Active Accretion
Topic: Modeling Solar System Objects
Grade Level: 5-8
Body: Our Solar System
Short Description: Students act as dust grains that come together to model early planet formation by the process of accretion in our solar system.
Are We Related? Looking for Patterns in Planetary Diversity
Grade Level: 9-12
Body: Our Solar System
Mission: Genesis (Our Solar System)
Short Description: In this activity, students use measurements (and results of calculations involving these measurements) regarding the planets' physical and chemical characteristics. They will start with some of the most universally accepted planetary data. Students will also be working with information that is often presented as known facts when, indeed, those "facts" may be conclusions based on limited basic data. Students should be encouraged to look for their own methods of grouping or "patterning."
Best of the Solar System
Grade Level: 5-8
Body: Our Solar System
Short Description: This activity introduces students to planetary research. Using some of the most famous and interesting images of the solar system, students learn to focus on details by studying uncaptioned images. Next students increase their knowledge of the planets and their features by comparing their observations to those of real researchers. Students organize their findings to infer a key difference between inner and outer planets.
Build a Solar System
Grade Level: 5-8, 9-12
Body: Our Solar System
Short Description: This resource from the Exploratorium allows teachers and students to select a size for an object to represent the sun and all other sizes and distances in the solar system and distances to other interesting stars are calculated. The resource can be very good for a differentiated classroom to reduce the math requirement.
Changes Inside Planets (Differentiation and Breakup)
Topic: Modeling Solar System Objects
Grade Level: 5-8
Body: Our Solar System
Short Description: Students conduct experiments to model the separation of light and heavy materials within a planetary body using gelatin. In a second activity, students model the break-up of a differentiated body using frozen hard-boiled eggs.
Cosmic Chemistry: Planetary Diversity
Grade Level: 5-8, 9-12
Body: Our Solar System
Mission: Genesis (Our Solar System)
Short Description: The goal of this module is to acquaint students with the planets of the solar system and some current models for their origin and evolution. Students will make decisions concerning possible patterns or groupings of the physical and chemical compositions of internal structures and atmospheres of planets. Through classroom activities, they will be encouraged to examine some contemporary models proposed to explain the origin and evolution of the planets.
Discoveries in Planetary Science Slide Sets
Grade Level: 9-12
Body: Our Solar System
Short Description: These slide presentations for use in undergraduate classes cover new discoveries in planetary science. (Available in Spanish and English.)
Dunking the Planets
Topic: Modeling Solar System Objects
Grade Level: K-4
Body: Our Solar System
Short Description: In this 30-minute demonstration, children ages 9-13 compare the relative sizes and masses of scale models of the planets as represented by fruits and other foods. The children dunk the "planets" in water to highlight the fact that even a large, massive planet -- such as Saturn -- can have low density. They discuss how a planet's density is related to whether it is mainly made up of rock or gas.
Dwarf Planets as a New Way of Thinking About an Old Solar System
Grade Level: 5-8
Body: Our Solar System, Asteroids, Kuiper Belt & Oort Cloud
Mission: Dawn (Dwarf Planets)
Short Description: This middle school activity utilizes a researched-based instructional strategy called direct vocabulary instruction to help students understand the new definitions of planet and dwarf planet.
Evaporation Investigation
Grade Level: K-4
Body: Our Solar System
Short Description: Students observe and understand the process of evaporation.
Exploring Ice in the Solar System (Main Portal)
Grade Level: 5-8
Body: Our Solar System
Mission: MESSENGER (Mercury)
Short Description: The Exploring Ice in the Solar System education unit examines the importance of water in the form of ice in the solar system. From hands-on experiences with ice, the unit moves on to investigating ice in everyday life, in polar regions on Earth and throughout the solar system.
Getting a Feel for Gravity
Grade Level: 5-8
Body: Our Solar System
Short Description: In this kinesthetic activity, students use their own bodies to create a model of the solar system and the forces the sun and planets exert on each other and on passing objects such as spacecraft.
Gravitation 3.8
Grade Level: 9-12
Body: Our Solar System
Short Description: An interactive gravity modeler that can simulate a solar system, and allows you to drag the planets into new parameters; this can be used to observe gravitational interaction.
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.
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.
Ice in the Solar System
Grade Level: K-4, 5-8
Body: Our Solar System
Short Description: Children ages 8 to 13 examine different types of ices, discover where these different ices occur in the solar system, how scientists determine what ice is where, meet some of the scientists who are exploring these ice worlds, and explore why their work is so important!
