Tech Museum of Innovation
Balloon Astronaut
Design protection from high-speed particles. The STEM lesson plan highlights why astronauts need protection from space debris. Pupils use the design process to design, build, and test a spacesuit that will protect a balloon from a...
DocsTeach
Analyzing a Photograph of Sally Ride
Sometimes, a picture really does say it all. The activity uses a picture of astronaut Sally Ride to help elementary academics make observations and form conclusions. Young historians study the picture, complete short written prompts, and...
American Institute of Physics
African Americans in Astronomy and Astrophysics
A two-part lesson focuses on the contributions to the fields of astronomy and astrophysics of two African Americans: Benjamin Banneker and Dr. George Carruthers. In part one, scholars learn about Benjamin Banneker by examining his...
NASA
Touchdown
Just how do astronauts stay safe during moon landings? Here's an activity that allows investigators to use the engineering process to explore how shock absorbers protect astronauts during landing. Applying knowledge of gravity, force,...
CommonCoreSheets.com
The Space Race
From the USSR's launch of Sputnik in 1957 to Neil Armstrong's mission to the moon in 1969, review major events in the timeline of the space race during the mid-twentieth century.
K5 Learning
What Is A Spacewalk?
Read about all the jobs astronauts do and all the responsibilities they have while on a spacewalk. After reading the what, the why, and the how about spacewalks, readers respond to six comprehension questions.
CK-12 Foundation
Satellites, Shuttles, and Space Stations: Satellites in Orbit
Blast off! How do satellites, space shuttles, and space stations escape Earth's gravity and achieve orbit? Young astronauts study rocket science (literally) with an interactive lesson. They discover the four main uses for satellites, how...
DocsTeach
Landing a Man on the Moon: President Nixon and the Apollo Program
Take the small step for man and giant leap for mankind with the Apollo astronauts using primary sources. Young historians explore the documents related to the American space program up through the lunar landing, including presidential...
NASA
How Far Away Is Space?
Space is about 60 miles from the surface of Earth. Pupils make calculations to model that distance by stacking coins the appropriate height using scale. They then explore the distance to objects in space such as satellites and the space...
NASA
Build a Relay Inspired by Space Communications
Learn how the professionals at NASA send information across space. Engineers use a microdevice, laser pointer, and mirrors as relays to model data transmission in space. Scholars program a microdevice to detect light received and test...
K5 Learning
Space Based Astronomy
How much astronomy can you study with the naked eye? Learn more about the ways scientists explore the galaxy with a short reading passage and set of short-answer questions.
Space Awareness
What is a Constellation
Why do some stars in a constellation appear brighter than others? Using a get-up-and-move astronomy activity, scholars explore perspective and the appearance of constellations in the sky while developing an understanding of the...
Teach Engineering
Six Minutes of Terror
Help your class understand the design challenges when trying to land a remote spacecraft on a planet. Class members examine the provided information to understand how each component of a spacecraft is designed in order to safely land a...
University of Colorado
Happy Landings: A Splash or a Splat?
Huygens spacecraft landed on Saturn's moon Titan in 2005, making it the farthest landing from Earth ever made by a spacecraft. In this hands-on activity, the 12th installment of 22, groups explore how density affects speed. To do this,...
IMAX
Hubble
Explore what it takes to service the Hubble telescope. In the set of three activities, groups investigate several aspects of the Hubble telescope, including robotic arms used during repairs, spacesuits, and extravehicular activity (EVA)...
NASA
On Target
Crash into engineering by sending a marble to land on a target by way of a zip line. Using a zip line, pupils put engineering design processes into practice by modifying a cup to carry and release a marble onto a target. Scientists test,...
NASA
Collecting Light: Inverse Square Law Demo
Light, distance, and mathematics come together to help scientists plan for space missions. Groups examine the relationship between distance from the sun and light availability in a hands-on exploration activity. They model the inverse...
Teach Engineering
The Amazing Red Planet
Introduce your class to Mars with a resource that provides information about its size, location, length of day, length of year, number of moons, and average temperature. Also includes is information about the lans for past...
Super Teacher Worksheets
Our Solar System Scavenger Hunt Activity
Send students on a search for facts about the solar system with this scavenger hunt activity. Whether they are finding out how far the sun is from the earth, or the names of all four gas giants, this resource will engage young...
NASA
Engineering Design for Human Exploration
What would it take to live on the lunar surface? Small groups build model rockets in order to simulate launching a habitat into space and rebuilding it. Divide the class into groups to design and build a model of a lunar habitat. The...
NASA
Marsbound! Mission to the Red Planet
It's time to go to Mars. Using the provided cards and mat, groups design a mission to Mars. The cards contain information about the different components of the launch and warn about a few mishaps that might occur along the way.
Messenger Education
Can You Hear Me Now?—Communicating with Spacecraft
Radio signals transmitted to Pluto take five hours to reach their destination! In these two activities, young scientists explore data communication in space. In activity one, pupils learn how data is gathered and sent back to Earth....
University of Colorado
The Jovian System: A Scale Model
Jupiter has 67 moons! As the seventh in a series of 22, the exercise shows learners the size and scale of Jupiter and its Galilean moons through a model. They then arrange the model to show how probes orbited and gathered data.
Teach Engineering
Alloy the Way to Mars
Future engineers test different alloys to determine the specific strength of each one. Based on the results, they make a recommendation to NASA on which alloy to use on engines for spacecraft.