Beyond the Solar System

This activity is preparation-intensive, but well worth the investment. You will construct five or six portable testing stations with which lab groups will gather data on the best position for collecting sunlight with a solar panel. This...

Trying to understand the vastness of outer space can be quite a challenge for young scientists. Help put things in perspective with this cross-curricular activity as students work in pairs creating scaled models of...

Don't just look at pictures of the Milky Way galaxy, build it with this hands-on activity in which scientists recreate the galaxy we live in.

Take scientists beyond our earthly reach and into the solar system. Pupils create a model of the solar system and discuss strengths and weaknesses of their model. They calculate distances in light years, discuss the nebular theory, and...

Explore the solar system in detail, from it's origins to its components.  Visual data gathered by actual space missions has been used to create the images and animations on each page of this stellar electronic book about the solar...

Travel through space as you learn about the galaxy, solar system, planets, and much more. An extensive resource for studying astronomy in upper-elementary and middle school classrooms.

For this first part of a two-part lesson, learners track and record the sun's azimuth using a solar panel. They graph and analyze the data to identify relationships among the time of day, the altitude and azimuth of the sun, and the...

Creating a solar system map is a snap thanks to a hands-on activity! Science scholars explore the solar system by building it wherever they choose during an interactive from PBS's Space series. Users pick both the location and scale for...

Just how big is the galaxy? Learners read information about the size of the Milky Way galaxy to better comprehend its size. Pupils develop an understanding of the number of stars in the galaxy by finding just how big a billion is and...

The Milky Way belongs to a cluster of galaxies called the local group and it could be considered our neighborhood! Use the PowerPoint to present information on the different galaxy types, both local and farther away. Scholars learn how...