Impact Craters: Holes in the Ground
Topic: Planetary Surface Processes
Grade Level: 5-8, 9-12
Body: Our Solar System
Mission: Dawn (Dwarf Planets)
Short Description: Participants model and examine the impact cratering process.
Investigating the Insides
Grade Level: K-4, 5-8
Body: Our Solar System
Short Description: In this 30-minute activity, teams of children, ages 9 to13, investigate the composition of unseen materials, using a variety of tools. This open-ended engagement activity mimics how scientists discover clues about the interiors of planets with cameras and other instruments onboard spacecraft.
Jump to Jupiter
Grade Level: 5-8
Body: Our Solar System
Short Description: Children help create and then navigate an outdoor course of the traditional "planets" (including dwarf planet Pluto), which are represented by small common objects. By counting the jumps needed to reach each object, children experience first-hand the vast scale of our solar system.
Measuring Solar Activity
Topic: Light and Spectra
Grade Level: 9-12
Body: Our Solar System, Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Asteroids, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Comets, Kuiper Belt & Oort Cloud
Short Description: Measuring Solar Activity is a multi-part exercise in math and physics for high school students and above. Students will learn graphing, pattern recognition by looking at satellite images and 250 years worth of data, making predictions, and recognizing spacial relationships.
Microgravity in the Classroom
Grade Level: 5-8
Body: Our Solar System
Short Description: This activity consists of three demonstrations that create microgravity conditions by freefall.
New Horizons: Orbit and Spin
Grade Level: K-4
Body: Our Solar System
Mission: New Horizons (Dwarf Planets)
Short Description: In this kinesthetic activity, students explore the size, distance, orbit, and spin of the sun, Moon and Earth.
Planetary Geology #4 Impact Cratering
Grade Level: 5-8, 9-12
Body: Our Solar System
Short Description: Students will learn about the mechanics of impact cratering and the concept of kinetic energy; and they will learn to recognize the landforms associated with impact cratering.
Reading, Writing and Rings (Main Portal)
Grade Level: K-4
Body: Our Solar System, Saturn
Mission: Cassini (Saturn)
Short Description: These activities blend the excitement of space exploration with reading and writing. Activities are available for Grades 1-2 and Grades 3-4.
Remote Sensing -- What Can We See When We Can't Touch?
Grade Level: 5-8
Body: Our Solar System
Short Description: In this lesson, students discover how remote sensing is used to identify the signatures of life even when the particular life form is not directly observable.
Schoolyard Solar System
Grade Level: 5-8, 9-12
Body: Our Solar System
Short Description: The vastness of the solar system offers a unique lesson in large numbers and in scale. "The Schoolyard Solar System" was developed to demonstrate the solar system to scale; to show the relationship between units of thousands, millions and billions; and to accomplish these goals with student involvement that will re-enforce the lessons.
Solar System Exploration Mission Timeline Activity
Topic: Modeling Solar System Objects
Grade Level: 5-8
Body: Our Solar System, Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Asteroids, Meteors & Meteorites, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Dwarf Planets, Comets, Kuiper Belt & Oort Cloud, Earth's Moon, Europa
Mission: ARTEMIS (Earth's Moon), Cassini (Saturn), Dawn (Dwarf Planets), DSN (Our Solar System), GRAIL (Earth's Moon), Hubble (Beyond Our Solar System), Huygens (Saturn), IBEX (Our Solar System), InSight (Mars), Juno (Jupiter), Lunar Recon Orbiter (Earth's Moon), MESSENGER (Mercury), NEAR Shoemaker (Asteroids), New Horizons (Dwarf Planets), Phoenix (Mars), Stardust (Comets), Venus Express (Venus), Viking 01 (Mars), Viking 02 (Mars), Voyager 1 (Our Solar System), Voyager 2 (Our Solar System)
Short Description: Extreme Exploration -- Solar System Exploration Missions Timeline involves students in the wide range of mission events of 2008-2015+. Using the Solar System Exploration Timeline poster as a guide, student teams research assigned missions and record events such as launch and landing, etc. It is expected that students will be drawn into the excitement of mission events as they follow along with NASA's Solar System Exploration -- past, current, and future.
