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Habitable Planets
Topic: Planets Beyond our Solar System
Grade Level: 5-8
Short Description: This activity encourages a discussion about what makes a planet habitable. Students match a series of questions with corresponding correct answers and keep track of planet characteristics in a simple table. They interpret the table to answer the basic question, "What makes a planet habitable?"
Heavyweight Champion: Jupiter
Grade Level: K-4
Body: Our Solar System
Short Description: The students explore gravity and its relationship to weight by weighing themselves on scales modified to represent weights on other worlds, and compare the features of different planets to determine which characteristics cause a planet to have more or less gravity.
Here Comes the Heat
Topic: Light and Spectra
Grade Level: 9-12
Body: Uranus
Mission: Genesis (Our Solar System)
Short Description: Participants use spectroscopy to measure heat. Participants will develop a better understanding of the various units used by scientist to characterize electromagnetic radiation.
Teacher Guide
Student Text
Student Activity
Student Data Sheet
Student Handout
Hole-In-One
Topic: Modeling Solar System Objects
Grade Level: K-4
Body: Pluto
Mission: Genesis (Our Solar System)
Short Description: Participants experiment with a parabola and simulate the collection of ions onto the target of the concentrator to model the Genesis Solar Wind Concentrator.
How Low Can You Go
Grade Level: K-4
Body: Earth
Mission: Earth Science (Earth)
Short Description: Students compare the weight of various objects and describe gravity as the force that holds us on the Earth.
How Much Rock is in an Icy Moon? (Student Page)
Grade Level: 5-8
Body: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune
Short Description: In order to determine the percentages of rock and ice in a number of the satellites (moons) of the outer planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto), students construct a graph of the amount of rock versus the density of the moon, using a simple equation. They then determine the percentage of rock from the densities of several moons and enter the answers in a table.
How Much Rock is in an Icy Moon? (Teacher Page)
Grade Level: 5-8
Body: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune
Short Description: In order to determine the percentages of rock and ice in a number of the satellites (moons) of the outer planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto), students construct a graph of the amount of rock versus the density of the moon, using a simple equation. They then determine the percentage of rock from the densities of several moons and enter the answers in a table.
How Much Would You Weigh on Distant Planets
Grade Level: 5-8
Body: Our Solar System
Short Description: Students view Web movies of astronauts on the Moon and discuss what they can learn about one's lunar weight; a calculator is provided to get their weight on other planets; a discussion of the causes of weight and gravity is then suggested with different hypotheses.
How to Make a Saturn Model
Grade Level: K-4
Body: Saturn
Mission: Cassini (Saturn)
Short Description: Students create a model of Saturn using discarded CDs.
Hubble Deep Field Academy
Grade Level: 5-8
Short Description: Do you want to take your class on a field trip to the edge of the observable universe? If so, join Professor Wifpic and the cadets of the Hubble Academy as they count, classify and analyze objects from the Hubble Deep Field, almost 12 billion light years away. After completing this lesson, students will have: collected and interpreted scientific data, described the characteristics used to classify galaxies and explained relationships between those characteristics, applied estimation skills to scientific data using representative sampling.
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