Activity
NASA

Exploring Exoplanets with Kepler

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Calculate the movement and properties of planets like professional astronomers! Scholars use Kepler's third law to find Mercury and Venus's distance from the sun. Using changes in brightness of distant stars and Kepler's third law,...
Activity
PBS

Reading Adventure Pack: Folktales

For Parents 1st Standards
Following a reading and thorough discussion of books—Anansi the Spider: A Tale from the Ashanti by Gerald McDermott and The Moon Book by Gail Gibbons—scholars complete three activities. First, they use playdough or cookie dough to create...
Activity
PBS

Reading Adventure Pack: Stars

For Parents 3rd Standards
A Reading Adventure Pack explores the night sky. Reading Her Seven Brothers by Paul Goble and Find the Constellations by H.A. Rey begin the learning experience. Scholars craft a night sky mobile, go stargazing, and write a mythical story...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Mystery Constellation

For Teachers 2nd - 4th
Students decipher two teacher chosen mystery constellations a month. They listen to stories, explain what they know about constellations and name the mystery constellation.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Sky Stories Curriculum

For Teachers K - 2nd
Students investigate the stories told by ancient cultures about the constellations. They listen to stories told by the Greeks and Romans. The classroom should have posters of constellations for the lesson and the teacher performs...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

An Alphabet Journey Through Space

For Teachers 3rd
Third graders author a book about the universe to be shared with a younger audience. After compiling an alphabetic list of words related to the universe, 3rd graders research a definition for each word and put them in book form. Books...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Reasons for Seasons

For Teachers 4th - 8th
Young scholars model the tilt of the Earth as it orbits the Sun. They explain the meaning and characteristics of solstices and equinoxes. They explain that sunlight hits the Earth at different angles at different locations over the...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Photometry

For Teachers 10th - 12th
Young scholars examine blackbody radiation and light wavelengths. Students research the various types of electromagnetic spectrum. Young scholars examine any misconceptions they may have in light.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

#22 Frames of Reference: The Basics

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students explore the concept of frames of reference in physics.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Kepler's Second Law

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students gain an understanding of Kepler's 2nd law--that planets (and satellites) move fastest at their closest approach to the center of attraction, and slow down when far away. They explore the concepts of "potential energy" and...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Graphs And Ellipses

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students become acquainted with linear graphs, the parabola and the rectangular hyperbola. Also prepare tables of paired values as preparation for plotting a line. They study the cartesian equation of an ellipse, with a worked example.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Celestial Sphere

For Teachers 9th - 12th
High schoolers are introduced to the celestial sphere, describing its apparent rotation and the special role of the pole star.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Newton's 3rd Law

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Learners examine how the formal definition of Newton's 3rd law: forces always originate in pairs, equal in magnitude and opposite in direction. They also examine how the informal, qualitative version: Each action has an equal and...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Motion in a Circle

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students explore uniform circular motion, and the relation of its frequency of N revolutions/sec with the peripheral velocity v and with the rotation period T. They examine how uniform circular motion is a type of accelerated motion.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Frames of Reference: The Basics

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Young scholars learn the concept of frames of reference in physics. They examine how two frames of reference, each moving with respect to the other with a constant velocity v (constant speed, constant direction).
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Kepler's Second Law

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students explore orbital velocities and how they vary along each orbit, according to Kepler's Second Law.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Best of the Solar System

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Students visit a site which provides images to be analyzed. Notes are taken and planets are named based on observed features and observations. Using peer review, they try to determine the identity of the planets. They are free to browse...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Day and Night

For Teachers Higher Ed
Students using experiments try to demonstrate how observations can be affected by the cycles of night and day.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Paint By The Numbers

For Teachers 5th - 7th
Students, in groups, explore how astronomical spacecraft and computers create images of objects in space.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Tanabata: The Japanese "Wish Upon a Star"Festival

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students research the legend of Tanabata in order to explain some of the astronomical findings in the night sky. The Japanese tell the story in order to explain the origin of celestial bodies.
Worksheet
Curated OER

Star Party

For Students 3rd - 8th
In this space worksheet, students identify and locate vocabulary terms related to the stars and space. There are 15 words located in the puzzle.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Sundial

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Pupils receive an introduction to the sundial, its design and use.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Seasons of the Year

For Teachers 9th - 12th
High schoolers examine how the link between the tilt of the Earth's axis to the ecliptic and seasons of the year--length of day, effectiveness of sunlight, polar day and night, and seasons south and north of the equator, as well as near it.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Airplane flight

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students learn the basic concepts about airplane flight. They learn the reason jetliner wings are swept back and why jet engines have replaced propellers in high-speed flight.

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