There's a beautiful world all around us! Learn about the features of our planet with a series of activities designed for English learners. Kids sing, dance, and read about nature with fun lessons and interactive play.

Just as no man is an island, no country is totally independent of other countries. To understand the impact of individual consumer decisions on the global natural environment, class groups consider how the stuff they...

Sometimes explaining an argument can lead to confusion and miscommunication. Narrow down the details in written arguments with a group activity in which learners pretend to be aliens from another planet, struggling to understand each...

Winter, spring, summer, and fall—take the learning of the seasons beyond the elementary level to the middle school classroom. Curious learners begin by watching videos about the seasons and the rotation of planet Earth. Then,...

Ninety-seven percent of scientists who study climate agree that human activity is warming the planet. Learners explore carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas, a gas causing this warming, through a hands-on experiment. Once complete, they...

Imagine an ecosystem without any light or oxygen, where living things convert carbon dioxide into food. This ecosystem is thriving and might just be the largest ecosystem on our planet, yet we know very little about it. The lesson...

How do spacecraft detect magnetic fields? The fourth installment of a five-part unit has learners develop a device with magnets that allows for the detection of magnetic fields. They use a map of an imaginary planet to try out their...

Reading, writing, and rings! A lesson from NASA combines space science with authentic reading and writing tasks. Included in this lesson are pre-reading activities, four mini informational booklets on Saturn, a structured...

Most young mathematicians are aware that the planets don’t orbit the sun in a circle but rather as an ellipse, but have never studied this interesting feature. This resource looks at the planetary orbits in more detail and helps learners...

Middle schoolers work with scientific notation and rounding as they determine volume. In this volume lesson, pupils attempt to calculate the volume of the planet Jupiter. They use rounding to two significant digits and scientific...

Are you starting a unit on the solar system? You can use this PowerPoint for a great introductory lesson. These 13 slides include basic facts about the planets in our solar system. Tip: Peruse the Internet and add some real photos...

The carbon cycle isn't a bike which produces carbon and this lesson explains why. Through reading and discussion, groups of pupils create visual explanations of the four parts of the carbon dioxide oxygen cycle. Activities...

In groups of six, middle school space scientists create an imaginative travel brochure for attracting visitors to the planet Mars. Information must include surface features and atmospheric conditions. Although time-consuming, this is a...

Young scholars compare a globe and a two-dimensional world map and explore how they both represent the planet Earth. They locate the Hawaiian Islands on the globe or the world map and describe how the geographical position is unique.

There is more to the solar system than the typical study of the sun and planets. Launch a study of asteroids, meteoroids, and comets by watching the video The Story of the Solar System, available for purchase through this...

Students discuss the solar system, the planets, periods of orbit and revolution.  For this space lesson students discuss the importance of the study of Mars and brainstorm ideas on how NASA might solve its Rover design problem. 

Students investigate the correlation between our planet's weather and solar activity. They analyze and discuss data regarding the solar activity cycle, graph annual precipitation and temperature averages over a period of 100 years, and...

Blow their minds with a activity on the search for life outside of our planet! A brief video proposes the question of how to define life. A couple of articles investigate the possibility of alien existence. Finally, the class is divided...

Use a variety of whole fruits to represent the different planets in the solar system to introduce scale sizes to your math or space science class. They follow suit by creating a non-scaled model of the solar system using specific-colored...

Students view NASA images and movies of Venus, Earth, and Mars to deduce weather patterns and manipulate computer models to test competing hypotheses. They manipulate computer models to investigate the influence of solar distance and...

Students work together to compare and contrast Mars and Earth. Using the internet, they answer questions given to them by their teacher and calculate answers showing their work. They graph their answers and discuss the results of the...

Students study the earth in relation to the solar system.  In this planetary lesson students complete several investigations into the measurement of the earth and its magnetic field.

Learners will complete hands-on space activities. In this space science lesson, students will create a glow-in-the-dark model of the solar system, visit a planetarium, make star pictures, and paint constellations. Activities are meant to...

Young scholars study Mars and what it would take to man a mission there.  In this solar system lesson students view a video and complete an art activity in groups.