Why do shadows look different in the summer than in the winter? What causes day and night? How can a sundial be used to tell time? Answer these questions and more through two engaging lessons about light and shadows. Fourth and fifth...

Geometry meets earth science as high schoolers investigate the cause and features of the four seasons. The effects of Earth's axis tilt features prominently, along with both the rotation of the earth about the axis and its orbit...

Students study the water cycle and how the sun is an important factor.  In this water cycle lesson students investigate how to desalinate water and explore the different densities of fresh versus saltwater.

Many phenomena in life are periodic in nature. A task-based lesson asks scholars to explore one of these phenomena. They collect data showing the sunrise time of a specific location over the period of a year. Using the data, they create...

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...

Ninth graders study the sun and its distance from Earth.  In this Sun's diameter activity students examine how measurement data permits accurate measurement of the sun's diameter. 

In this Sun and Moon worksheet, students solve 6 problems about the angular scale of the images given, the size of the features on the images and the area of the features shown.

In this rotation of celestial bodies worksheet, students determine the speed of the sun's rotation and they determine the number of days it takes the sun to rotate once at the equator. They identify the geometric factor that causes...

Enrich your study of living things with these cross-curricular math activities. Following along with the story Tillena Lou's Day in the Sun, learners will practice addition and subtraction, learn how to measure volume and length,...

In this relative sizes of the sun and stars worksheet, students determine the relative sizes of the Earth, Jupiter, the Sun and other stars. Students compare the size of stars given ratios of one star to another.

Plant the fruits of trigonometry. Pairs work through the process of finding the best place to plant fruit trees on a piece of property. The scholars must take into consideration the location of the property and the solar zenith angle. To...

It's no fun catching a fungus. Scholars first investigate how the seasons affect the angle of the sun and the lengths of shadows. They then apply right triangle trigonometry to determine the height of trees based on their shadows to...

Groups explore illumination with NASA's Lighting Environment Test Facility (LETF) as a context. Using the TI-Nspire app, groups determine the lux equation that models their simulation. They then use the lux equation to...

Just in time for the start of the Winter 2018 Olympics, you can track the Olympic torch relay through the Republic of Korea. But there must be some math involved, right? Give learners a worksheet that prompts them to calculate the...

Young scholars explore Cherokee legends. They read The First Strawberries by Joseph Bruchac, and then do several activities to help comprehension. They discuss the book and answer comprehension questions. In addition, they retell the...

In this sun's diameter worksheet, students use a photograph taken by the SOHO satellite of the sun showing a change in diameter from one month to another. Students find the average diameter of the sun, they determine the percent change...

In this mathematical model of the sun worksheet, students read about the way scientists use the sun's radius and mass to determine a mathematical model of the sun using the volume of a sphere, and the relationship between density, volume...

If Earth is modeled by a grapefruit, what planet could be represented by a golf ball? This activity uses everyday and not-so-everyday objects to create a 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...

High schoolers explore the average surface temperature of planets. They use the Planet Temperature Calculator to find the average temperature. Students explore how the distance from the sun affects the Earth's average surface...

Students examine the solar system. In this space lesson plan, 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.

Learners 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,...

Here is a fantastic, nine-page, multi-session lesson plan on the Zia Sun Symbol (found on the New Mexico state flag), and the seasons of the Earth. Everything you need to implement the lesson is here, and the many engaging activities are...

What does math have to do with the behavior of the earth and sun? Learn how the movement of celestial bodies has influenced the development of trigonometry. Scholars connects the details in mathematics to their...