University of Colorado
Strange New Planet
The first remote sensors were people in hot air balloons taking photographs of Earth to make maps. Expose middle school learners to space exploration with the use of remote sensing. Groups explore and make observations of a new planet by...
Curated OER
The Right Order
Students investigate the Space Transportation System and the sequence of a space shuttle launch. They view and discuss photos, watch a video of a shuttle launch, and place shuttle launch cards in the correct order.
Curated OER
The International Space Station
In this International Space Station instructional activity, students are given the altitude changes in the space station on a graph from 2000-2004. Students answer 5 questions about the trends in the graph, the changes in altitude, the...
Messenger Education
Dangers of Radiation Exposure
Gamma radiation, which is harmful, is useful in treating cancers. In the second lesson plan in a series of four, young scientists take surveys and calculate their yearly exposure to ionizing radiation. Then they read about how harmful...
Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics
Looking to the Future
New Horizons set forth on a mission to Pluto in 2006. Ten years later, the spacecraft is still on its way. Here, enthusiastic scholars predict what they will be like—likes, dislikes, hobbies, etc.—when New Horizons arrives at its...
Curated OER
MAPPING THE TOPOGRAPHY OF UNKNOWN SURFACES
Students describe in words and graphic displays the elevation or depression profile of sections of Mars' Olympus Mons and/or Valles Marineris. They explain how orbiting spacecraft build up global maps one data slice at a time.
Curated OER
How Big is a Lunar Crater?
In this lunar crater worksheet, students use an image taken by the Lunar Orbiter spacecraft to find the scale of the image and determine the diameter of the lunar crater Tycho. They also find the size of the smallest and largest features...
Curated OER
Early Space Missions
In this space missions activity, students read about the launch of the space shuttle Magellan and its exploration of Venus. Students complete 2 short answer questions based on the reading.
Teach Engineering
Get Me Off This Planet
What do Newton's Laws have to do with getting from Earth to Mars?The activities in this resource show how Newton's Laws work with rockets to get them into space. Background information includes facts about orbits and how orbits are used...
Curated OER
Futuristic Flights
Students study the orbital space plane, NASA's proposed spacecraft of the future. They work in groups to plan missions to take place twenty years from now and design orbital space planes in which to carry out the missions.
Curated OER
Seeing Solar Storms in STEREO-II
In this solar storms learning exercise, students use a diagram given the location of two STEREO spacecraft satellites, a coronal mass ejection, the sun and the Earth to solve 2 problems about the coronal mass ejection. Students use...
Curated OER
Pan's Highway-Saturn's Rings
In this Pan's highway worksheet, students read about the Cassini spacecraft that discovered how Pan clears out the ring debris in the outer A-ring system of Saturn. Students use an image taken by the satellite to find the scale of the...
Curated OER
Cassini Space Craft Coloring Sheet
In this science worksheet, students will color a picture of the Cassini space craft and the Huygens Probe orbiting around Saturn. A simple explanation of the mission is at the bottom of the page.
Curated OER
Strange New Planet
Students simulate different spacecraft missions using materials provided. In this space science lesson, students observe and record a planetary model's features from a distance. They relate this activity to scientists' space exploration...
Curated OER
People and Space
Students eat dehydrated foods that the astronauts would eat in space. In this dehydrated foods lesson plan, students make lists of food they could eat, discuss how dehydration takes place, eat food, and complete discussion questions.
Messenger Education
Mission: Possible—How Can We Plan an Exploration of Another World?
An astronaut's spacesuit weighs 280 pounds and takes 45 minutes to put on — that's a serious suit! The second activity of a three-part series allows pupils to see all that goes into space exploration. Through simulations, groups analyze...
American Museum of Natural History
A Closer Look at Mars
A website looks at how we know so much about Mars—telescopes, robots, and spacecraft—and the search for martian life. Following the informational text are three questions that quiz pupils about possible life on Mars.
Curated OER
Eyes in the Sky
Students complete a unit on orbiting spacecraft designed to study astronomical objects. They conduct Internet research on NASA missions, use a satellite dish to downlink information, and construct and launch a rocket out of paper and tape.
Curated OER
The International Space Station-Follow that Graph!
In this altitude change of the International Space Station instructional activity, learners observe a graph of the change in altitude of the space station over time due to the Earth's drag. Students solve 3 problems using the data in the...
Curated OER
Navigation and Trajectory
Students prepare a creative demonstration of how Earth and Mars revolve around the Sun. In this astronomy lesson plan, students determine the different challenges engineers face when building spacecrafts. They draw possible paths for a...
Curated OER
Solar System 2
In this space worksheet, students identify and locate vocabulary terms and names related to the Solar System. There are 31 words located in the puzzle.
Curated OER
Artificial Satellites and Space Probes
In this satellites instructional activity, high schoolers match the list of facts given with the artificial satellite or space probe that it describes. This instructional activity has 12 matching questions.
Curated OER
Not So Lost in Space
Students investigate how engineers navigate satellites in orbit around the Earth and on their way to other planets in the solar system. They study vocabulary words and participate in studying a satellite by learning about times and...
Curated OER
Design a Space Station
Sixth graders investigate living in space. In this science lesson, 6th graders discuss what it is like to live in space and create their own space station or space city of the future.