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Satellites and the Radiation Budget
Students engage in a prelab discussion about the earth's radiation budget and global warming. They use "trading cards" to find specific websites to research radiation budget questions.
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Ellipses And Kepler's First Law
Students explain that planets actually orbit the center of gravity of the solar system, and that distant planets may be detected by motions of their central star around the centers of gravity of their planetary systems.
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Solving Saturn's Mysteries
Middle schoolers study the Cassini spacecraft and its travel to Saturn. They discover the results of the space mission and examine images of Saturn that Cassini sent back.
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What Do I See When I Picture Saturn?
Students create their own Saturn Discovery logs. They draw pictures of the planet and its founder. They share their drawings and writings with partners.
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Wow, Saturn Is Much Bigger Than Earth!
Young scholars compare and contrast the sizes of Earth and Saturn. They create scale illustrations of each planet and label them. They share their models with the class.
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Extraterrestrial Communication: Can We Talk to Anybody Out There?
Learners examine the possibilities of communication with other living organisms within our solar system through research and hands on activities, as well as observing and analyzing teacher demonstrations.
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Nature of Meteor Showers
Ninth graders describe, in general terms, the distribution of matter in space and
identify evidence for, and describe characteristics of, bodies that make up the solar system. They then investigate predictions about the motion,...
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Mars
Students debate the ethical considerations involved in colonizing and terra-forming Mars. They have a preliminary discussion and view a video clip about Mars, then break into support and oppose groups to research and prepare their...
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Path to Mars
Students compare Earth and Mars to find similarities between the two planets using given websites. They collect and download pictures of geological features of both planets from print and non-print sources. Descriptions of the...
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Biospheres
Second graders create models, practice inquiry skills, work with fellow students in teams, and reinforce concepts discussed in class all by using the theme of BIOSPHERES.
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Origins: Earth Is Born
Students develop a timeline of all the major events involved in the formation of the Earth and the emergence of humans. In groups, they focus on a specific topic by watching a PBS program and taking notes. After the video, they list...
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Modeling the Big Bang and the Formation of the Universe
Sixth graders conduct an experiment to understand the Big Bang Theory. In this Big Bang Theory lesson, 6th graders will observe a balloon with confetti popping to emulate and analyze information related tot he Big Bang theory....
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Taking Apart Owl Pellets
Students dissect an owl pellet. In this rodent and bone structure lesson, students work in groups to take apart an owl pellet. Students separate all the tiny bones from the fur and use the bones to reconstruct the rodent on a tag board....
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Blast Off with Model Rockets
Students investigate science and math by building a rocket. In this geometry lesson plan, students build a rocket using paper towel tubes while investigating questions about launching a rocket. They discuss balance and unique structure...
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It's A Meteor
Students complete a webquest to find Earth's relationship to the sun. In this webquest instructional activity, students complete tasks to understand the effect of the sun on weather and time. Students create a multimedia...
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I See a Coyote
Students role-play coyotes looking for natural resources. In this natural resources lesson, students examine the relationship between animal life and the environment. Students play a game that demonstrates how natural...
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Circles to Spheres
Students investigate circles and spheres. In this space shapes lesson, students compare and contrast two-dimensional and three-dimensional shapes. Students investigate the relationship between plane and space shapes.
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What Do You Know About Saturn?
Students discuss what they know about Saturn. They create drawings to show what the planet looks like and identifies its characteristics. They write a paragraph about the planet as well.
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Amazing -- Saturn Is So Far Away!
Students work together to create a scale model of the distances between the planets. They write a paragraph to describe Saturn and their make-believe trip to the planet. They identify other characteristics of Saturn as well.
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Star Wars Activity
Students investigate radiant energy by completing discrepant events and identify various temperature changes through absorption and how radiant energy can be used for solar panels. They experiment with different color fabrics in order...
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Summarize This!
Students explore how to summarize a reading passage. They read non-fiction books. Students use a Venn Diagram to compare and contrast the two animals they read about. They write a summary using the information in their Venn Diagram.
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Heavens Above
Students study the stars and their positions. In this astronomy lesson students see how scientists can predict the positions of the stars and can tell how they would have appeared in the past.
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Earth, Moon, Mars Balloons
Students demonstrate size and orbits of Earth, Moon, and Mars. In this space science lesson plan, students will use balloons to show how the size and distance between the planets and satellite compare.
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What on Earth is Greater Than?
Students compare things that are greater than, less than, or equal to, compare the Earth to other planets, and list planets from greatest size to smallest size.