Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Moon, Mars, and Beyond-Mission Briefing

For Teachers 6th - 9th
Students complete this introductory lesson in which they find out about the scenario for a simulated online space mission. They review vocabulary and complete a review sheet to reinforce the details of the mission and its goals.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Soaring Through Space With a Kid Pix Slide Show

For Teachers 1st
First graders create a slide show on Kid Pix about space. In this space lesson plan, 1st graders will explore the earth, sun, moon, and planets. After exploring their motions and locations around the sun, they create a 4 page slide show...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Astronomical Scales

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Pupils describe the different units of measurement. In this space science lesson, students calculate astronomical distances using a scale. They explain the significance of using scientific notation in expressing very small or very...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Graphing Sunspot Cycles

For Teachers 7th - 9th
Students explore sunspots and then graph them to analyze the data.  In this sunspot cycles lesson plan students complete an activity sheet and complete questions. 
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Tracking an Active Sunspot Region

For Teachers 8th
Eighth graders plot the location of a single active region for 12 days.  In this sunspot lesson students track an active region across the face of the sun. 
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

What Makes you Hot?

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students manipulate different variables in a model and make inferences about the temperature on Earth.  In this heat lesson students calculate the blackbody radiation of an object at a certain temperature. 
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Upgrading Hubble

For Teachers 4th - 10th
Students investigate the Hubble telescope's role in astrophysics research. They complete a Webquest, watch a video, view Hubble photographs, play online games, answer discussion questions, and evaluate newspaper articles about optics.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Does Humidity Affect Cloud Formation?

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Middle schoolers use NASA's S'COOL database to identify factors that affect cloud formation.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Global Warming: The Greenhouse Effect Visualizer

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Learners work in small groups to study the various aspects of global weather and discuss the possibility of a Greenhouse Effect.
Activity
University of Colorado

University of Colorado: Ph Et Interactive Simulations: My Solar System

For Students 9th - 10th
An interactive simulation that teaches about motion, acceleration, and velocity by allowing students to build their own solar system and watch the effects of gravitational pull and how that changes with initial position, velocity, and...
Website
California Institute of Technology

Cool Cosmos: Ask an Astronomer for Kids: Solar System

For Students 3rd - 8th
Resource presents information about the solar system through a list of most frequently asked questions. Click on each question and be transported to a wealth of knowledge about our solar system and the planets within it.
Website
Other

Sea and Sky: A Tour of the Solar System

For Students 9th - 10th
Take a virtual tour of the solar system starting with detailed information about the sun.
Lesson Plan
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Solar System Scale Model

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Teach the concept of scale models and the size of the solar system through this extensive lesson plan. Students will learn about scale models, estimate which objects to use to create a scale model of Earth and Sun, and figure out how far...
Online Course
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Mit: Open Course Ware: Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences: Solar System

For Teachers 9th - 10th
A university-level course that looks at the structure of the solar system, the sun, the planets, and other bodies in space. Includes course readings, assignments, and study notes.
Unit Plan
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Solar System!

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
An introduction to our solar system: the planets, our Sun and our Moon. Students begin by learning the history and engineering of space travel. They make simple rockets to acquire a basic understanding Newton's third law of motion. They...
Handout
Other

University of Leicester: The Solar System

For Students 9th - 10th
Resource explores the solar system, with an in depth discussion of each of the planets and their properties.
Interactive
National Earth Science Teachers Association

Windows to the Universe

For Students 9th - 10th
Windows to the Universe has developed an interactive resource about the earth, space, biological and physical sciences. Content includes information on our planet, the solar system, the universe, myths associated with space, space...
Website
National Earth Science Teachers Association

Windows to the Universe: Our Solar System

For Students 9th - 10th
Our solar system is filled with a wide assortment of celestial bodies - the Sun itself, our eight planets, dwarf planets, and asteroids - and on Earth, life itself! The inner solar system is occasionally visited by comets that loop in...
Unit Plan
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University

De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: Learning About the Solar System [Pdf]

For Teachers 4th
"Learning about the Solar System" is a one page, nonfiction, reading passage about scientists and learning about our solar system and how it works. It is followed by constructed-response questions which require students to provide...
Unit Plan
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University

De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: Learning About the Solar System [Pdf]

For Teachers 6th
"Learning about the Solar System" is a one page, nonfiction, reading passage about the Milky Way gallaxy and what it takes to be a scientist. It is followed by constructed-response questions which require students to provide evidence...
Unit Plan
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University

De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: Learning About the Solar System [Pdf]

For Teachers 7th
"Learning about the Solar System" is a one page, nonfiction, reading passage about the Milky Way gallaxy and how scientists learn about it over time. It is followed by questions which require students to provide evidence from the story;...
Lesson Plan
University of Texas at Austin

The University of Texas Mc Donald Observatory: Solar System Science

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Each student becomes the "ambassador" for a planet and prepares by researching their planet, then meets with other ambassadors to form new mini-solar systems.
Unit Plan
CPALMS

Florida State University Cpalms: Florida Students: Center Stage: Models of the Solar System

For Students 7th - 9th
An explanation of two very different perspectives of the solar system.
Lesson Plan
Alabama Learning Exchange

Alex: Scaling Down the Solar System

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
In this lesson students will work collaboratively to gain a better understanding of the vastness of space by scaling down the solar system. This lesson plan was created as a result of the Girls Engaged in Math and Science University,...