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The Celestial Sphere
High schoolers are introduced to the celestial sphere, describing its apparent rotation and the special role of the pole star.
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Mars Calendar Project
Students design a calendar that displays time on Mars. They explore the differences between time on Earth and time on Mars while making the calendar.
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There Are Algae in Your House!
Young scholars demonstrate that, although we sometimes can neither smell nor taste them, many ingredients in our foods and household products come from the sea. They also investigate food eat to determine algae derivatives they contain.
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Kepler's Second Law
Students explore orbital velocities and how they vary along each orbit, according to Kepler's Second Law.
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Kepler's Third Law
High schoolers use Kepler's third law to derive the velocity in a circular orbit of any radius, and identify the Earth escape velocity.
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Just How Big is this Place?
Students are introduced to the the formula for calculating travel time. They listen to different scenarios relating to long distance travel into space and calculate travel time using the formula.
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Follow The Falling Meteorite
Middle schoolers investigate the supposed traveling path of a meteorite. They use sound in order to triangulate the path. The results of the experiment are written on a map to display the path of the meteorite. The culminating activity...
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Ozone: The Earth's Security Blanket
Students work in groups to define and research the terms: ozone, troposphere and stratosphere. Students watch videos, conduct Internet research, participate in discussion groups and complete worksheets.
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Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Fact Sheet
For this space worksheet, pupils will read facts about Mars and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Students will also find 24 space related words in a word search.
NASA
Earth, Earth’s Moon, Mars Balloons
Very specific diameters are given for blowing up three different balloons to represent, in scale, the moon, Earth, and Mars. In groups of three, amateur astronomers explore scale measurements and distance in space.
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Making Models To Understand Our Home
Learners investigate the concept of a model and how it is used to represent something that is real. They recognize how the model can be applied to other types of concepts like the solar system. Students create a scale drawing of a house...
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Potential Consequences of Climate Variability and Change
Students examine the potential impact of climate change to agriculture, coastal areas, forests, water, and human health. They hypothesize what might happen to a sugar maple forest and hold a debate about global warming.
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Explosive Ideas: Oregon quarter reverse
Explore Earth and her amazing layers with this lesson on planetary change. Students 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 Earth's...
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It's A Meteor
Students complete a webquest to find Earth's relationship to the sun. In this webquest lesson, students complete tasks to understand the effect of the sun on weather and time. Students create a multimedia presentation as an end product...
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Plant an Ozone Monitoring Garden
Students create a garden. In this ozone lesson, students discuss ozone injury, identify plants sensitive to ozone, and then plant their own ozone garden.
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Relative Ratios
Students discover that proportions are made up of equal ratios each containing the same building blocks. They, using the Internet, apply their knowledge of direct relationships and proportions to problems in planetary science.
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Earth's Magnetic Field and Magnetosphere
Students investigate the magnitude of Earth's magnetic field using PASCO. In this physics lesson, students describe the features of the magnetosphere. They explain how atmosphere layers protect the Earth.
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Postcards From Mars
Fifth graders research and explore what life would be like for human colonists on Mars. They explore various websites, read and discuss newspaper articles, develop a chart of the hardships and conditions that would be faced by colonists...
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Dangers of Radiation Exposure
Students calculate their yearly exposure rate to harmful high-energy radiation and cumulative effects over time. They use the information to evaluate the various sources of radiation that are of greatest concern for them.
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A View Of Home From The Front Door and From Space
Students discover how distance can change how our view of an object. Students build a representative model of where their home is located from different distances. They create three drawn models of their home from various elevations as...
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Making a Sundial
Third graders make a sundial and explain how to use it. They describe the movement of Earth and the moon and the apparent movement of other bodies through the sky. They predict what happens when they put their sundials in the sun.
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Blast Off with Model Rockets
Students investigate science and math by building a rocket. In this geometry activity, students build a rocket using paper towel tubes while investigating questions about launching a rocket. They discuss balance and unique structure as...
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Weather, Sea Level Rise and Climate Change Course
Students explain the impact of glacial melting to global climate change. In this environmental science lesson, students design an experiment to investigate the effect of salinity change to melting glaciers. They share their results to...
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Children's Literature Across the Curriculum Ideas-Challenger: America's Space Tragedy
Middle schoolers read Challenger: America's Space Tragedy by MichaelD. Cole. They complete a variety of cross-curricular activities surrounding the study of the Challenger space shuttle tragedy. Included are reading, art, math, science,...