"If global warming is real, why is it so cold?" Distinguishing the difference between weather and climate is important when it comes to understanding our planet. In these activities, young scientists look at the climate patterns in a...

With global temperatures on the rise faster than ever recorded, the effects of a heating planet could be devastating. Allow learners to discover just what the world is in store for if the warming continues through a series of videos, a...

Explore the world's endangered species with a presentation and bingo game activity. After viewing a presentation about the meaning of endangered species as it relates to specific animals, kids play a game of bingo with cards that...

Sometimes explaining an argument can lead to confusion and miscommunication. Narrow down the details in written arguments with a group activity in which learners pretend to be aliens from another planet, struggling to understand each...

Isn't technology great? The 12th installment of a 23-part NOAA Enrichment in Marine sciences and Oceanography (NEMO) program introduces technology that marine scientists use. Pupils take part in an activity using conductivity,...

Landforms in Beacon Valley, Antarctica, where there is no snow, bear a striking resemblance to landforms found on Mars. Scholars identify landforms found in Beacon Valley through analysis of topographic maps in the activity. They then...

How do spacecraft detect magnetic fields? The fourth installment of a five-part unit has learners develop a device with magnets that allows for the detection of magnetic fields. They use a map of an imaginary planet to try out their...

Investigate invisible forces. Young engineers design a setup that changes the direction of a steel ball using a magnetic force. The purpose of the setup is to model the gravitational pull of spacecraft by planetary bodies.

How large can a population become? The fifth installment of a nine-part unit teaches young ecologists about limiting factors that determine the carrying capacity of species in the Sonoran Desert. Here is a PowerPoint to help present this...

Future engineers create robotic arms like those on rovers built by NASA in the second lesson of the series. They test their devices by attempting to pick up and move cups to a specified location.

How do scientists provide evidence to support the theories they put forth? What clues do they put together to create these theories? After watching West of the West's documentary Island Rotation class members engage in a series of...

Here is a thought-provoking instructional activity that has learners look at how much land can be used to grow food on our planet, along with the fact that our population is ever-increasing. Through the use of math and class discussion,...

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 explore different planets of our solar system. Students gather specific information on each of the planets. Students choose suitable planet for colonization.

Students view a video to gather information about our solar system. They create models of the planets to scale and place them in scale relative to their distances from the sun. They also visit a planetarium or use the internet to gather...

Third graders describe the composition of our solar system. They recognize the names of the planets in our solar system and compare and contrast the nine planets that orbit the sun.

Students consider the comparative sizes of the planets in the solar system. In this scale lesson, students select balls of different sizes to represent the planets in the solar system.

Students examine how the sun's intensity affects the temperature on various planets. They determine whether or not these planets could be habitable. Finally, they factor in the average albedo of the planets to determine whether or not...

Fifth graders, in groups, create a pictorial model of the solar system and place the planets in correct order.

Which is bigger: the sun or the moon? Which is nearer: the planets or a star? English Language Learners first located a series of space-related nouns and adjectives in a word search, and then identify the comparative and superlative...

Learners explain what causes light pollution and how it can be curtailed. They consider the negative consequences of nighttime lighting, enabled by the invention of electric lights at the close of the 19th Century.

Students study the Earth's climatic system and construct a puzzle that names all of the pieces of the  components involved.  In this Climate activity, students draw a picture on a puzzle piece depicting a specific component....

Explore Earth and her amazing layers with this lesson plan on planetary change. Learners will research the ways in which Earth's layers cause change. They will complete a "Tectonic Puzzle" and use a worksheet to answer questions about...

Students gain understanding of the relationship of Earth within the Solar System. They increase knowlegde of the planets, sun, moon, meteoroids, asteroids and comets.