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Plotting Sunspot Activity

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Students explore how to graph sunspots using a solar graph.  In this sunspots lesson plan students investigate sunspots and complete and evaluation worksheet. 
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Sundials: Observing and Using Shadows

For Teachers 1st - 3rd
Students build sundials and observe changes in shadows over the course of one or more days. They identify patterns in the shadows and discuss how shadows may be used to tell time.
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The Seasons

For Teachers 4th - 8th
Students determine the effect of the earth's tilt on the amount of incoming solar radiation throughout the year. They simulate the earth's orbit around the sun using a light bulb and a globe to simulate the seasons. Assessment questions...
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The Analemma

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Middle schoolers describe the relationship between the tilt of Earth's axis and its yearly orbit around the sun, by learning about analemmas. They determine what they can do to show that the sun's position doesn't change, and they find...
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DAY AND NIGHT

For Teachers 1st - 2nd
Students use a lamp as the sun and his/her body as the earth. They rotate in different directions to explain how the earth moves around the sun. Using specific questions in their discussion, students discover the reasons for day and night.
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Celestial Seasonings

For Teachers 3rd - 6th
Students review and discuss video about the relationships between the Earth, Sun and Moon. They create a HyperStudio stack about the Earth, Sun and Moon including created animation. Students present their finished product to the class.
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Star Power! Discovering the Power of Sunlight

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students estimate the energy output of the sun. They estimate how much power sunlight the sunlight provides to the earth. They build a simple device to measure the amount of solar radiation the earth receives from the sun.
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Am I Hot or Am I Cold?

For Teachers 1st - 5th
Students practice using a thermometer to determine how the air around the earth gets heated and cooled by the sun. Students chart the daily inside and outside temperature for two weeks.
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Sunspots or Lumpy Planets

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students examine the method Galileo used to prove sunspots were actually on the sun instead of objects between the Earth and Sun.. They study the term foreshortening and assess its relevance to observation.
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As the World Turns

For Teachers 3rd
Third graders read books and participate in class discussions about the motion of the stars and planets and moons in relation to the Earth. In small groups, 3rd graders act out these movements to music.
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Is it Really Winter in Australia? It is June!

For Teachers 8th - 12th
The purpose of this activity is to determine how the location of a place on the Earth (hemisphere) determines what season that place is experiencing relative to the Sun's rays. Day one the learners will be introduced to the terms...
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Science - Lesson 42 - Astronomy

For Teachers 3rd
Third graders demonstrate the position of the Earth, Moon, and Sun in a solar and lunar eclipse. They list uses for manmade satellites and write a description of how a satellite would be use.
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Moon Observations

For Teachers 4th - 5th
Students study the science of the moon. For this moon observations lesson, students study vocabulary associated with the moon, study a lunar calendar, and a phases of the moon's orbit around the Earth.
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Observing Mars in the Night Sky

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students compare and contrast the orbits of Earth and Mars, locate the planet Mars, and diagram its retrograde motion.
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Travelogue of a Planet

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students randomly select a planet, including Earth. They research key features of the planet including mass, volume, density, gravity, temperature, weather, geology, atmosphere, surface features, location from sun, Earth and other...
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Tracking the Movement of Sunspots

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students examine how the development of new technology has increased our knowledge of how the sun works. Students study sunspots through the use of solar imaging from satellite instruments.
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Precession

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students explain how Hipparchus, around 130 BC, used a shift in the predicted location of a lunar eclipse to detect a slight shift in the path of the Sun around the sky. They examine the elliptical orbit in which the Earth travels around...
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Sunscapes

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Learners share their observations of the Sun, then analyze images collected by NASA's Solar and Heliospheric Observatory. They create exhibitions for presentations.
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Seasons of the Year

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students examine how the link between the tilt of the Earth's axis to the ecliptic and seasons of the year--length of day, effectiveness of sunlight, polar day and night, and seasons south and north of the equator, as well as near it.
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"Space" Investigations

For Teachers 6th
Sixth graders understand the patterns of change observable on Earth as a result of the movement of the different bodies in the solar system. They identify the physical characteristics of the different components of the solar system.
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The Phases of the Moon

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Students view an applet to study the phases of the Moon in relation to the orientation of the sun, moon, and Earth.
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Learning Lesson: The Shadow Knows I

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Students examine the elevation of the sun to discover the changes in seasons. They observe and measure the length of their shadow. They compare this measurement to one taken four months later.
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Navigation

For Teachers 9th - 12th
High schoolers study the basic methods for finding one's position on Earth. Latitude can be deduced from the height above the horizon of the pole star or of the noontime Sun, while longitude requires an accurate clock giving universal time.
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Collecting Electromagnetic Radiation

For Teachers Higher Ed
Students using different experiments and activities explore electromagnetic radiation and the effect on the Earth.

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