The purpose of this lesson is to introduce the students to the Sun. They explore various aspects of the Sun including its composition, its interior workings, and its relationship to the Earth.
Students are introduced to the fabulous planet on which they live. Even though we spend our entire lives on Earth, we still do not always understand how it fits into the rest of the solar system. Students learn about the Earth's position in the solar system and what makes it unique. They learn how engineers study human interactions with the Earth and design technologies and systems to monitor, use and care for our planet's resources wisely to preserve life on Earth.
Students explore the outermost planets of our solar system: Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. They also learn about characteristics of Pluto and its interactions with Neptune. Students learn a little about the history of space travel as well as the different technologies that engineers develop to make space travel and scientific discovery possible.
Students learn about parallax in this Moveable Museum unit, in which they use mathematical techniques related to parallax to calculate the height of an object. The eight-page PDF guide includes suggested general background readings for educators, activity notes, step-by-step directions, a Data Sheet and a Tangent Table, and an astrolabe template.
In this Digital Universe activity, students practice the scientific skills of observation, inference, and modeling and learn about scale, perspective, and distance by building a three-dimensional model of something they usually perceive as two-dimensional. The 11-page printable PDF activity includes illustrated step-by-step instructions for the following hands-on and computer-assisted activities:Introducing the Constellations, Making a Two-Dimensional Constellation Model, Introducing Parallax and Luminosity, Using Parallax and Luminosity, and Viewing Orion in Three Dimensions.
The Passport to the Universe space show reveals the universe's wonders in a way never before possible in a planetarium. This comprehensive guide to the space show is designed to help you maximize your viewing. It includes background information to help you prepare for your planetarium field trip, detailed information about what you'll see before and during the show and suggestions for several pre- and post-visit activities to do with your students. There are notes about how the show addresses performance standards and curriculum requirements.
An introduction to astronomy written with a historical perspective.
In this activity, students observe fluid motion and the formation of convection cells as a solution of soap and water is heated. This procedure can be performed as a demonstration by the teacher, or older students can conduct the experiment themselves. A list of materials, instructions, and a description of the convective process are included.
Students learn about pixels in this Moveable Museum unit, in which they decode a simple digital image from a string of numbers. The eight-page PDF guide includes suggested general background readings for educators, activity notes, step-by-step directions, and activity handouts. There are two versions of the activity, one for Grades K-3 and one for Grades 4-8 Version.
This is an activity about the way distance, reflectivity, and atmosphere affect the temperature of a planet. Learners will create a planet using a computer game and change features of the planet to increase or decrease the planet's temperature. This lesson is part of Project Spectra, a science and engineering education program focusing on how light is used to explore the Solar System.
This is an activity about the different characteristics of the planets in our Solar System. Learners will use the Solar System Update program to complete a worksheet. The worksheet asks learners to identify multiple characteristics for each planetary body, and consider the relationships between certain characteristics. Required materials include the Solar System Update software and a computer with Internet access. This activity is Solar System Activity 3 in a larger resource, Space Update.
This is an activity about defining characteristics or features of the planets and their moons. Learners will use the Solar System Update software to complete a worksheet asking them to find the planet and/or moon that matches each listed description. This activity requires the use of a computer with Internet access, and is Solar System Activity 1 in a larger resource, Space Update.
This is an activity about the orbits of the planets in our Solar System. Learners will utilize the Sky Tonight online program to track the movement and visibility of the planets in our night sky. They will then attempt to locate these planets outside on a clear night. This activity requires the use of a computer with Internet access and access to the clear night sky. This activity is Sky Tonight Activity 3 in a larger resource, Space Update.
This activity is a classroom investigation where the students create, in size and distance, a solar system model in proportion to a selected sphere representing the earth.
This resource gives information about our solar system which is made up of the sun, planets and all the amazing objects that travel around it. Information about the plant sizes, distances in the solar system and the size and shape of orbits is also explained. The universe is filled with billions of star systems. And the star system we are most familiar with is our own.
This is an activity about the altitude and azimuth for the Moon. Learners will use the Sky Tonight online program to take data on the position of the Moon, plot it and see what kind of relationship the data has. This activity requires the use of a computer with Internet access, and is Sky Tonight Activity 5 in a larger resource, Space Update.
Students use a length of paper to understand the size of the solar system.
Students will learn about the twin STEREO spacecraft and how they are being used to track solar storms through reading a NASA press release and viewing a NASA eClips video segment. Then students will examine data to learn more about the frequency and speed of solar storms traveling from the Sun to Earth. This activity is part of the Space Math multimedia modules that integrate NASA press releases, NASA archival video, and mathematics problems targeted at specific math standards commonly encountered in middle school textbooks. The modules cover specific math topics at multiple levels of difficulty with real-world data and use the 5E instructional sequence.
This is a set of four, one-page problems about the size of planets compared to earth. Learners may use ratios to compare planets within our solar system or those outside of our solar system with the earth. Options are presented so that students may learn about the MESSENGER mission to Mercury through a NASA press release or by viewing a NASA eClips video [6 min.]. This activity is part of the Space Math multi-media modules that integrate NASA press releases, NASA archival video, and mathematics problems targeted at specific math standards commonly encountered in middle school.
Really Ancient Fossils STEM Kit. The Natural Sciences Education & Outreach Center collaborates with CSU faculty, National Parks and citizen science programs to translate their current scientific research into unique STEM experiences for students in the form of Educational Kits that can be checked out. Each kit contains just about all of the materials needed (minus common things like water and paper towels) to explore some really interesting scientific research topics.The kits are available for teachers and informal educators in Colorado to check out for a duration of a week by submitting either a local pickup form or a delivery form available at the linked website. Due to the extreme weight of the sand used in this Kit, local pickup is the only option. This kit is provided free for educational use. This kit is also available in Spanish.