Just how big is Earth's moon? With a hands-on simulation, scholars use Play-Doh to model the sizes of the planets Earth, Mars, Jupiter, and their moons. They make predictions as a class, work together to make their models, and discuss...

Why does Earth experience summer, fall, winter, and spring? Using an informative demonstration, learners see how the angle of the sun on Earth and the rotation of Earth determine the seasons. Scholars work in pairs to learn that the...

In this planets and fractions worksheet, students solve nine problems about the sizes and scales of planets compared to each other using fractions.

Earth is 149,600,000 km, or 92,957,130.4 miles, from the sun. Young astronauts create an interactive model to learn the distances between planets. Nine groups, each representing a different planet, are spread around at class-calculated...

Students explain sun facts and solar information. They discover how temperature of a star is measured. They investigate the various scales used to measure temperature. They observe images of the sun. They classify stars according to te

Jupiter has 67 moons! As the seventh in a series of 22, the exercise shows learners the size and scale of Jupiter and its Galilean moons through a model. They then arrange the model to show how probes orbited and gathered data.

Students, in groups, research a planet from our solar system. They create Styrofoam models of the planets and place the planets on a correct distance scale from the sun.

Students are introduced to the challenges involved in understanding the space travel distances and the time involved to do so through the use of an interactive fable. The modeling and comparisons deal with specific distances at different...

Students develop a sense of the scale of our solar system by creating a one to ten billion scale model. They calculate the relative sizes and distances for the planets and asteroid belt using a guiding worksheet. To create the model they...

Heat up some interest in solar energy. Young engineers create a water heater that runs on solar power (simulated by a lamp). Using thermometers, they determine the change in temperature before and after the water goes through the heater.

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. 

Try your hand at scale models. Scholars create a scale model of an object using a scale factor of their choice. As part of the project, they give presentations on their processes and calculations. This is the last installment of the...

This worksheet leads the class through the calculations needed to construct circles to represent the planets of our Solar System. The actual values are provided, as are suggested calculations to create the scale diameters. The ten...

Don't just look at pictures of the Milky Way galaxy, build it with this hands-on activity in which scientists recreate the galaxy we live in.

Students make a model of the solar system. In this solar system lesson, students make paper mache models of the planets to hand in the classroom, measure the distance to each planet scaled with footsteps, and model the moon's movement...

Students tour Jupiter. For this scenario based lesson, students examine the size of Jupiter and make models of the other planets in the solar system to show how large Jupiter is compared to the other planets.

Students are introduced to the solar system and its place in the universe. They begin to grasp the idea of very large numbers by estimating and computing how long it take the class to make a million x's.

Middle schoolers brainstorm about what they know about the solar system. They study a planetary fact sheet and create a Venn Diagram with the information. They work in groups to examine the names of the planets and information regarding...

In this second lesson of the series, pupils learn to observe similarities and differences in photos of the sun and record them in a Venn diagram. Then, small groups practice the same skill on unique images before presenting their...

Students use calculator and non-calculator methods for analyzing data. They apply data collection and analysis in a study of mass and weight. Students enhance and apply the concept of line of best fit. They master graphing in a plane,...

Learners read an article about NASA and Mars and complete short answer questions about the article. In this Mars lesson plan, students also create a scale model of the solar system.

Learners estimate the size of the solar system and the distance to the nearest star.  In this space lesson students complete calculations and use Sattgast Hall as a scale model.

Very specific diameters are given for blowing up three different balloons to represent, in scale, the moon, Earth, and Mars. In groups of three, amateur astronomers explore scale measurements and distance in space.