Solar System in My Neighborhood
Grade Level: 5-8
Body: Our Solar System
Short Description: In this 1-hour activity, students shrink the scale of the vast solar system to the size of their neighborhood. They are challenged to consider not only the traditional "planets," but also some of the smaller objects orbiting the sun. Children compare the relative sizes of scale models of the planets, two dwarf planets, and a comet as represented by fruits and other foods. They determine the spacing between the scaled planets on a map of the neighborhood and relate those distances to familiar landmarks. This indoor activity may be used in addition to, or in place of, the outdoor scale model explored in "Jump to Jupiter."
Solar System Math (Main Portal)
Topic: Math
Grade Level: 5-8
Body: Our Solar System
Short Description: "Solar System Math" is a series of four classroom lessons centered on pre-algebra topics such as measurement, unit conversion, ratio and proportion, scale, data analysis, and data representation. The downloadable software application, "What's the Difference," supports the lessons with engaging multimedia that accurately illustrates the size, distance and composition of the bodies in our solar system.
Solar System Math -- Lesson 1: Comparing Size and Distance (2-minute Movie: Hike The Solar System)
Topic: Math
Grade Level: 5-8
Body: Our Solar System
Short Description: "Solar System Math" is a series of four classroom lessons centered on pre-algebra topics such as measurement, unit conversion, ratio and proportion, scale, data analysis, and data representation. The downloadable software application, "What's the Difference," supports the lessons with engaging multimedia that accurately illustrates the size, distance and composition of the bodies in our solar system.
Solar System Math -- Lesson 1: Comparing Size and Distance (Student Workbook)
Topic: Math
Grade Level: 5-8
Body: Our Solar System
Short Description: "Solar System Math" is a series of four classroom lessons centered on pre-algebra topics such as measurement, unit conversion, ratio and proportion, scale, data analysis, and data representation. The downloadable software application, "What's the Difference," supports the lessons with engaging multimedia that accurately illustrates the size, distance and composition of the bodies in our solar system.
Solar System Math -- Lesson 1: Comparing Size and Distance (Teacher Guide)
Topic: Math
Grade Level: 5-8
Body: Our Solar System
Short Description: "Solar System Math" is a series of four classroom lessons centered on pre-algebra topics such as measurement, unit conversion, ratio and proportion, scale, data analysis, and data representation. The downloadable software application, "What's the Difference," supports the lessons with engaging multimedia that accurately illustrates the size, distance and composition of the bodies in our solar system.
Solar System Math -- Lesson 1: Comparing Size and Distance (Workbook Answer Guide)
Topic: Math
Grade Level: 5-8
Body: Our Solar System
Short Description: "Solar System Math" is a series of four classroom lessons centered on pre-algebra topics such as measurement, unit conversion, ratio and proportion, scale, data analysis, and data representation. The downloadable software application, "What's the Difference," supports the lessons with engaging multimedia that accurately illustrates the size, distance and composition of the bodies in our solar system.
Solar System Math -- Lesson 2: Comparing Mass, Gravity, Composition and Density (Student Workbook)
Topic: Math
Grade Level: 5-8
Body: Our Solar System
Short Description: "Solar System Math" is a series of four classroom lessons centered on pre-algebra topics such as measurement, unit conversion, ratio and proportion, scale, data analysis, and data representation. The downloadable software application, "What's the Difference," supports the lessons with engaging multimedia that accurately illustrates the size, distance and composition of the bodies in our solar system.
Solar System Math -- Lesson 2: Comparing Mass, Gravity, Composition and Density (Teacher Guide)
Topic: Math
Grade Level: 5-8
Body: Our Solar System
Short Description: "Solar System Math" is a series of four classroom lessons centered on pre-algebra topics such as measurement, unit conversion, ratio and proportion, scale, data analysis, and data representation. The downloadable software application, "What's the Difference," supports the lessons with engaging multimedia that accurately illustrates the size, distance and composition of the bodies in our solar system.
Solar System Math -- Lesson 2: Comparing Mass, Gravity, Composition and Density (Workbook Answer Guide)
Topic: Math
Grade Level: 5-8
Body: Our Solar System
Short Description: "Solar System Math" is a series of four classroom lessons centered on pre-algebra topics such as measurement, unit conversion, ratio and proportion, scale, data analysis, and data representation. The downloadable software application, "What's the Difference," supports the lessons with engaging multimedia that accurately illustrates the size, distance and composition of the bodies in our solar system.
