Voyage Solar System
Round and Round We Go — Exploring Orbits in the Solar System
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...
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Modeling the Solar System
Students build a scaled model of the solar system. In this space science lesson, students arrange them according to their distances from the sun. They analyze each planet's unique features such as density and relative gravity.
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Solar System and Planets
Students identify the main components of the solar system. For this earth science lesson, students order the planets according to their distances from the Sun. They differentiate planets from dwarf planets.
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WebQuest Solar System Colonization Project 2000
Sixth graders complete a WebQuest to study the names and locations of the planets in the solar system. They investigate the causes of the seasons and the distance between the planets using astronomical units. They use technology to...
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The Solar System
Young scholars describe the different bodies that make up our solar system, explain the place of our solar system within the Milky Way Galaxy and the universe, explain day and night and the Earth's movement, and describe the relationship...
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Solar System: Let's Take a Trip
Third graders consider outer space. For this introductory solar system lesson, 3rd graders complete a KWL chart and listen to the story The Magic School Bus: Lost in the Solar System, by Joanna Cole & Bruce Degen. They will...
Teach Engineering
Get Me Off This Planet
What do Newton's Laws have to do with getting from Earth to Mars?The activities in this resource show how Newton's Laws work with rockets to get them into space. Background information includes facts about orbits and how orbits...
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Out of This World
Fifth graders animate their own planets. In this solar system lesson, 5th graders use smartphones and the software, GoKnow Sketchy, to create images for presentations on their created planets that appear to be animated when played...
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Space: Our Star, the Sun, and Its Friends, the Planets
Students examine the solar system. In this space lesson, 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.
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World In Motion Curriculum
Students explore the night sky and its solar system. Using a Digitarium planetarium system, students observe four constellations. They discover the phases of the moon and eclipses. Students recognize the difference between normal and...
Messenger Education
Give Me a Boost—How Gravity Assists Aid Space Exploration
The propellant needed for space explorations runs in the thousands, while paying to get the craft into orbit costs millions! In the second installment of three, two activities explore laws of conservation of energy and momentum. Using...
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WebQuest Solar System Colonization Project 2000
Sixth graders investigate the livability of different planets in the universe by researching and organizing information from a number of sources in this unit project. They decide on a location for a space station which they support in an...
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Physics The Earth and Beyond
Fourth graders will explore our solar system. In this physics lesson students create a model of the solar system to explore the movement of Earth, the Sun, and stars.
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Gravity Gets You Down
Young scholars investigate the force of gravity and how it effects different objects that are put into acceleration when applied the experiment of free falling. They drop different objects that have a variety of masses and some that...
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Solar System
Eighth graders identify the basic concepts of celestial bodies. They discover the difference between perihelion and aphelion and demonstrate how the universe is expanding. They also discover how gravity and centrifugal force are...
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Constellations
Young scholars explore the major constellations. After reviewing the Earth's basic motions and their significance, students discuss the moon's orbit and revolutions. Using a Digitarium Alpha portable planetarium projector, they observe...
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Earth's Orbit Lesson
Tenth graders devise a computational model to explore how the orbit of the Earth might change if its velocity were different. Using accurately recorded data, 10th graders defend a scientific argument.
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Ellipses and Kepler's First Law
The class examines graphs in the form r = F(¿¿) in polar coordinates (r, ¿¿), in particular with the circle, ellipse and other conic sections. They determine the nature of an ellipse by studying the role of the semimajor axis and...
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Planetary Poster
Learners engage in a study about the planets and create a poster as one of the projects during the study. They create individual charts for mapping the solar system so the locations can be found in mock space missions to other planets.
Workforce Solutions
A Colony for Lunar Living
Two lessons explore the possibility of living on the moon. First, scholars read various scenarios to identify which careers would best transfer to life in space. Finally, pupils examine a website to locate items made for outer space,...
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TE Activity: A Roundabout Way to Mars
Students investigate Hohmann orbit transfers using cardboard and string while focusing on the orbits of Earth and Mars. They look at the planets orbits around the sun and transfer orbit form one planet to another to determine what a...
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...
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Getting to Know Saturn: Moons, Rings, and Relationships
Students identify the different objects that orbit Saturn. For this space science lesson, students plot the graph of orbital speed and distance. They explain why planets and asteroids remain in orbit around the sun.
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Saturn’s Moons
Students compare Saturn's moons to the Earth's moon. In this moon lesson students work in groups and complete a lab activity then answer questions.