Curated OER
The Sun, Moon, and Our Solar System: Teacher/Student Notes
Introduce basic Earth and space science to your budding astronauts. This handout works in two ways, the first part provides information about the sun, moon, eclipses, and Earth to be read to or by the class. The second part is composed...
Curated OER
Seeing a Dwarf Planet Clearly: Pluto
In this dwarf planet worksheet, learners use images from the Hubble Space Telescope and they determine the scale of the image, they identify the largest features in the images, they calculate the volume of Pluto and they create a model...
Curated OER
Earth Science
In this Earth science worksheet, 4th graders answer multiple choice questions about temperature, weather instruments, heat, light, and more. Students complete 25 questions.
Curated OER
What Makes Day and Night? The Earth's Rotation
Learners discover that the Earth rotates on its axis in a cyclical fashion. They examine how this rotation results in day and night.
Curated OER
Earth at Night
Young scholars examine the Earth at night. In this geography instructional activity, students identify the continents at night using various Internet Web sites. This instructional activity may be adapted for use with middle school and...
University of Colorado
Phases of Charon
Pluto, although no longer considered a planet, has five moons. Pluto's moon, Charon, is the focus of a resource that describes how the moon is viewed from the surface of Pluto. Photos help individuals see how Charon would look at...
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...
NASA
Rendezvous For Two
Imagine the challenge of getting the space shuttle to rendezvous with the International Space Station. Groups must determine the elliptical transfer orbit needed to get the space shuttle from its orbit to the orbit of the International...
NASA
Let's Investigate Mars
Take your science class on a hypothetical field trip to Mars with an engaging astronomy lesson. After first learning about NASA's Mars rover missions, young scientists plan their own scientific investigations of Earth's nearest neighbor.
Center for Math and Science Education
Solar System Launch
Trying to understand the vastness of outer space can be quite a challenge for young scientists. Help put things in perspective with this cross-curricular activity as students work in pairs creating scaled models of the solar system,...
Curated OER
Moon Mining
Go on a moon mining expedition from the safety of your classroom with this space exploration simulation. Using simple models of the moon's surface prepared ahead of time by the teacher, young scientists are challenged with locating 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.
Curated OER
Earth Viewer
Students explore the Earth. In this space instructional activity, students view the " Earth and Moon Viewer" web site and complete a related worksheet.
Curated OER
Journey Through Earth
Students study plate tectonics. In this plate tectonics activity students build a cutaway scale model of the Earth.
Curated OER
Earth Science: The Sun-Earth Relationship
Pupils examine the sun's impact on the Earth. They read online articles, explore various websites, and answer questions using information found on the Internet.
Curated OER
Sun-Earth Day Flip Books
Students assemble flip books. In this Earth science lesson, students read about different solar occurrences and create flip books. This teacher resource has links to create six different flip books.
Curated OER
Working With Scientific Notation
In this scientific notation worksheet, students read about the discovery of new planets. They use scientific notation to identify the number of miles from one planet to the next. Students determine how long it would take to travel, when...
Messenger Education
Cooling with Sunshades
Messenger's sun shade measures 8 ft x 6 ft and will have temperatures reaching 700 degree Fahrenheit on the outside while maintaining a cool 70 degrees underneath. In the third activity of four, groups discuss the basic properties of...
Curated OER
Third from the Sun
Students examine images from space. For this third from the Sun lesson, students examine images from, Landsat, the satellite launched by NASA in 1972.
Curated OER
Hello, Is Anybody Out There? (cont.)
In this space science worksheet, students read an informative passage about radio waves and the possibility of sending messages in space. The passage describes a "Sounds of Earth" record on the Voyager satellite which contains messages...
American Museum of Natural History
Planetary Mysteries
A website all about planetary mysteries—it's a one-stop-shop for all things, stars, planets, and space travel. Scholars read an astronomy overview to discover the page's big ideas, then choose from the plethora of resources, including...
Curated OER
Space Science: Phases of the Moon
Looking for a terrific lesson on the phases of the moon that has lots of good worksheets? With two excellent websites are embedded in the plan, the activity is sure to spark some interest in your astronomy unit. Some common...
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
A Moon with a View
Third graders explore the rotation of Earth and the moon. In this solar system lesson, 3rd graders participate in an Earth and moon simulation in which part of the class "becomes" the sun, while other children represent the moon by...