Solar System Math -- Lesson 3: Comparing Planetary Travel Distances (Student Workbook)
Topic: Math
Grade Level: 5-8
Body: Our Solar System
Short Description: "Solar System Math" is a series of four classroom lessons centered on pre-algebra topics such as measurement, unit conversion, ratio and proportion, scale, data analysis, and data representation. The downloadable software application, "What's the Difference," supports the lessons with engaging multimedia that accurately illustrates the size, distance and composition of the bodies in our solar system.
Solar System Math -- Lesson 3: Comparing Planetary Travel Distances (Teacher Guide)
Topic: Math
Grade Level: 5-8
Body: Our Solar System
Short Description: "Solar System Math" is a series of four classroom lessons centered on pre-algebra topics such as measurement, unit conversion, ratio and proportion, scale, data analysis, and data representation. The downloadable software application, "What's the Difference," supports the lessons with engaging multimedia that accurately illustrates the size, distance and composition of the bodies in our solar system.
Solar System Math -- Lesson 3: Comparing Planetary Travel Distances (Workbook Answer Guide)
Topic: Math
Grade Level: 5-8
Body: Our Solar System
Short Description: "Solar System Math" is a series of four classroom lessons centered on pre-algebra topics such as measurement, unit conversion, ratio and proportion, scale, data analysis, and data representation. The downloadable software application, "What's the Difference," supports the lessons with engaging multimedia that accurately illustrates the size, distance and composition of the bodies in our solar system.
Solar System Math -- Lesson 4: Analyzing Payload Size and Cost (Student Workbook)
Topic: Math
Grade Level: 5-8
Body: Our Solar System
Short Description: "Solar System Math" is a series of four classroom lessons centered on pre-algebra topics such as measurement, unit conversion, ratio and proportion, scale, data analysis, and data representation. The downloadable software application, "What's the Difference," supports the lessons with engaging multimedia that accurately illustrates the size, distance and composition of the bodies in our solar system.
Solar System Math -- Lesson 4: Analyzing Payload Size and Cost (Teacher Guide)
Topic: Math
Grade Level: 5-8
Body: Our Solar System
Short Description: "Solar System Math" is a series of four classroom lessons centered on pre-algebra topics such as measurement, unit conversion, ratio and proportion, scale, data analysis, and data representation. The downloadable software application, "What's the Difference," supports the lessons with engaging multimedia that accurately illustrates the size, distance and composition of the bodies in our solar system.
Solar System Math -- Lesson 4: Analyzing Payload Size and Cost (Workbook Answer Guide)
Topic: Math
Grade Level: 5-8
Body: Our Solar System
Short Description: "Solar System Math" is a series of four classroom lessons centered on pre-algebra topics such as measurement, unit conversion, ratio and proportion, scale, data analysis, and data representation. The downloadable software application, "What's the Difference," supports the lessons with engaging multimedia that accurately illustrates the size, distance and composition of the bodies in our solar system.
Solar System Math Resources (Educator Guide)
Topic: Math
Grade Level: 5-8
Body: Our Solar System
Short Description: "Solar System Math" is a series of four classroom lessons centered on pre-algebra topics such as measurement, unit conversion, ratio and proportion, scale, data analysis, and data representation. The downloadable software application, "What's the Difference," supports the lessons with engaging multimedia that accurately illustrates the size, distance and composition of the bodies in our solar system.
Solar System Math Resources (Unit Overview, jpg)
Topic: Math
Grade Level: 5-8
Body: Our Solar System
Short Description: "Solar System Math" is a series of four classroom lessons centered on pre-algebra topics such as measurement, unit conversion, ratio and proportion, scale, data analysis, and data representation. The downloadable software application, "What's the Difference," supports the lessons with engaging multimedia that accurately illustrates the size, distance and composition of the bodies in our solar system.
Solar System Scale & Size
Topic: Modeling Solar System Objects
Grade Level: K-4, 5-8
Body: Our Solar System, Mars
Short Description: Students will create a model of the solar system using beads and string, and compare planetary sizes using common types of fruit and seeds.
The Orbit Simulator
Grade Level: 5-8
Body: Our Solar System
Short Description: This simulator lets students explore many aspects of the orbits of planets -- and one comet. This could be a great teaching tool.
The Pull of the Planets
Grade Level: 5-8
Body: Our Solar System
Short Description: Students model the gravitational fields of planets on a flexible surface. Children place and move balls of different sizes and densities on a plastic sheet to develop a mental picture of how the mass of an object influences how much effect it has on the surrounding space.
