Curated OER
Building Your Space Station
Students 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 and...
Curated OER
My Angle on Cooling
Students 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...
Curated OER
Earth is Round?
Third graders discuss how Aristotle concluded that the Earth was round. As a class, they review theories about the Earth's shape and describe how life on Earth would be different if it were flat. Individually, they make a moon book in...
Curated OER
Science Trail
Students explore the solar system by conducting Earth science experiments. In this Sun lesson, students identify the different seasons on Earth and discuss their purpose and cause. Students create a sundial and observe the changes to...
Curated OER
Scale Model of the Solar System
Young scientists gain a better understanding of space, the solar system and its vastness by creating a scale model. Students first need to calculate the distance between each of the nine planets according to the size of their scale. This...
Voyage Solar System
Round and Round We Go — Exploring Orbits in the Solar System
Math and science come together in this cross-curricular astronomy lesson plan on planetary motion. Starting off with a hands-on activity that engages the class in exploring the geometry of circles and ellipses, this lesson...
Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics
Where Are We Going?
Come take a ride on the space bus! Scholars go on an imaginary trip to pick up their peers from the inner and outer planets while reinforcing math skills. First, learners round decimals to identify each planets' distance from Earth....
Education Outside
Our Water Planet
Fresh water is a precious resource. Most kids don't realize how little of the water on Earth is actually drinkable. This lesson will help to illuminate them on this important topic. They discus the ratio of water to land, where most...
Curated OER
Special Edition: World Space Congress 2002: The New Face of Space
Students experience and study how space offers expanding resources for commerce, science, technology and education. They view how advances in space can and do improve life on Earth. Each student views a geological exploration within this...
Curated OER
The Battle for Ultimate Power
Students gain an understanding of how the powers of 10 and scientific notation can be used to represent the scale of things in the universe. They relate the number of stars in the universe to the number of grains of sand on Earth's beaches.
Curated OER
Our Solar System - Comparing Planetary Travel Distances
NASA presents a mini-unit on distances in our solar system. It incorporates scientific concepts of gravity, mass, density, and payload while your aspiring astronauts also employ mathematics skills. They calculate speed, they determine...
University of Wisconsin
Measuring Slope for Rain Gardens
The slope of the land is an important feature when considering the erosion that will occur. In this resource, which is part of a rain garden unit, learners calculate the slope of the proposed garden site. Even if you are not planning a...
Curated OER
Get the Picture!
Astronomers practice downloading data from a high-energy satellite and translate the data into colored or shaded pixels. As a hands-on activity, they use pennies to simulate high-energy satellite data and they convert their penny...
Yummy Math
Curiosity Landed on Mars
Out of this world math and science are mixed together on a learning exercise that would be a great enrichment activity classrooms that are studying our solar system. The information presented is best suited toward middle school math, and...
Curated OER
Earth Clock- A Timeline, Past to Present
Students create an earth clock. In this earth clock lesson plan, students create a clock which serves as a timeline of the history of the earth from 4.567 billion years ago to present day.
Curated OER
Our Sky Clock
Young scholars explore space science by completing a worksheet in class. In this astronomy lesson, students discuss and identify star patterns in the night sky and relate these patterns to the approximate time they appear. Young scholars...
International Technology Education Association
Dampen That Drift!
The spacecraft is drifting too far off course! Two games help explain how a spacecraft can use its thrusters to maintain its position. The games have pupils be the components of vectors in order to create and counteract the...
Consortium for Ocean Leadership
Measure for Measure
How does your class measure up? Young scientists create a scale drawing of the JOIDES Resolution in a collaborative activity. The lesson incorporates mathematical principles with deep-sea exploration to focus on enhancing measurement...
Curated OER
Making Models of the Solar System
Students make several models of the solar system to learn the positions of the planets in the solar system as well as relative distances and sizes. Creation of these models will help them identify the planets by size, shape, color,...
Curated OER
What's Out There? Space Shuttle Exploration and Simulation
Students role-play the jobs of space shuttle astronauts, conduct experiments, and research space using the Internet and offline experiments. Student-astronauts hold a "press conference" to share their information with others in a...
Curated OER
How Big Are Earth, Sun, and Moon?
Third graders draw what they believe is in space on a dry erase board. In groups, they are given a beaker half filled with water and they add a teaspoon of oil, observing the different layers that form. To end the lesson, they identify...
Curated OER
Comparing Earth and Mars
Learners 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...
Curated OER
"Water is Life" Global Water Awareness
Young scholars examine and calculate the percentage of potable water remaining on the earth. In this ecology and geography lesson, students brainstorm the main factors affecting water distribution. Young scholars use mathematical problem...
Curated OER
Monster Functions in Space Science I
In this solar magnetic field instructional activity, students are given 2 equations and use them to find the magnetic field strength and the Bp and Bz for given conditions. they express their answer using scientific notation.