Curated OER
Our Home in the Milky Way
Students gain appreciation of the vastness of our galaxy by viewing an applet about the Milky Way. Students hypothesize about how long it would take to get from Earth to Pluto.
Curated OER
Travelogue of a Planet
High schoolers randomly select a planet, including Earth. They research key features of the planet including mass, volume, density, gravity, temperature, weather, geology, atmosphere, surface features, location from sun, Earth and other...
Curated OER
Moon, Mars, and Beyond-Mission Briefing
Students complete this introductory instructional activity in which they find out about the scenario for a simulated online space mission. They review vocabulary and complete a review sheet to reinforce the details of the mission and its...
Curated OER
Soaring Through Space With a Kid Pix Slide Show
First graders create a slide show on Kid Pix about space. In this space lesson plan, 1st graders will explore the earth, sun, moon, and planets. After exploring their motions and locations around the sun, they create a 4 page slide show...
Curated OER
Astronomical Scales
High schoolers describe the different units of measurement. In this space science lesson, students calculate astronomical distances using a scale. They explain the significance of using scientific notation in expressing very small...
Curated OER
Graphing Sunspot Cycles
Students explore sunspots and then graph them to analyze the data. In this sunspot cycles lesson students complete an activity sheet and complete questions.
Curated OER
Tracking an Active Sunspot Region
Eighth graders plot the location of a single active region for 12 days. In this sunspot lesson students track an active region across the face of the sun.
Curated OER
What Makes you Hot?
High schoolers manipulate different variables in a model and make inferences about the temperature on Earth. In this heat lesson students calculate the blackbody radiation of an object at a certain temperature.
Curated OER
Upgrading Hubble
Learners investigate the Hubble telescope's role in astrophysics research. They complete a Webquest, watch a video, view Hubble photographs, play online games, answer discussion questions, and evaluate newspaper articles about optics.
Curated OER
Does Humidity Affect Cloud Formation?
Students use NASA's S'COOL database to identify factors that affect cloud formation.
Curated OER
Global Warming: The Greenhouse Effect Visualizer
Students work in small groups to study the various aspects of global weather and discuss the possibility of a Greenhouse Effect.
University of Colorado
University of Colorado: Ph Et Interactive Simulations: My Solar System
An interactive simulation that teaches about motion, acceleration, and velocity by allowing students to build their own solar system and watch the effects of gravitational pull and how that changes with initial position, velocity, and...
California Institute of Technology
Cool Cosmos: Ask an Astronomer for Kids: Solar System
Resource presents information about the solar system through a list of most frequently asked questions. Click on each question and be transported to a wealth of knowledge about our solar system and the planets within it.
Other
Sea and Sky: A Tour of the Solar System
Take a virtual tour of the solar system starting with detailed information about the sun.
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Solar System Scale Model
Teach the concept of scale models and the size of the solar system through this extensive lesson plan. Students will learn about scale models, estimate which objects to use to create a scale model of Earth and Sun, and figure out how far...
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Mit: Open Course Ware: Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences: Solar System
A university-level course that looks at the structure of the solar system, the sun, the planets, and other bodies in space. Includes course readings, assignments, and study notes.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Solar System!
An introduction to our solar system: the planets, our Sun and our Moon. Students begin by learning the history and engineering of space travel. They make simple rockets to acquire a basic understanding Newton's third law of motion. They...
Other
University of Leicester: The Solar System
Resource explores the solar system, with an in depth discussion of each of the planets and their properties.
National Earth Science Teachers Association
Windows to the Universe
Windows to the Universe has developed an interactive resource about the earth, space, biological and physical sciences. Content includes information on our planet, the solar system, the universe, myths associated with space, space...
National Earth Science Teachers Association
Windows to the Universe: Our Solar System
Our solar system is filled with a wide assortment of celestial bodies - the Sun itself, our eight planets, dwarf planets, and asteroids - and on Earth, life itself! The inner solar system is occasionally visited by comets that loop in...
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University
De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: Learning About the Solar System [Pdf]
"Learning about the Solar System" is a one page, nonfiction, reading passage about scientists and learning about our solar system and how it works. It is followed by constructed-response questions which require students to provide...
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University
De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: Learning About the Solar System [Pdf]
"Learning about the Solar System" is a one page, nonfiction, reading passage about the Milky Way gallaxy and what it takes to be a scientist. It is followed by constructed-response questions which require students to provide evidence...
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University
De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: Learning About the Solar System [Pdf]
"Learning about the Solar System" is a one page, nonfiction, reading passage about the Milky Way gallaxy and how scientists learn about it over time. It is followed by questions which require students to provide evidence from the story;...
University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas Mc Donald Observatory: Solar System Science
Each student becomes the "ambassador" for a planet and prepares by researching their planet, then meets with other ambassadors to form new mini-solar systems.