The REAL Curriculum
Grade Level: 5-8
Body: Our Solar System
Short Description: The Realistic Explorations in Astronomical Learning (REAL) curriculum scaffolds several lessons on the Moon and the other objects in the solar system to build an understanding of cratering and how it is used to measure relative ages.
The Science Detectives
Grade Level: K-4
Body: Our Solar System
Short Description: Students trace the travels of Amelia Spacehart, an astronaut and radio astronomer who is searching the solar system for the source of a mysterious radio signal. Is the signal coming from an extraterrestrial intelligence? From her interplanetary NASA spacecraft, Amelia provides clues that lead students to explore features of the solar system, states of matter, lenses and magnification, and large scale measurements.
To watch the associated video, click here
The SETI Academy Planet Project: Volume 2 -- How Might Life Evolve on Other Worlds? (Standards)
Grade Level: 5-8
Body: Our Solar System
Short Description: In this soon-to-be three-volume set, fifth and sixth grade students are invited to become members of the "SETI Academy." As academy members, they explore Earth's history for clues to the possible existence of life beyond our solar system. Designed for science classes, these volumes can be used individually or in series to create a comprehensive, thematic, scientific exploration for students.
Volume 2: Through a variety of science activities, students explore the evolution of life on Earth and search for clues to the possible evolution of life on an unknown planet beyond our solar system. Synthesizing what they learn, they then learn to create life forms that could exist on that distant planet.
The Thousand Yard Model
Grade Level: 9-12
Body: Our Solar System
Short Description: This is a classic exercise for visualizing just how BIG our solar system really is. Both the relative size and spacing of the planets are demonstrated in this outdoor exercise, using a mere peppercorn to represent the size of the Earth.
The Water Cycle -- Now You See It, Now You Don't
Grade Level: K-4
Body: Our Solar System
Short Description: Elementary students learn about the relationship between temperature and condensation.
Through the Eyes of Scientists, Grades 4-6: Volcanoes - Theyr'e Everywhere!
Topic: Landforms
Grade Level: 5-8
Body: Our Solar System, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter
Mission: Cassini (Saturn), Galileo (Jupiter)
Short Description: Learn about volcanoes on Earth and in the solar system through the eyes of Scientist Dr. Rosaly Lopes.This lesson is part of the Through the Eyes of Scientists formal education product, and includes materials for students in grades 4-6.
Through the Eyes of Scientists: Around and Around - Everything is Moving
Grade Level: K-4
Body: Our Solar System, Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Asteroids, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Comets, Kuiper Belt & Oort Cloud, Earth's Moon
Mission: Voyager 1 (Our Solar System), Voyager 2 (Our Solar System)
Short Description: Learning about the ever-moving objects in our solar system through the eyes of Scientist-Adventurer, Dr. Edward Stone. This lesson is part of the Through the Eyes of Scientists formal education product.
Through the Eyes of Scientists: Landforms and Canyons
Topic: Landforms
Grade Level: K-4, 5-8
Body: Our Solar System, Earth, Mars
Mission: Spirit/Opportunity (Mars), Curiosity / MSL (Mars)
Short Description: Use images like a scientist to investigate one of Earth's seven natural wonders, the spectacular Grand Canyon in Arizona, and the grandest canyon of all, Valles Marineris, on Mars. Students will meet an inspirational NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory geologist, Dr. Robert Anderson.
This lesson is part of the Through the Eyes of Scientists formal education product and is geared toward students in grades 4-6..
Through the Eyes of Scientists: Moons - Many, Many Moons!
Grade Level: K-4
Body: Our Solar System, Earth, Mars, Asteroids, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Kuiper Belt & Oort Cloud, Earth's Moon
Mission: Cassini (Saturn), Galileo (Jupiter), GRAIL (Earth's Moon), Lunar Recon Orbiter (Earth's Moon)
Short Description: Learning about moons of the solar system through the eyes of Scientist-Moon Master, Dr. Bonnie Buratti.This lesson is part of the Through the Eyes of Scientists formal education product.
Through the Eyes of Scientists: Space Can Be a Chilly Place - Ice Is Nice!
Grade Level: K-4
Body: Our Solar System, Mercury, Earth, Mars, Asteroids, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Comets, Kuiper Belt & Oort Cloud, Earth's Moon
Mission: Cassini (Saturn)
Short Description: Learning about ice in the solar system through the eyes of Scientist-Arctic Space Explorer, Mr. Ben Holt. This lesson is part of the Through the Eyes of Scientists formal education product.
