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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Moon Phases - Finally Making Sense of Them

For Teachers 3rd - 6th
Students investigate the different phases of the moon.  In this lunar cycle lesson, students create models of the sun, earth and moon and investigate why we observe the moon the way we do.  Students observe a PowerPoint presentation...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Earth is Round?

For Teachers 3rd
Third graders discuss how Aristotle concluded that the Earth was round. As a class, they review theories about the Earth's shape and describe how life on Earth would be different if it were flat. Individually, they make a moon book in...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Can an Astronaut on Mars Distinguish Earth from its Moon?

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students explore the possibility of being on Mars and being able to identify the Earth.  In this space lesson plan students complete a set of calculations to see if this is possible. 
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

How Far Away Is the Moon?

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
Does the space shuttle have an odometer? Maybe, but all that is needed to determine the distance to the moon is a little geometry! The lesson asks scholars to sketch the relationship of the Earth and moon using shadows of an eclipse....
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

The Motion of the Moon, Sun, and Stars—Motivating Mathematics

For Students 10th - 12th Standards
What does math have to do with the behavior of the earth and sun? Learn how the movement of celestial bodies has influenced the development of trigonometry. Scholars connects the details in mathematics to their real-world meaning.
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Worksheet
Curated OER

Changing Perspectives on the Sun's Diameter

For Students 8th - 10th
For this sun's diameter worksheet, students use a photograph taken by the SOHO satellite of the sun showing a change in diameter from one month to another. Students find the average diameter of the sun, they determine the percent change...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

How Big Are Earth, Sun, and Moon?

For Teachers 3rd
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 lesson, they identify...
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Worksheet
Curated OER

Kepler-The Hunt for Earth-like Planets

For Students 9th - 11th
In this hunt for planets worksheet, students read about the Kepler satellite used to detect exoplanets. Students solve 6 problems including drawing a sun disk and determining the scale in kilometers/millimeter, finding the area of the...
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Activity
Curated OER

Scale Activities

For Teachers 7th - Higher Ed Standards
How do you put something as large as the universe in perspective? Use a series of scale experiments. Classmates collaborate around four experiments to examine the scale of the earth-moon system, our solar system, the Milky Way galaxy,...
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Activity
101 Questions

Speed of Light

For Students 6th - 8th Standards
How quickly does light travel long distances? A short video simulates light going from the earth to the moon at two different paces. Scholars relate the distance to the rate to understand which simulation is correct.
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Organizer
Curated OER

Earth, Sun, and Moon

For Students 3rd - 5th
In this earth, sun, and moon practice worksheet, students examine 6 pictures and follow the instructions to shade in the part of the Earth that is in darkness.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

As the Earth Turns

For Teachers 1st
First graders explore why the sun and moon seems to disappear and reappear creating day and night.
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Activity
Curated OER

A Model Solar System

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
If Earth is modeled by a grapefruit, what planet could be represented by a golf ball? This activity uses everyday and not-so-everyday objects to create a model of the Solar System.
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Worksheet
Curated OER

Why do Stars Rise in the East?

For Students 8th - 10th
In this stars rise in the east instructional activity, students use geometry to show how the Earth rotates from west to east and why celestial bodies appear to rise in the east and set in the west. Students draw a figure and label given...
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Lesson Plan
California Academy of Science

Modeling Eclipses with Size and Distance Scales

For Teachers 3rd - 8th Standards
Size within the solar system is a difficult thing for pupils to imagine. Using everyday objects, they build models to show the scale between the sun, moon, and Earth. They situate their props in proportional distances between the objects...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

What Orbital Dynamic Variables are Responsible for Earth's Weather?

For Teachers 6th - 10th
Students explore the changing of the seasons. In this astronomy and seasons lesson, students construct a model of the revolution of the sun and the moon. Students compare the recorded solstice/equinox orbital positions and explain the...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Moons

For Teachers K
Students practice rote counting to 20. After a lecture about the planets and the moons that surround them, they identify the number of moons surrounding various planets. Students compare and contrast the quantity of moons surrounding...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

How Distant Is The Moon?

For Teachers 9th - 12th
High schoolers discover how Aristarchus, a Greek astronomer around 230 BC, used a simple observation of the eclipse of the Moon, plus clever reasoning, to deduce the distance of the Moon. They practice the same calculation technique.
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Activity
NASA

When Do Lunar Eclipses Happen?

For Teachers 4th - 8th Standards
Who needs the daylight to simulate a lunar eclipse? Astronomers model the positions of the Sun, Earth, and Moon to explain the necessary conditions for a lunar eclipse. Investigators cut and label a paper plate to represent the Earth and...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Night Sky

For Teachers 3rd
Third graders develop questions they have about the solar system. After being read a book, they view and discuss different constellations in the sky. In groups, they are given a piece of butcher paper and glow in the dark crayons in...
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Activity
Illustrative Mathematics

Solar Eclipse

For Teachers 9th - 11th Standards
Learners take on the role of astronomers, calculating conditions necessary for a total solar eclipse. Concepts of similar triangles and properties of circles come together as pupils create ratios and use real measurements in determining...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Measuring the Speed of Light

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students explore physics by completing measurement problems in class. In this speed of light lesson plan, students discuss the importance of knowing the speed of light and how it affects many aspects of human life on Earth. Students...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

NIGHT AND DAY: DAILY CYCLES IN SOLAR RADIATION

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students examine how Earth's rotation causes daily cycles in solar energy using a microset of satellite data to investigate the Earth's daily radiation budget and locating map locations using latitude and longitude coordinates.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

How Distant is the Moon?--2

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Pupils examine total eclipses of the Sun and their limited regions of totality. They explain that this limited view occurs because the Moon is close enough to us for different points on Earth to view it differently.

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