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Destination Mars!
Fifth graders view Mysteries of Earth & Mars Video on DVD and record thoughts in their online journal. They record data in a spreadsheet about each planet then form a theory of the best time to launch a space craft from Earth to land...
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Measuring the Speed of Light
Students explore physics by completing measurement problems in class. In this speed of light lesson, students discuss the importance of knowing the speed of light and how it affects many aspects of human life on Earth. Students identify...
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The Calendar
High schoolers engage in an overview of solar and lunar calendars, their history and lore. Also, of the day and the month, and their relations to the rotation period of the Earth and the orbital period of the Moon.
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Interstellar Real Estate - Defining The Habitable Zone
Students explore the orbital characteristics a planetary home needs to support Earth-like life forms. They develop an understanding of critical planetary mass to determine which newly discovered planets might be capable of supporting life.
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Kepler's 3rd Law
Students derive the velocity in a circular orbit of any radius. They derive the Earth escape velocity and prove Kepler's 3rd law for circular orbits # A simple formula for the orbital period in a circular Earth orbit of given radius.
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Reasons for the Seasons
Students discover how the Earth's axis of rotation affects the angle of sunlight and the length of day. They take a survey and give the survey out to family members and friends. They tally their findings and then determine the correct...
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Kepler and his Laws
Students examine Kepler's Laws. They confirm Kepler's 3rd law by comparing orbital periods and mean distances for all major planets and study conic sections, qualitatively.
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Unit 2 Sun & Stars
Students describe stellar objects using terms such as stars, planets, satellites, orbits and light. In this sun and stars unit, students research stellar objects through seven individual lessons discovering star characteristics, how...
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How Big Are Earth, Sun, and Moon?
Third graders draw what they believe is in space on a dry erase board. In groups, they are given a beaker half filled with water and they add a teaspoon of oil, observing the different layers that form. To end the instructional...
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Cooling With Sunshades
Learners conduct research in order to find the effects of properties exposed to heat and how they change temperature. They consider the effect of sunlight upon objects that are placed outside with the help of an experiment. They also...
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Moon Glow
Students identify the Earth-Moon relationship and the phases of the Moon. They participate in an activity that illustrates why the Moon has so many different looks within a lunar cycle. They discuss solar and lunar eclipses.
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Place Value Through Billions
Place value reading skills are the focus of this lesson. Students are given an example of Pluto's orbit distance from the sun to introduce the concept of the billions place value. Students are then given four numbers in the billions, and...
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Reasons for Seasons
Students investigate a model of the tilt of the Earth in its relationship to the Sun during the different seasons of the year. They study the solstices and equinoxes, while determining how sunlight hits the Earth with different angles in...
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The Moon
Learners explore the relationship between the earth, sun, and moon in our solar system. They create a moonrise/moonset chart, perform a dance that models the moon phases, and create a Styrofoam model of the moon's surface.
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Space Exploration to Find Habitable Planets
Students explore space science by reviewing scientific vocabulary terms. In this planet identification lesson, students identify the nine planets in our solar system and discuss which ones could potentially harbor life at some point....
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Earth, Moon, Mars Balloons
Students demonstrate size and orbits of Earth, Moon, and Mars. For this space science lesson plan, students will use balloons to show how the size and distance between the planets and satellite compare.
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Atmospheric Shielding from Radiation I
In this radiation worksheet, students calculate the distance of a satellite in orbit to determine the placement of a radiation detection device. This worksheet has 2 problems to solve.
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Universal Proportions: Earth and Moon
Students create scale models of Earth, the Moon, and the distances within the universe. Working in groups, they construct their models of Earth and the Moon on a scale of 50:1 and calculate how far apart to place their models. They...
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Ellipses And Kepler's First Law
Students explain that planets actually orbit the center of gravity of the solar system, and that distant planets may be detected by motions of their central star around the centers of gravity of their planetary systems.
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Colonizing the Stars
Students compare and contrast the size, composition and surface features of the nine planets of our solar system with the possible sizes and compositions of extra -solar planets.
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Earth and Seasons
Sixth graders comprehend that the path Earth takes as it revolves around the sun is called its orbit. They also comprehend that the axis is an imaginary line that passes through Earth's center and its North and South Poles. Students...
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Lesson-Mass and Weight
Student identify the three stationary positions, on the Earth, on the Moon, and in a house floating atop the cloud layers of Jupiter. They also identify the three orbiting positions, orbiting the Earth, orbiting the Moon, and orbiting...
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Place Value to 10,000
In this ten thousands place worksheet, students review the table that shows the diameters of the largest moons in the solar system and the planet it orbits. Students use the table to help them understand numbers with a place value of...
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The Nature of Science and Technology
Learners study the environmental concerns of orbital debris. In this orbital debris lesson students complete several activities.