Curated OER
Mission to Mars: The Journey Begins
Pupils take a trip through space. For this space science lesson, students travel on a simulated mission to a space station. Pupils write a script and perform a play based on the pretend trip.
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Life In Space: The International Space Station
Students learn about the International Space Station. In this space instructional activity, students learn about the structure, operations, and experiments that go on in the International Space Station.
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Space Science: Constellations and the Sun
Pupils review the zodiac signs and illustrate their movement using constellations on the wall and themselves to represent earth. Individually or in groups, they stand in the center of the room while a shadeless lamp is placed between...
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Living in Space
Young scholars identify differences between living on earth vs. living in space. In this simulated lesson students analyze data, record observations and design exercise equipment to be used while living in space.
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Teacher-Astronaut Offers New Lessons
Students read about teacher-in-space Barbara Morgan and life in space. For this space science and current event lesson, the teacher introduces the article with a vocabulary activity, then students read the news piece and participate in a...
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Could the Solar System have Ten Planets?
Students react to statements about the solar system, then read a news article about a recently discovered object that could be another planet. In this space science and current events lesson, the teacher introduces the lesson with a...
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Our Sky Clock
Students explore space science by completing a worksheet in class. In this astronomy lesson plan, students discuss and identify star patterns in the night sky and relate these patterns to the approximate time they appear. Students...
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Space Science: Zodiac Track
Students create posters of the constellations using glow-in-the-dark glue and black paper. They hang their posters around the room starting with Aries and moving through all the signs. Students create a jingle or acronym to help them...
Space Awareness
Let's Map the Earth
Before maps went mobile, people actually had to learn how to read maps. Pupils look at map elements in order to understand how to read them and locate specific locations. Finally, young cartographers discover how to make aerial maps.
Messenger Education
Dangers of Radiation Exposure
Gamma radiation, which is harmful, is useful in treating cancers. In the second lesson in a series of four, young scientists take surveys and calculate their yearly exposure to ionizing radiation. Then they read about how harmful their...
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Our Intriguing Star, the Sun!
Explore the sun in a lesson plan about space. The lesson spans ten weeks, with young scholars performing activities to answer weekly questions about the Sun and Earth.
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Communication Delay
Construct a maze in your classroom and have a blindfolded scientist act as a space rover, maneuvering unfamiliar terrain while another scientist plays commander. Classmates record the number of occurrences of the commander having to...
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Storm Clouds-- Fly over a Late Winter Storm onboard a NASA Earth Observing Satellite
Students study cloud data and weather maps to explore cloud activity. In this cloud data lesson students locate latitude and longitude coordinates and determine cloud cover percentages.
Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics
Looking to the Future
New Horizons set forth on a mission to Pluto in 2006. Ten years later, the spacecraft is still on its way. Here, enthusiastic scholars predict what they will be like—likes, dislikes, hobbies, etc.—when New Horizons arrives at its...
US Department of Energy
Building the Basic PVC Wind Turbine
Here is a comprehensive and well-written lesson plan that results in learners building a standard wind turbine. Once built, teens can design a variety of experiments to test different factors. This activity is a noble undertaking that...
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THAT'S WHY THEY CALL IT SPACE
Ninth graders set up a scale model of the solar system using the same scale for distance and diameter. They calculate scale distances and sizes for modeling the solar system and relate actual distances to difficulties in discovering and...
NASA
Science Fiction Story
A lesson allows you to go back in time and see the big bang actually happen. Bazinga! In reality, pupils research the Big Bang Theory and theorize what it would be like to go back in time and see it happen. There are four...
Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics
Goldilocks and the Three Planets
Venus is the second brightest object in the night sky after the moon. Here is an interesting lesson that explores three planets — Venus, Earth, and Mars — specifically their surfaces and atmospheres. Through an analysis of their spectra,...
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Beyond The Earth Part I
Students explore the solar system. For this space science lesson, students take notes on the solar system provided by their instructors. Students then collaborate to design a computer-generated drawing of the solar system.
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Voyage: A Journey through our Solar System
Learners build the Voyage scale model of the Solar System on a playground and "travel" to each planet. They recognize that the Sun and planets are tiny worlds in a vast space, giving them a new perspective on the Solar System, and...
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Flight Paths of Orbiting Satellites
Students examine the path a satellite follows as it orbits the earth. In this space science lesson, students use a globe as they illustrate a satellite in its orbital plane, then plot points on the satellite's path on the globe to see...
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Earth's Movement in Space
Students explain how the Earth's tilt and rotation causes night and day. For this earth science lesson, students determine how seasonal changes are caused by Earth's revolution. They play a jeopardy team game at the end of the unit to...
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Space Exploration
Students explore the significance of the four space programs: Sputnik, Apollo, Viking, and Voyager. For this space exploration lesson, students view a space exploration slideshow and complete an included chart of space exploration.
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Black Holes Revealed
Students explore the concept of black holes through an interactive program. They explore how they form and what materials form them. They can also visit websites in which they can research radio transmission between the Earth and space.