Space, the Final Frontier. The nine NASA-created challenges in this unit are designed to teach class members the engineering design process. Each challenge comes with teacher and student pages that can be used individually or as a...

Operating a vehicle remotely can be difficult, especially when the vehicle is on another planet. Young engineers get a feel for some of the real-world challenges as they work to program their rovers (blindfolded group members)...

How do astronauts know how to live and work in a weightless environment? It doesn't come naturally! Junior physicists conduct experiments to examine the link between buoyancy and microgravity. Each activity illustrates a different aspect...

Between the time scientists discovered Pluto and reclassified it as a dwarf planet, it did not even make one full revolution around the sun. In two activities, scholars investigate scale models and their properties. Pupils find that it...

Building an accelerometer app for your Android device. Groups develop an app that uses the accelerometer on an Android device. The purpose of the activity is to reinforce the programming design. The post activity assessment challenges...

In this solar observatory worksheet, students read about the solar observation data that NASA will be collecting. Students solve 6 problems related to the collection of data using computers to store the solar data using gigabytes,...

For this coronal mass ejections worksheet, high schoolers observe a time line of events that took place during a solar storm. Students use the time line to answer 3 questions about the solar storm and the time it took to reach Earth....

In this stellar temperature of stars worksheet, students use a given formula that relates the stellar light output with the surface area and temperature of a star to solve 3 problems. Students find luminosities of different stars and...

Did you know that Pluto is smaller than the United States of America? It is difficult to conceptualize the size of planets and the distance between them, and the lesson addresses those exact issues. After a discussion, pupils create...

The propellant needed for space explorations runs in the thousands, while paying to get the craft into orbit costs millions! In the second installment of three, two activities explore laws of conservation of energy and momentum. Using...

In this space worksheet, students complete a five question multiple choice on-line interactive quiz about the American space program.

In this exploring Jupiter:  Galileo Curriculum Module issue one worksheet, students complete a crossword puzzle that tests their knowledge of Jupiter; their are 11 links to other worksheets to explore the planet.

From their sweat to the water vapor in their breath, astronauts recycle every possible drop of water while in space. After watching a short video describing the different ways materials are recycled and reused in space...

Pack just enough to fit. Crews determine what personal items to take with them on a trip to Mars. Each team must decide what to take with them on a two-and-a-half year trip to Mars and whether their items will fit within the allotted...

In this STEREO satellites worksheet, students are given a chart with the intensity of the signals from the satellites received on Earth and the distances of the satellite from Earth. Students convert the intensity at each distance to...

In this planetary conjunctions worksheet, students read about planetary alignments and they solve 2 problems. They determine the location of 3 planets given their orbit time after 1, 2 , 3 and 4 years and they determine when three given...

In this spectral composition of stars worksheet, students use data collected by a spectroscope to compare the stellar spectra to a standard for 5 stars. Students compare the spectral lines to the temperatures of the stars.

For this moon's density worksheet, students solve 4 problems about the Moon and a model planet. They find the Moon's density and they find its volume. They make a model of a planet's interior and use its mass and radius to find the...

In this Drake Equation worksheet, learners read about how scientists can estimate the number of intelligent civilizations that may exist in our galaxy. Students answer 7 questions about the Drake Equation and they use the internet to...

For this satellite drag and Hubble space telescope worksheet, students solve two problems using a graph showing the altitude of the satellite vs. the year with two lines showing two different types of re-boost and one...

Young scientists learn how to select a scale factor for a large scale model. Then they figure the scale for each of the planets and the distance between them. Finally, they construct a giant scale model of the solar system and answer...

Every year we discover new planets including more than 1,000 in 2016 alone. Will we ever find life on another planet? The lesson includes two activities to help scholars understand this concept. First, they analyze the temperature range...

What is an alien's favorite game? All-star baseball! Scholars start defining living and non-living. Then, they conduct experiments to research if life exists, keeping in mind that life could be in many forms, not just human. 

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...