Fourmilab Switzerland
John Walker: Solar System Live
This planetarium program allows you to create an accurate model of the solar system with icons or pictures of each planet. You can specify a date in the past or the future, change the viewpoint to any latitude/longitude, and even view in...
NASA
Nasa: Solar System Exploration
A website with various activities for different grade levels covering the subject of space exploration. Activities include building your own solar system, coloring pages, making models, and even a solar system cookbook.
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: Activity: Scale of the Universe on a String
This activity will help your students comprehend the huge scales of time and space by using familiar objects. You can explore the massive distances of our Solar System using scale models made out of string. Included is a scale model of...
Other
All (Known) Bodies in Our Solar System Larger Than 200 Miles in Diameter
How big is the Earth compared to the Sun? Is Mars bigger than the Moon? Seeing all bodies in the solar system larger than 200 miles in diameter side by side provides an excellent comparison and an interesting perspective.
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Models of the Hydrogen Atom
In this activity, students will explore several different models of the hydrogen atom and compare and contrast them using an online java applet.
University of Maryland
University of Maryland: The Astronomy Workshop
Find tools to calculate astronomical distances and sizes, to view various Solar System models, to compare gravity's affect on weight, and more. A good place to find interesting facts, simple animations, and astronomy links to physics and...
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Planets Made Real: Creating Size and Distance Scale of Planets
An activity where students build a scale model of the solar system based on a marble they pick from a bowl. After choosing a marble that represents Earth, students must calculate the size of the other planets and the sun. Site includes...
Exploratorium
Exploratorium: A Guide to Astronomy Resources
A portal to resources on the sun, the Earth's neighboring planets, and the weather in space. Find out why Saturn is the "jewel of the Solar System" and explore what happens when Venus and Mercury make their rare transits across the sun.
CK-12 Foundation
Ck 12: Earth Science: Revolutions of Earth
[Free Registration/Login may be required to access all resource tools.] How objects in the solar system orbit around each other.
CK-12 Foundation
Ck 12: Earth Science: Revolutions of Earth
[Free Registration/Login may be required to access all resource tools.] How objects in the solar system orbit around each other.
ArtsNow
Arts Now Learning: Phases of the Moon [Pdf]
In this lesson, 4th graders use their bodies to model the day/night cycles of the Sun and Earth. Next, they discuss the moon's role in the solar system and explore the eight phases of the moon by acting out a story. Finally, a song...
BBC
Bbc: Space Race
There are galaxies far, far away, but just how big is our own solar system? Scroll through this interactive to quickly observe just how much we know and have learned about our solar system.
NASA
Nasa: Astronomy Picture of the Day: Jupiter's Clouds 3 D
Every day is a cloudy day on Jupiter, the Solar System's reigning gas giant. This 3-dimensional visualization presents a simplified model view from between Jovian cloud decks based on imaging and spectral data recorded by the Galileo...
Science and Mathematics Initiative for Learning Enhancement (SMILE)
Smile: Paper Mache Solar System
This site from the Illinois Institute of Technology provides a set of directions for the creation of a solar system model out of paper mache. Includes orbital distances and planet diameters for the nine planets. Great idea for a student...
American Association of Physics Teachers
Com Padre Digital Library: Open Source Physics: Superior Ptolemaic Model
A simulation illustrating Ptolemy's geometrical system of explaining the varying speeds and directions of the planets, sun, and moon.
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Experimenting With Angular Diameter and Distance (Study of Outer Space)
In studying the solar system, students compare the relative sizes of the sun and the moon, and experiment with angular diameter, apparent diameter and distance.
Concord Consortium
The Concord Consortium: Molecular Workbench Zoom It
See examples of scales based on a range from ten to the twelfth meters to ten to the negative twelth meters. Examples range from parts of our solar system to the nucleus of an atom.
Other
Planetary Science Institute: Building Planets at Psi
An article about the Planetary Science Institutes's advanced computer software, which it uses to model the way the solar system may have formed. Includes some insights into the results already obtained.
American Museum of Natural History
American Museum of Natural History: O Logy: Stuff to Do: Scavenger Hunt
Illustrated instructions for creating a scale model of the solar system.
University of California
Uc Berkeley: At Home Astronomy: The Size and Distance of Planets
In this activity, "You will investigate the concepts of relative size and distance by creating a basic model of our solar system." Planet printouts are provided and this site contains related links.
Idaho State University
Global Wind Systems [Pdf]
A great description of the global scale circulation and heat energy. Discusses a single-cell model, a three-cell model, jet streams and more.
The Wonder of Science
The Wonder of Science: Ms Ess1 1: Earth Sun Moon System
Develop and use a model of the earth-sun-moon system to describe the cyclic patterns of lunar phases, eclipses of the sun and moon, and seasons.
Science and Mathematics Initiative for Learning Enhancement (SMILE)
Smile: Models of the Earth and Moon
This lesson plan from the Illinois Institute of Technology demonstrates the causes of; day and night, seasons, and phases of the moon.With a few items, you help the elementary student discover why these phenomena occur.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Energy Resources and Systems
Several activities are included to teach and research the differences between renewable and non-renewable resources and various energy resources. Students work with a quantitative, but simple model of energy resources to show how rapidly...