Understand where the sun is in the solar system and how big the earth, moon, and sun are.

This fun activity helps you to understand the movement of the sun by studying shadows.

[Free Registration/Login may be required to access all resource tools.] Reveals tidal patterns and that tides are caused by the gravitational attraction of the Sun and Moon to Earth.

Develop and use a model of the earth-sun-moon system to describe the cyclic patterns of lunar phases, eclipses of the sun and moon, and seasons.

In this fun activity, students will get creative with craft materials. They will figure out how to protect an "animal" and its territory from getting too hot in the sun. What will they build to keep their animals cool?

Earth's revolution, rotation, tilt, day and night cycle, and the sun's apparent movement across the earth are explored.

Students learn about the history of Earth imaging, the Landsat satellite program. They develop interpretation skills as they play a game that involves inferring the subjects of various Landsat images.

Suppose you placed a camera at a fixed position, took a picture of the sky at the same time every day for an entire year, and overlaid all of the photos on top of each other. What would the sun look like in that combined image? A...

A portal to resources on the sun, the Earth's neighboring planets, and the weather in space. Find out why Saturn is the "jewel of the Solar System" and explore what happens when Venus and Mercury make their rare transits across the sun.

Learn about how Earth orbits the sun and how satellites orbit the Earth. Discover the different types of satellites such as GOES and POES and what they are used to monitor.

Why does the Moon not always look the same to us? Sometimes it is a big, bright, circle, but, other times, it is only a tiny sliver, if we can see it at all. The different shapes and sizes of the slivers of the Moon are referred to as...

Motion is one of the key topics in physics. Everything in the universe moves. It might only be a small amount of movement and very very slow, but movement does happen. Don't forget that even if you appear to be standing still, the Earth...

An introduction to radiant energy that offers a look at the different types of radiation from the sun, the radiation that actually hits Earth, and how the Sun's age will affect the radiation absorbed by Earth. Also, view NASA videos...

Read and fill in the blanks of this passage explaining the earth's engergy budget. Each blank has a dropdown menu with choices. When you finish, click CHECK MY ANSWERS. If you pick a wrong answer, the right answer will be displayed along...

Learners will learn about stellar brightness and distance to be able to support their argument about the apparent brightness of our sun compared to other stars due to their distances with these lesson plans.

During this lesson young scholars are going to take a look at moon phases and sunrise-sunset times in order to learn about daylight hours. Students discover that we do not always have the same amount of daylight each day. This lesson is...

This lesson focuses on How can you safely view a solar eclipse and solar activity? It provides step-by-step instructions for building the viewer and how to use it properly. It also provides a video and informational slides.

Find out what the diameter and volume of the Earth and the Sun are and learn just how much bigger the Sun is. Also explains how the Sun compares to the Moon.

The Earth's atmosphere is a thin layer of gases that surrounds the Earth. It composed of 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, 0.9% argon, 0.03% carbon dioxide, and trace amounts of other gases. This thin gaseous layer insulates the Earth from...

This resource provides some interesting video footage of the Sun. Also included is information about the effects of solar radiation on the Earth's magnetosphere and weather.

Find out what all results from Earth revolving around the sun every 365 days as well as the rotation of the Earth every 24 hours.

Explains how the rotation and the axial tilt of the Earth are responsible for the phenomenon of day and night. Provides information about the Sun, the solar system, and the Earth, and how the circumference of the Earth was first measured...

This site explains what tides are and the difference between Proxigean Spring Tides, spring tides, and neap tides, and how these are formed. Graphic illustrations are provided.

This activity will allow you to model day and night cycles. A rotating student holding a map (provided) models the earth. A lamp is used to model the sun. Numerous worksheets (pdf) and additional website resources are also provided.