Through the Eyes of Scientists: What is a Planet?
Grade Level: K-4
Body: Our Solar System, Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Asteroids, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Comets, Kuiper Belt & Oort Cloud, Earth's Moon
Short Description: Learning about the Sun and the planets as a "treasure map" through the eyes of Scientist-Treasure Hunter, Dr. Phil Chamberlin.
Unlocking the Mysteries: Science on the Edge of Our Solar System
Grade Level: 5-8
Body: Our Solar System
Short Description: This is an engineering connection. It features the award-winning 23-minute Discovery Program overview video, which takes students along on the explorations being conducted by NASA's Discovery missions. It then allows students to become the scientists and engineers and design their own mission to investigate the cosmic unknowns.
Voyage: A Journey Through Our Solar System -- Lesson 5: Round and Round We Go -- Exploring Orbits in the Solar System
Topic: Modeling Solar System Objects
Grade Level: 5-8
Body: Our Solar System
Short Description: To appreciate the complexity of the solar system requires an understanding that it is a dynamic system -- a system in motion. Objects bound to the sun by gravity -- planets, dwarf planets, comets, asteroids, and trans-neptunian (or Kuiper Belt Objects) -- follow elliptical orbits around the sun. Students first explore the geometric nature of ellipses, and the circle as a special case. These newly developed mathematical skills are then used to plot an accurate model of the outer solar system, which contains the size, eccentricity and orientation in space of the orbits for different classes of objects. Students are then able to understand how orbits can be used to help categorize objects in the solar system.
Voyage: A Journey Through Our Solar System -- Lesson 6: Where to Look For Life?
Grade Level: 5-8
Body: Our Solar System, Sun, Earth
Short Description: It is the most exciting question one can ask of the solar system: is life unique to Earth, or are there abodes of life on other planets -- even moons? A starting point is concluding that life as we know it requires liquid water. Given this constraint, in the first activity students explore a mathematical model for how temperature varies with distance from the sun. It allows them to find the "happy place" for possible life -- the range in distance from the sun within which a planet might contain liquid water. At first glance, it appears only Earth exists within this range. Students then plot the actual observed temperatures for planets and moons, which demonstrates that more than just distance from the sun accounts for planetary temperature, leading to potentially many abodes of life in the solar system. In the second activity students research the broader requirements for an abode of life, and whether these requirements are found on other worlds.
What Are We Made Of? The Sun, the Earth and You (Student Activity Sheet)
Grade Level: 5-8
Body: Our Solar System
Mission: Genesis (Our Solar System)
Short Description: Students learn that elements are the basic building blocks of all things found on Earth and in space including water, the human body, the Earth, the sun, and the planets. By counting elements extracted from a simulated sample, students explore how the extraction of atoms from the Genesis samples help scientists have a better understanding of the abundances of elements from the solar wind. This hands-on experience helps students discover that the elemental abundances from the sun can be used as a baseline to compare with the diverse bodies of our solar system. For the teacher's guide click here.
What is a Planet?
Grade Level: 9-12
Body: Our Solar System, Asteroids, Comets, Kuiper Belt & Oort Cloud
Mission: New Horizons (Dwarf Planets)
Short Description: Students learn about the characteristics of planets, comets, asteroids, and trans-Neptunian objects through a classification activity. Students can then apply what they have learned by participating in a formal debate about a solar system object discovered by the New Horizons spacecraft and by defining the term "planet."
What Makes Day and Night? The Earth's Rotation
Topic: Modeling Solar System Objects
Grade Level: K-4
Body: Our Solar System
Short Description: In this demonstration of day and night, students learn kinesthetically as they take on the role of the Earth orbiting the rotating sun.
What's the Difference?
Grade Level: 9-12
Body: Our Solar System
Short Description: This is a free multimedia software application that facilitates scientific analysis by allowing virtually any pictures, graphics, animations, and movies to be compared side by side. The solar system dataset contains comparisons of the planets and major moons within our solar system. Users can upload graphical, animated, interactive, textual, and audio-formatted content into the categories and attributes grid and then supplement their data with customized multiple choice and summary assessment tests.
Who Can Live Here: Life in Extreme Environments
Topic: Life
Grade Level: 5-8, 9-12
Body: Our Solar System, Earth
Short Description: Students explore the limits of life on Earth to extend their beliefs about life to include its possibility on other worlds.
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