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Finding Extra-Solar Planets

For Teachers 9th - 12th
High schoolers plot and analyze NASA data to determine the period of an invisible planet orbiting a wobbling star. They explore the motion of a two-body system around a center of mass to better explain how extra-solar planets are...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Discovery of the Solar System

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students study the ideas behind the heliocentric theory of Copernicus. They examine about retrograde motion of the planets as they move around the sun. They study astronomers who include Ptolemy, Copernicus, and Galileo.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Objects in the Solar System

For Teachers 8th
Eighth graders define a planet by the orbit around the sun, have a large enough gravitational force to hold a sphere shape and needs to clear the neighboorhood of it own orbital zone. They describe comets, meteoroids, meteor, meteorites...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Great Planetary Debate

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Students' are given a research sheet to complete in small groups. They are to select a planet or moon to research using the Internet. With this research and their completed form, each group defends their planet or moon in a debate...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Relative Ratios

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students discover that proportions are made up of equal ratios each containing the same building blocks. They, using the Internet, apply their knowledge of direct relationships and proportions to problems in planetary science.
Lesson Plan
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Demonstrating the Distances of Stars

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students examine the distance from Earth to stars. They create a model to show the arrangement of constellations. They also identify the importance of the parallax effect.
Lesson Plan
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Your Galactic Address

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students discover their place in the universe.  In this astronomy lesson, students identify their location on various maps that have increasingly larger scales.  In the end, the students write their address in terms of their...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Rolling Through Space

For Teachers 7th
Seventh graders use a foll of toilet paper to visualize the vast distance that separates the sun and the planets of our solar system.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Extra Terrestial Excursions

For Teachers 4th
Fourth graders determine how long it would take to fly to each of the planets in the solar system. They do two calculations: one, if they were using conventional jet, the other if they were using the fastest spacecraft possible.
Lesson Plan
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Where Are We Going?

For Teachers 2nd - 5th
Students practice rounding numbers to ones and tens places, multiplying numbers, and working with simple fractions. They study the placement and distances of planets in the Solar System.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

"Space" Investigations

For Teachers 6th
Sixth graders understand the patterns of change observable on Earth as a result of the movement of the different bodies in the solar system. They identify the physical characteristics of the different components of the solar system.
Lesson Plan
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The Path of the Sun: The Ecliptic

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students investigate the celestial sphere and the paths it takes in the solar system.
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Star Gazing

For Teachers 3rd
Third graders investigate what an astronomer is and what he studies in the solar system.
Lesson Plan
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Scientific Theories

For Teachers 9th
Ninth graders compare and contrast how different models can be used to represent scientific understandings. They evaluate the use of data when considering scientific claims. Students debate a variety of socio-scientific issues and the...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Moon Journal

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students review the planets and major moons in the Solar System. In groups, they research and describe the various phases of the moon. They record their observations of the moon phases over a specific period of time and use the...
Lesson Plan
Messenger Education

Look But Don’t Touch—Exploration with Remote Sensing

For Students 5th - 8th Standards
Mars is home to the tallest mountain in our solar system, Olympus Mons. In this set of two activities, learners review geologic land formations through the analysis of aerial maps. They then apply this knowledge to aerial maps of objects...
Lesson Plan
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University of Colorado

Are All Asteroids' Surfaces the Same Age?

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
There are more than 600,000 asteroids in our solar system. Pupils analyze images of two asteroids in order to determine if they are the same age. They count craters for each asteroid and compare numbers. 
Lesson Plan
Kentucky Educational Television

The Road to Proportional Reasoning

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Just how big would it really be? Young mathematicians determine if different toys are proportional and if their scale is accurate. They solve problems relating scale along with volume and surface area using manipulatives. The...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Planetary Orbits

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students explore space science by completing a solar system identification worksheet. In this planets lesson, students discuss the different planets in our star system and identify their traits. Students complete an orbital system...
Lesson Plan
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Clip the Face

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students discover the moon's phases and the rarity of eclipses. In this lunar lesson, students view a video titled Spin Around the Solar System: A Moon Dance, which demonstrates the key differences between a lunar and solar eclipse....
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Walk a Mile in your Orbit

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Young scholars create an awareness of the distance between the planets and the complexity of the solar system through a model of an active solar system. they incorporate physical education and math with the ability to convert distances...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Star Words

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students identify and categorize apostrophes. They create maps of the solar system and write simple sentences using apostrophes that describe each planet's characteristics.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Glowing Glimpses of Our Universe

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Students 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...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Destination Mars

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Middle schoolers study Mars and what it would take to man a mission there.  In this solar system lesson plan students view a video and complete an art activity in groups. 

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