PBS
Data Plots of Exoplanet Orbital Properties
Scientists discovered the first exoplanet in 1995 and by early 2018, they confirmed the existence of more than 3,700—that's a lot of data! As part of the PBS 9-12 Space series, scholars interpret data about exoplanets. They compare...
Curated OER
Day and Night
Inform your elementary scientists why we experience day and night. They are provided with facts and explanation as to why the day and night cycle occur, discuss what they've learned with a partner, and are then given the task of writing...
Glynn County School System
Solar System Formation and Extra-Solar Planets
Has the solar system always been like it is today? A lesson presentation begins with a discussion of the formation of our solar system. It continues with a compare and contrast of the inner and outer planets.
California Academy of Science
Kinesthetic Astronomy: Birthday Stars
Space explorers take a virtual trip around the sun right within your classroom! They stand in a circle facing away from the "sun" (a lamp) in the center of the room. As they move according to your instructions, they view different...
American Museum of Natural History
Planetary Mysteries
A website all about planetary mysteries—it's a one-stop-shop for all things, stars, planets, and space travel. Scholars read an astronomy overview to discover the page's big ideas, then choose from the plethora of resources, including...
NASA
NASA
Everything you have ever wanted to know about our solar system, space exploration, and more can be found here. Be prepared to clear your schedule; you will be sucked into the app like a star into a black hole.
Curated OER
What are Stars?
Students research the solar system and it's characteristics. In this solar system lesson plan, students are broken into 4 groups, each assigned a specific part of the solar system. Students use the Internet to research their...
NASA
Space Images
As technology advances, so does our understanding of the universe around us. Thanks to the Hubble Telescope, Mars rovers, and other high-resolution cameras, there are amazing photographs of celestial bodies, planets, comets, and more...
Center for Math and Science Education
Solar System Launch
Trying to understand the vastness of outer space can be quite a challenge for young scientists. Help put things in perspective with this cross-curricular activity as students work in pairs creating scaled models of...
Curated OER
Interplanetary Distance and Travel Time
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...
American Museum of Natural History
A Closer Look at Mars
A website looks at how we know so much about Mars—telescopes, robots, and spacecraft—and the search for martian life. Following the informational text are three questions that quiz pupils about possible life on Mars.
Curated OER
Stellar Evolution and the Fate of Earth
Eighth graders identify the different stages in the life cycle of a star. In this astronomy lesson, 8th graders read H-R diagrams and analyze data. The describe how the Sun's evolution will affect Earth in the future.
Journey Through the Universe
Where to Look For Life?
Every year we discover new planets including more than 1,000 in 2016 alone. Will we ever find life on another planet? The lesson includes two activities to help scholars understand this concept. First, they analyze the temperature range...
American Museum of Natural History
Cosmic Connection
Do you see what I see? Individuals view eight images from the Hubble Space Telescope and then determine exactly what is being shown in the images. The pictures range from the rings of Saturn to views of billions of galaxies that take up...
Space Awareness
How To Travel On Earth Without Getting Lost
Have you ever wanted to travel the world? Take a virtual trip with a geography lesson that uses longitude and latitude, the position of the sun, an astronomy app, and a classroom globe.
NASA
Exploring Exoplanets with Kepler
Calculate the movement and properties of planets like professional astronomers! Scholars use Kepler's third law to find Mercury and Venus's distance from the sun. Using changes in brightness of distant stars and Kepler's third law,...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Galileo: Revealing the Universe
To gain an understanding of the significance of Galileo Galilei's revolutionary ideas, class members watch the short video "Stargazing Before Galileo," and conduct a close reading of Galileo's Sidereal Messsenger. They then...
Curated OER
The Life Cycle of a Star
Students investigate the life cycle of a star and make conclusions based on evidence, research, and observation. In this lesson on space and scientific investigation, students describe the relationships between science and...
Curated OER
Puzzling Planets
Learners examine the concept of a solar system. In this research based activity, students compare a star and a planet. They explain the requirements for life in a biosphere.
Curated OER
Space: Our Star, the Sun, and Its Friends, the Planets
Students examine the solar system. In this space lesson, students identify the order of the planets and their relative size to the sun. Students create a scale model of our solar system using a variety of household objects.
Curated OER
Kepler Spies Five New Planets
In this discovering new planets worksheet, learners read about how the Kepler spacecraft detects new planets by observing the dimming of light emitted by stars as the planets pass in front of them. Students solve 2 problems using a...
Curated OER
Stars in Your Eyes
In this solar system worksheet, students answer 20 short answer questions about the stars, the planets, the sun and moon, meteorites and constellations.
Curated OER
Fitting Periodic Functions-Distant Planets
In this periodic functions worksheet, learners use given data of the speed of a star and find the best fit periodic function that follows the trend in data. They determine the amplitude, offset phase and the formula for the angle. They...
Curated OER
And a Star to Steer Her By: A Field Trip Guide for the Planetarium Show
In this field trip study guide for the planetarium show lesson, students construct a model of the Earth and describe the relative positions of the continents using latitude and longitude. Students construct a star chart to find...