Curated OER
I've Got Your Number
Pupils assess the journalistic value of numbers used in newspaper articles while learning about the significance of the Hubble telescope's new data on the age of the universe.
Curated OER
Galactic Inquiry
Students view NASA images of galaxies and develop a galaxy classification scheme. They compare and contrast their classification scheme with that developed by Edwin Hubble. They recognize that galaxies are collections of billions of stars.
Space Awareness
Coma Cluster of Galaxies
Scientists classify everything from the smallest cells to the largest galaxies, but how do they decide on a classification system? Scholars use 40 pictures of galaxies taken by the Hubble Space Telescope to sort and try creating their...
Curated OER
Hubble Space Telescope Webquest
Middle schoolers research the Hubble Space Telescope. In this Hubble Space Telescope instructional activity, students complete a webquest about the Hubble Space Telescope.
Curated OER
To Boldly Go Where No One Has Gone Before
Students study pictures of space vehicles and make their own space vehicle. In this space vehicle lesson, students study pictures of the vehicles and compare and contrast the pictures. Students classify the space crafts and then create...
Messenger Education
Mission: Possible—How Can We Plan an Exploration of Another World?
An astronaut's spacesuit weighs 280 pounds and takes 45 minutes to put on — that's a serious suit! The second activity of a three-part series allows pupils to see all that goes into space exploration. Through simulations, groups analyze...
Academy of American Poets
Teach This Poem: "In the Next Galaxy" by Ruth Stone
Imagine what life might be like in a different galaxy. That's the challenge young scientists take on in a warm-up activity designed to prepare them for a close reading of Ruth Stone's poem "In the Next Galaxy." After class members share...
Curated OER
Spacd Day:Probing For Knowledge
Students investigate the uses and purpose of the Hubble telescope. They create a model of the telescope and conduct research about the history behind the invention of it. Students use the information in order to create a context for the...
Curated OER
Pictures from Hubble Space Telescope
Students observe pictures taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. From a given website, students observe images of the Einstein Cross, Black Eye Galaxy, Hoag's Object, merging and interacting galaxies and more. This lesson plan gives a...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Galileo: Revealing the Universe
To gain an understanding of the significance of Galileo Galilei's revolutionary ideas, class members watch the short video "Stargazing Before Galileo," and conduct a close reading of Galileo's Sidereal Messsenger. They then compare...
Curated OER
Eye in the Sky
Young scholars use the Internet to broaden their knowledge and understanding of the Hubble Space Telescope by participating in an Internet scavenger hunt, searching for information about the objectives, past successes and repair of the...
Curated OER
Investigating the Dynamic Martian Polar Caps
Students download NASA Hubble Space Telescope images of the Martian polar ice caps in summer and winter, and measure and compare various images of the changing Martian and Earth polar ice caps.
Curated OER
Spacing Out on the Internet
Students explore and locate information about the universe using the Internet.
Curated OER
Algebra: Mirror, Mirror on the Universe
Students assess how algebra, telescopes, space exploration and optics are so important in astronomy. They encounter studies on the Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Deep Field and how algebra helps to determine the effects of contamination...
Curated OER
A Distant View
Students investigate the essential concepts of how lenses work to magnify vision, and then build simple telescopes to demonstrate their understanding. They write a description of how their telescope could be improved and how it works.
Curated OER
Galaxies Galore, Games and More
Students practice skills used in scientific investigation while studying the three main types of galaxies. Students identify Earth as part of Milky Way galaxy, the parts of galaxies, and the types of galaxies, as well as classify...
Curated OER
Stellar Observations
Ninth graders study the uses of spectroscopy and the operation of the Hubble space telescope. In this astronomy instructional activity students complete a lab activity that includes graphing star color and temperature.
Curated OER
Black Holes
Students study black holes and see how space telescopes can provide data to support current hypotheses. They examine the anatomy of a black hole using a diagram of an accretion disk, the event horizon, and jets of hot gas.
University of Colorado
Phases of Charon
Pluto, although no longer considered a planet, has five moons. Pluto's moon, Charon, is the focus of a resource that describes how the moon is viewed from the surface of Pluto. Photos help individuals see how Charon would look at...
Curated OER
Scoping Out Space
Students research existing and proposed telescope projects and synthesize their knowledge by creating presentations on each telescope and speculating about which project is worthy of additional funding.
Curated OER
Searching For Protoplanetary Disks
Young scholars download NASA Hubble Space Telescope views of star-forming regions in nebulae and look for evidence of planetary systems forming beyond our own solar system. They hypothesize about mysterious objects in NASA HST images.
Curated OER
Classifying Galaxies
Students classify galaxies by their shape using the Hubble Tuning Fork Diagram.
Curated OER
How Many Stars in the Milky Way?
Students perform an experiment in which they will use a statistical method called `sampling' to count to a billion (and beyond). Students practice sampling by estimating the number of characters on a page from the classified section of a...
Curated OER
Stellar Fingerprints: the Spectra of Stars
Students explain how an element can be identified using emission spectra. They relate the emission spectrum of hydrogen to its absorption spectrum and identify hydrogen absorption lines in the spectrum of stars.