Journey Through the Universe
Impact Craters: A Look at the Past
The Galle crater on Mars is also known as the Happy Face crater because of its appearance. First, scholars use pebbles and flour to simulate craters and study their properties. They then apply this knowledge to help decipher the history...
University of Colorado
Space Travel Guide
Neptune takes 164.8 Earth years to travel around the sun. In the fifth of 22 lessons, young scientists create a travel guide to a planet in our solar system. They provide tips for others on what to bring, what they see, and their...
Curated OER
Space and Science Fiction
Use the Franklin Institute's exhibition "An Inquirer's Guide to the Universe" to have students research ideas for a science fiction story. After completing their research, writers will compose science fiction stories that incorporate...
Space Awareness
Water is a Heat Sink
One of the key objectives of Europe's Copernicus Earth program is to monitor the temperatures of the oceans and seas on Earth. Young scholars learn the effects of different heat capacities through two experiments. These experiments...
Space Awareness
Meet Our Home: Earth
Earth is a complex structure. Learners explore their home, the earth, using a fun hands-on activity. They create tactile models of the earth using ordinary household materials that represent some common features: land, polar caps,...
Curated OER
Reading and Writing about the Solar System
A superb interdisciplinary approach highlights this lesson which incorporates space science knowledge and narrative skills. After reading The Magic School Bus, two excellent poems, and watching a video, all about our solar system, young...
Curated OER
Creating/Improving the International Space Station
Students research space and gravity and understand the difficulties humans have while on the International Space Station. In this space lesson plan, students listen to personal accounts of astronauts on videos and present designs to...
Curated OER
Modeling the Solar System
Young scholars build a scaled model of the solar system. For this space science lesson, students arrange them according to their distances from the sun. They analyze each planet's unique features such as density and relative gravity.
K20 LEARN
This Is How the World Ends: Coronal Mass Ejections/Space Storms
Is this the end of the world as we know it? Pupils prepare for a coronal mass ejection during a instructional activity from the K20 Center. The activity combines video and Internet research in a collaborative assignment that focuses on...
Curated OER
From the Mouths of Space Scientists: An Introduction to Space and Weather
After researching the Greenland Space Science Symposium, curious thinkers create a PowerPoint or video presentation. They use the information they gathered to construct their presentation.
Curated OER
Life on the Moon
Students study the physical properties of the Moon. In this life on the moon lesson students describe the ways life on the Moon would be different than on Earth.
Space Awareness
History of the Universe
Your pupils may believe that you and their parents are the oldest things in the universe, but surprise! There are elements of the universe that are even older. Elementary scientists create a class timeline to demonstrate the...
NOAA
I Didn’t Do It…Did I?: Make Your Own Greenhouse Effect
How do greenhouse gases affect the climate on Earth? Pupils explore the concept by first building their own apparatuses to model the greenhouse effect. Then, they record data to measure temperature change and determine...
Curated OER
Waters of the Earth
Young scholars make a striking visual display showing the distribution of water on earth.
PBS
NASA's Eyes on the 2017 Eclipse
How did the 2017 eclipse look in Los Angeles—or Chicago? Experience both views, plus many more, using a lesson from PBS's Space series for middle schoolers. Scholars follow the movements of the sun, moon, and Earth during the most recent...
Messenger Education
My Angle on Cooling—Effect of Distance and Inclination
When exploring Mars, spacecrafts are exposed to 5-11 times more sunlight than when near Earth. Groups of pupils complete a hands-on activity to explore how distance and angle of the sun affect temperature. Through discussions, they then...
Curated OER
Living in Space
Students explore space science by viewing a video in class. In this astronaut activity, students identify the living habits of astronauts by researching the NASA website and observing a space science video in class. Students participate...
Curated OER
Spaced Out
Learners are introduced to the space environment. This activity covers the major differences between the environment on Earth and that of outer space and the engineering challenges that arise because of these discrepancies. In order to...
Curated OER
Reflections on Earth: Exploring Planet Earth from Space
Students examine satellite images of Earth and contrast images at different scales. In this exploring Earth from space lesson plan, students use satellite images to contrast images at different scales, calculate distances from the scale...
Curated OER
Reflect on this Mote of Dust
Students explore space science by analyzing a speech by Carl Sagan. In this cosmos instructional activity, students view an online video of a speck of a "pale blue dot" in the distance of space which turns out to be Earth. Students write...
Curated OER
Our Place in Space
Third graders identify the different planets that make up the solar system. In this space science instructional activity, 3rd graders construct a scale model of the major planets. They explore their different unique features and dress up...
Curated OER
Building Your Space Station
High schoolers discuss the benefits of the International Space Station. They evaluate the challenges the designers faced when trying to design the space station. Students discuss the use of scale models when designing large structures...
NASA
Space-Based Astronomy on the Internet
Young scientists compile everything they have learned into a report in the fifth and final lesson in a unit on the visible light spectrum. Access to photos from observatories, telescopes, and satellites allows learners to compare...
Curated OER
My Angle on Cooling
Learners explore how the angle and distance of an object can change it's temperature. After reviewing how the position of the Earth affects the temperature of the planet, student groups design and perform an experiment to test how...