This activity focuses on how the search for life on Mars is portrayed in fiction and videos. Learners will consider depictions of Mars from science fiction books and video clips. As a group, children discuss what they know about Mars and compare their ideas with the way Mars and imaginary martians are presented in the science fiction works. They then use what they’ve learned to create their own Mars Science Fiction “Movie Trailer” Zines. It is recommended that this activity is preceded by two or three of the previous activities in the series so that the children will already have an understanding of what life needs and how Mars compares to Earth. This activity may be extended to serve as a tween and/or teen science fiction book club. It also includes specific tips for effectively engaging girls in STEM. This is activity 7 in Explore: Life on Mars? that was developed specifically for use in libraries.

This book contains 24 illustrated math problem sets based on a weekly series of space science problems. Each set of problems is contained on one page. The problems were created to be authentic glimpses of modern science and engineering issues, often involving actual research data. Learners will use mathematics to explore problems that include basic scales and proportions, fractions, scientific notation, algebra, and geometry.

This is a lesson about determining planetary composition. Learners will use a reflectometer to determine which minerals are present (from a set of knowns) in a sample of Mars soil simulant. Requires the use of ALTA II spectrometers (which may be borrowed from the Lunar and Planetary Institute or purchased online) and Mars soil simulant. The activity is part of Project Spectra, a science and engineering program for middle-high school students, focusing on how light is used to explore the Solar System.

This is an activity about image comparison. Learners will analyze and compare images taken by the Solar Dynamics Observatory. They will match four magnetic solar images, or magnetograms, to their corresponding extreme ultraviolet, or EUV, light images by studying solar features in the images. At the end, they will recognize that areas of high magnetic activity on the Sun correspond to extreme solar activity.

This article explores how statistics can be interpreted in different ways to yield different conclusions. It describes the outcome and discussion of two class activities. In the first, the results are interpreted to "show" that taking a group rather than an individual perspective is ultimately beneficial to the individual. In the second, a variation is added "showing" that telling the truth is better that lying. This resource is from PUMAS - Practical Uses of Math and Science - a collection of brief examples created by scientists and engineers showing how math and science topics taught in K-12 classes have real world applications.

During the last sunspot cycle between 1996-2008, over 21,000 flares and 13,000 clouds of plasma exploded from the Sun's magnetically active surface. Students will learn more about space weather through reading a NASA press release and viewing a NASA eClips video segment. Then students will explore the statistics of various types of space weather storms by determining the mean, median and mode of different samples of storm events. 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 activity introduces measurement and scale using hands-on activities. In this activity, students use the concept of similar triangles to determine the height of a tree. This activity is one of several available on an educational poster related to NASA's Space Interferometry Mission.

This is a set of three, one-page problems about the size and area of solar panels used to generate power. Learners will calculate area fractions to compare the sizes and distances of Jupiter's moons. Options are presented so that students may learn about the Juno mission through a NASA press release or about how solar energy is used by various NASA satellites and technology by viewing a NASA eClips video [3 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.

This is an activity about coronal mass ejections. Learners will calculate the velocity and acceleration of a coronal mass ejection, or CME, based on its position in a series of images from the Large-Angle Spectrometric Coronograph (LASCO) instrument on NASA's Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) spacecraft. This is Activity 2 of a larger resource, Exploring the Sun. The NASA spacecraft missions represented by this material include SOHO, TRACE, STEREO, Hinode, and SDO.

How big and how old is the universe? This culminating telescope investigation for high school students has them first taking images of galaxies near and far; then measuring and calculating their distances; then predicting how they might expect galaxies to be moving based on various models of gravity; and then comparing their results with the galaxy velocity measurements in a NASA database. From this data, students explore the concept of an expanding universe and can actually determine an estimate for the age of our universe. This activity is part of a DVD that is a professional development resource for educators. Many new astronomy learners, students and adults alike, are unfamiliar with the universe beyond the solar system. Instructions for obtaining the DVD and registering for the professional development workshop are contained on the website.

In this activity, students learn about the advantages of the metric system, by comparing the ease of calculation and conversion between the English and metric systems of measurement. This resource is from PUMAS - Practical Uses of Math and Science - a collection of brief examples created by scientists and engineers showing how math and science topics taught in K-12 classes have real world applications.

This is a website about microbiology. Learners may explore information about microorganisms, extremophiles and extreme habitats, as well as the ecology, diversity and evolution of micro-organisms.

This 28-minute film was created to explain how our current understanding of the Milky Way was reached using many different wavelength of the electromagnetic spectrum. Please note, the link is to a direct download of the video; this is a large file - 336 MB.

In this activity, learners work in teams to assess environmental conditions, resources, and scientific relevance of different locations on the Moon using data collected from previous lunar missions. Each team selects the site they believe has the best potential for a future lunar outpost. The teams debate their conclusions and work together to determine which single site to recommend to NASA. This activity takes approximately 1.5 hours, and can be divided into parts. Learners should be familiar with NASA's LRO Mission and the lunar environment through other Explore! To the Moon and Beyond! activities. These activities were developed specifically for use in libraries.

In this activity, student teams design small-scale physical models of hot and cold planets, (Venus and Mars), and learn that small scale models allow researchers to determine how much larger systems function. There is both a team challenge and competition built into this activity. Experimental findings are then used to support a discussion of human outposts on Mars. The resource includes an experimental design guide for students as well as a handout outlining a method for the design of controlled experiments, and student data sheets. Student questions and an essay assignment are provided as classroom assessments. This is Activity A in the second module, titled "Modeling hot and cold planets," of the resource, "Earth Climate Course: What Determines a Planet's Climate?" The course aims to help students to develop an understanding of our environment as a system of human and natural processes that result in changes that occur over various space and time scales.

In this activity, students pose several hypotheses for what will happen if you continue heating or supplying energy to the hot and cold planet models (Mercury, Mars, Venus, and Earth) and then test their hypotheses using a spreadsheet based radiation balance model. The activity supports investigation of a real world challenge, experimenting with life support conditions for Mars at an Arctic outpost. The interactive model runs are conducted using a Java applet. This resource includes student worksheets, assessment questions and a teacher's guide. This is Activity B in module 2, Modeling hot and cold planets, of the resource, Earth Climate Course: What Determines a Planet's Climate? The course aims to help students to develop an understanding of our environment as a system of human and natural processes that result in changes that occur over various space and time scales.

In this activity, students explore the importance of adequate sampling strategies when conducting a scientific investigation. They are tasked with determining the average temperature of the Earth, using data sets easily found on the Internet, and determine the kind and size of sample necessary to calculate a representative average. The resource includes a student data sheet and an authentic assessment for the module, where students discuss the establishment of a habitation site on Mars. This is Activity C in module 2, titled "Modeling Hot and Cold Planets," of the resource, Earth Climate Course: What Determines a Planet's Climate? The course aims to help students to develop an understanding of our environment as a system of human and natural processes that result in changes that occur over various space and time scales.

The purpose of this kinesthetic activity is for students to learn the relative motions of the Earth, Sun and Moon. Awareness of these different motions is needed to develop an understanding of the causes of the day/night cycle, the seasons and the cycle of lunar phases. This resource is from PUMAS - Practical Uses of Math and Science - a collection of brief examples created by scientists and engineers showing how math and science topics taught in K-12 classes have real world applications.

This is an activity about the lunar cycle and the pattern of the moon’s motion in our sky. Learners will use the Sky Tonight online program to observe the different phases of a lunar month and predict where the moon will be in the night sky throughout the month. This activity requires the use of a computer with Internet access, and is Sky Tonight Activity 4 in a larger resource, Space Update.