Rice University
Characteristics of Inner Planets
Aspiring astronomers assess the inner planets using this handout. They read about the characteristics of each, noting that all four of them have rocky surfaces. Rotation and revolution are introduced, including Venus' retrograde...
Science 4 Inquiry
Temperature of Inner Planets
Mars, Earth, and Venus contain atmospheres that generate weather. Young scientists explore the temperature of inner planets. They create a model simulating the greenhouse effect before researching and answering guided questions to...
Glynn County School System
The Outer Planets
Are outer planets just like inner planets? Nope! The outer planets are much more spread apart than the inner planets. An informative PowerPoint presentation shows why this is true as well as facts about the individual planets in the...
Mr. Jones's Science Class
Planet Presentation
Upper-elementary astronomers take on the role of interplanetary real estate salesmen. They research an assigned planet and create a PowerPoint to persuade the rest of the class to purchase property and move there. This fun project would...
Glynn County School System
Solar System Formation and Extra-Solar Planets
Has the solar system always been like it is today? A lesson presentation begins with a discussion of the formation of our solar system. It continues with a compare and contrast of the inner and outer planets.
Columbus City Schools
Planet X
How did the earth become the mass that it is now? Your young scientists explore this question through the concept of density. Their inquiries consider the impact of gravity on the formation of planets. The culminating activity of the...
PHET
Planet Designer: Kelvin Climb
It's time to get those creative juices flowing! This second lesson in a series of five continues allowing pupils to design their own planets. It the same format as the first, but, this time, allows students to alter greenhouse gases to...
Curated OER
Word Formation
In this word formation worksheet, students fill in the spaces in six sentences with the base word given in bold in its correct form.
Curated OER
Traveling the Planets!
Fourth graders research the planets and create brochures to share their information. In this planets lesson, 4th graders navigate the Internet to gather information for a brochure about an imaginary trip to their planet. Students...
Glynn County School System
The Earth as a Planet
What does our planet have in common with other planets? What makes it unique? Find out in a PowerPoint presentation highlighting many earthly facts! The lesson describes Earth's atmosphere in detail and adds many other important facts...
Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics
Orbit Simulator
Researchers think they have evidence of a new planet deep in our solar system that is the size of Neptune and orbits the sun far beyond Pluto. The orbit simulator shows the orbits of our well-known planets, as well as Pluto and the comet...
TLS Books
Neptune
Did you know that Neptune is named after the Roman god of the sea? Young astronomers read about this and other facts about the eighth planet from the sun in a short informational text passage.
Curated OER
From Asteroids to Planets
In this asteroids and planets worksheet, students read about the formation of planets from asteroids. Students solve 6 mathematical problems including finding the rate of growth of a planet, determining the mass of a planet at a given...
Curated OER
Ceres and Pluto: Dwarf Planets as a New Way of Thinking about an Old Solar System
Students examine the new categories of planets and how planets were reclassified. In this solar system lesson students complete activities using Venn diagrams and images of planets.
Curated OER
What's Your Favorite Planet?
Fourth graders, after listing the nine planets and their differences, choose one planet as their favorite. From the information acquired on each students favorite planet, they make a graph illustrating their favorites and then transform...
Curated OER
Changing Planet: Black Carbon - a Dusty Situation
Introduce your young meteorologists to black carbon produced by the burning of fossil fuels by showing the video, "Changing Planet: Black Carbon." Viewers discover that deposition of this carbon on polar ice impacts the absorption of...
Curated OER
Jeopardy Game - Science
Used in an upper elementary classroom, this presentation could be a center activity or a whole-group experience. This is a great way to review a variety of scientific topics. There are questions relating to the planets, rock formations,...
Curated OER
Please Ex-Planet!
What is most useful about this lesson plan is the "Student Explanet Worksheet," a set of instructions for collaborative groups to use to collect information about an assigned planet. After students have researched and organized their...
NASA
Dark Matter NASA Conference
Young scholars calculate the escape velocity of planets in our solar system and use that knowledge to calculate the escape velocity for NGC 2300 group. They then suggest reasons for the escape velocity to be higher than possible given...
Science 4 Inquiry
A Whole New World: The Search for Water
Scholars find Earth won't support humans much longer and need to identify a planet with water to inhabit. They test four unknown samples and determine which is the closest to water. Then they explain and defend their results.
Curated OER
Changing Planet: Fading Corals
Show the six-minute video, "Changing Planet: Fading Corals," and then demonstrate how calcium carbonate forms a precipitate in the presence of carbon dioxide. Separate your scientists into small groups to gather information about coral...
Curated OER
Changing Planet: The Case of the Leaky Gyre
The fascinating video "Changing Planet: Fresh Water in the Arctic," introduces your oceanographers to the world's gyres. They learn that melting sea ice is making the gyres larger, and that the changes could, in turn, contribute even...
Curated OER
Changing Planet: Sea Levels Rising
Begin by showing a six-minute video, Changing Planet: Rising Sea Level as an anticipatory set. Pupils draw a topographic map of a potato continent. Finally, they will visit NOAA's sea levels online map and NASA's carbon dioxide...
CK-12 Foundation
Revolutions of Earth: Planet Cube
Does assessing Earth Science vocabulary making your head spin? Test scholars' knowledge of revolving and rotating using an interactive tool. The movement of a new planet and its moon is in their hands, allowing them to explore and...