form craters on planets and moons as they make their own craters and respond to observational questions regarding the scientific...
Curated OER
once and future MOON
Beyond the phases of the moon, this comprehensive lesson plan covers geologic history and geology. Amateur astronauts examine photos of the lunar landscape, experiment with the creation of craters, and delve into information about the...
Curated OER
Lunar Craters
Pupils explore crater impacts. In this moon crater lesson students evaluate and interpret the physical characteristics of a crater.
Curated OER
Making Craters
Students study craters and identify the different things that characterize craters. In this crater lesson students create a model of an impact crater.