Students study robotic spacecrafts that have provided detailed information about the inner and outer planets. In this exploring the planets lesson plan, students use posters and diagrams to study the various robotic spacecraft sent to...

Launch a lesson that's sure to capture middle schoolers' interest! Exploration enthusiasts examine the planets of our solar system using an activity from PBS's Space series. The resource includes images and information for each planet,...

Students observe the outer planets. In this science lesson, students use a telescope locate the outer planets of the solar system. Students create a video of their observations.

Young scientists gain a better understanding of space, the solar system and its vastness by creating a scale model. Students first need to calculate the distance between each of the nine planets according to the size of their scale. This...

Rocks and minerals are great on their own, but they also turn into some pretty amazing stuff! An online lesson explains the different types of materials we get from rocks and minerals, including glass, plastic, and coins. An embedded...

Find an answer to the age-old debate of whether life exists on Mars. Groups determine criteria to help look for signs of life on Mars. The activity has the class simulate testing Martian soil samples for signs of life before drawing...

Students investigate the Earth's crust. For this geology lesson, students identify the materials made up of the Earth's crust and investigate the different kinds of soil.

Young scholars investigate space travel. In this space travel instructional activity students examine space exploration history, engineers and scientists involved in space exploration, and Newton's third law of motion. Young...

Pupils identify and complete activities about the structure of the Earth. In this Earth structure lesson, students view a Powerpoint about the Earth's layers and complete a diagram. pupils compare temperatures in the Earth's layers to...

Beyond the phases of the moon, this comprehensive lesson plan covers geologic history and geology. Amateur astronauts examine photos of the lunar landscape, experiment with the creation of craters, and delve into information about the...

Take your science class on a hypothetical field trip to Mars with an engaging astronomy instructional activity. After first learning about NASA's Mars rover missions, young scientists plan their own...

First graders associate events and objects with day or night. They create a word bank and use is as a reference to create sentences about the sun. They conduct sun-themed experiments and art projects.

First graders discuss why the moon appears to change shape. They use flashlights and balls to simulate the sun's light shining on the moon during its different phases. They read books, paint pictures and write sentences about the moon.

Students learn along with Ms. Frizzle's class. In this Magic School Bus lesson plan, students explore outer space as they visit the Sun, Mercury, Venus, and Mars in order to learn about our solar system.

Students investigate the factors affecting the size of a crater. In this space science lesson, students collect data from the activity and graph them. They explain how velocity of impact relate to crater size.

Eighth graders define a planet by the orbit around the sun, have a large enough gravitational force to hold a sphere shape and needs to clear the neighboorhood of it own orbital zone. They describe comets, meteoroids, meteor, meteorites...

Students explore the planets and their atmospheres online. They write the story of "Goldilocks and the Nine Planets" to explain how each planet's atmosphere differs from Earth's. They design a viable life form.

Students examine images from space.  In this third from the Sun lesson, students examine images from, Landsat, the satellite launched by NASA in 1972.   

Fourth graders learn about the Solar System while they use mean, median and mode to explore the characteristics of the planets. Students web publish expository writing.

Young scholars identify the different requirements for photosynthesis to take place. In this space science instructional activity, students simulate conditions in Saturn to investigate if photosynthesis is possible there. They use data...

Students use the internet to gather informatino about the solar system and space. In groups, they create a slideshow in which they use illustrations from the internet and include their own text. They complete the instructional activity...

Students examine the different theories on how our solar system was formed. They discover the order of the nine planets. They also identify the surface features of each planet.

Students use runaway slave advertisements to discover how the language varies from the 18th to 21st century. Using primary source documents, they research the brutality of slavery and the desire of those in slavery to be free. They...

Tenth graders study how to search for life in outer space and make use of the 40-foot radio telescope at Greenbank, West Virginia. Request that the telescope be pointed at a particular location and time and receive data back from it...