Organizer
Curated OER

Planets

For Students 6th - 10th
In this planets worksheet, learners access a website and record two unique facts about each planet in 1 graphic organizer. Then students go explore different sections of the website and answer 6 short answer questions.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Living in Extreme Environments

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students explore the living conditions needed to grow bacteria. They develop an experiment that will test the ability of bacteria to survive various temperature extremes. In addition, they complete a lab reprt to share their results.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

A DISAPPEARING ACT Astronomy: Do Stars Always Shine?

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Students observe why stars are not visible during the day with a classroom demonstration using an index card punched with holes.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Astronomical Scales

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Young scholars 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...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Does Humidity Affect Cloud Formation?

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students use NASA's S'COOL database to identify factors that affect cloud formation.
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.
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...
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...
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
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.
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.
Website
NASA

Nasa: Imagine the Universe: Supernovae (Advanced)

For Students 9th - 10th
Supernovae are divided into two basic physical types, including a description of supernova types and how they are classified based on the existence of hydrogen spectral lines. Definitions of key terms are provided.
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...
Handout
NASA

Nasa: Image Science Center: Ask the Space Scientist

For Students 9th - 10th
A NASA scientist, Dr. Sten Odenwald, answers many students' questions. Topics include planets, galaxies, black holes, the origin of the universe, and common misconceptions about space.
Activity
Khan Academy

Khan Academy: Activity: Scale of the Universe on a String

For Students 9th - 10th
This activity will help your students comprehend the huge scales of time and space by using familiar objects. You can explore the massive distances of our Solar System using scale models made out of string. Included is a scale model of...
Unit Plan
Scholastic

Scholastic: Study Jams! Science: Our Solar System: The Universe

For Students 3rd - 5th
A video and a short multiple-choice quiz on the Universe and what it is made up of.
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: Is There a Center of the Universe?

For Students 9th - 10th
It's been a long road to the discovery that Earth is not the center of the Solar System, the Milky Way, or the universe; great thinkers from Aristotle to Bruno have grappled with it for millennia. But if we aren't at the center of the...
Website
Natural History Museum

Natural History Museum: Our Place in the Universe

For Students 9th - 10th
Part of a larger online exhibit on the moon and space, this site deals with one's place in the universe. The topics covered include the sun and solar system, the galaxy, and the universe.
Handout
Other

University of Leicester: Sun

For Students 9th - 10th
Provides a brief overview of the Sun, including a focus on solar eclipses, solar wind, and solar sailing.
Activity
Harvard University

Harvard University: The Solar System

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
These hands-on activities are a great way for students to gain perspective on the relative sizes and distances of each planet, the relationship between the sun and Earth, and much more.
Website
National Earth Science Teachers Association

Windows to the Universe: History & People

For Students 9th - 10th
Biographies of people throughout history who looked at the sky and wondered what was there. Links to a detailed description of the planets and interactive activities.
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...