Alka-Seltzer Rockets
Topic: Modeling Solar System Objects
Grade Level: 5-8
Body: Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Asteroids, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Comets, Kuiper Belt & Oort Cloud, Earth's Moon
Short Description: Using baking soda and vinegar, propel an object across the floor to introduce the idea of how things move through space.
Analyzing Elemental Abundances
Grade Level: 9-12
Body: Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Asteroids, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Comets, Kuiper Belt & Oort Cloud
Mission: Genesis (Our Solar System)
Short Description: Participants will practice and understand the use of ratios in describing the abundances of isotopes.
Building Blocks of Planets (Accretion)
Topic: Modeling Solar System Objects
Grade Level: 5-8
Body: Sun
Short Description: In a demonstration, participants see an illustration of planetary accretion.
Cosmic Chemistry: An Elemental Question
Grade Level: 9-12
Body: Sun
Mission: Genesis (Our Solar System)
Short Description: Participants practice and understand the use of ratios in describing the abundances of isotopes.
Module Overview
Teacher Guide
Student Activity
Additional Resources are available on the Genesis Education website.
Counting Sunspots
Topic: Modeling Solar System Objects
Grade Level: K-4
Body: Sun
Short Description: Students discover the pattern created when plotting the number of sunspots over a long period of time.
Does the Moon Rotate?
Topic: Modeling Solar System Objects
Grade Level: 9-12
Body: Sun, Earth, Earth's Moon
Short Description: Students make a three-dimensional model of the Earth and Moon. Using the sun's light, they discover that the Moon does rotate in the same amount of time it takes to make one orbit.
Eclipsing the Sun
Topic: Modeling Solar System Objects
Body: Sun
Short Description: Use this physical model to demonstrate how an eclipse occurs.
Exploring Lunar Phases with a Daytime Moon
Topic: Modeling Solar System Objects
Grade Level: 5-8
Body: Sun, Earth's Moon
Short Description: This activity creates a model with the real Moon and sun in the sky to help participants discover the real reason for the lunar phases.
Finding the Distance to the Sun
Topic: Math
Grade Level: 9-12
Body: Sun
Short Description: The students will apply the concepts of vertical angles and ratios to calculate lengths and angles. Can they determine the distance to the sun?
Golfball Phases and Eclipses
Topic: Modeling Solar System Objects
Grade Level: 5-8
Body: Sun, Earth, Earth's Moon
Short Description: Students explore the dynamics of lunar phases to develop an understanding of the relative positions of our Moon, Earth and sun that cause the phases of the Moon as viewed from Earth. Using a golf ball glowing under the ultraviolet light of a "blacklight" makes it easier to see the actual phase of the Moon.
Making a Sun Clock
Topic: Light and Spectra
Grade Level: 5-8
Body: Sun
Short Description: Let the Exploratorium show you how to build a working "Sun Clock."
Mars Pathfinder: Egg Drop and Landing
Topic: Modeling Solar System Objects
Grade Level: 5-8
Body: Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Asteroids, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Comets, Kuiper Belt & Oort Cloud, Earth's Moon, Pluto
Mission: Mars Pathfinder (Mars)
Short Description: Design, build, and test a system for landing on the surface of Mars without breaking the cargo, an egg.
Matching Magnetic Activity and Active Regions
Grade Level: 5-8
Body: Sun
Mission: SOHO (Comets)
Short Description: Students observe images of the sun and match the magnetic images to the corresponding ultraviolet images.
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.
Measuring the Diameter of Our Star (Spreadsheet)
Grade Level: 5-8
Body: Sun
Short Description: Students measure and calculate the diameter of the sun with a meter stick and index cards.
Measuring the Diameter of Our Star (Student Brief)
Grade Level: 5-8
Body: Sun
Short Description: Students measure and calculate the diameter of the sun with a meter stick and index cards.
Modeling the Solar System
Topic: Modeling Solar System Objects
Grade Level: 5-8
Body: Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Asteroids, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Comets, Kuiper Belt & Oort Cloud, Earth's Moon
Short Description: This PDF contains four lessons:
1) Modeling Orbits in the Solar System. This lesson models the orbital distances between the planets and shows that the solar system is mostly empty space.
2) Modeling Sizes of Planets. This lesson compares the relative sizes of the planets to those of familiar fruits and vegetables. It also uses size to calculate density and planet composition.
3) Looking Inside Planets. This lesson involves modeling the interior structures of the planets and shows that the solid cores of the gas giants are similar in size to the Earth or Venus.
4) Search for A Habitable Planet. This lesson looks at the characteristics of planets that make them livable, their temperature, and compositions of atmosphere and surface instead of size
or orbit.
Models in Science
Topic: Solar System Formation
Body: Sun
Short Description: Gives history of solar system models.
Mud Splat Craters
Topic: Planetary Surface Processes
Grade Level: 5-8
Body: Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Asteroids, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Comets, Kuiper Belt & Oort Cloud, Earth's Moon, Pluto
Short Description: Observe crater formation in mud to introduce the idea of fluidized craters as seen on the surface of Mars.
Observing Where the Sun Sets
Grade Level: 5-8
Body: Sun
Short Description: This activity is for students to do at home. When they complete it, they will have created a horizon sun calendar much like ones that were used in many Native American tribes.
Paper Plate Education: Transit Frequency
Grade Level: 9-12
Body: Sun, Venus
Short Description: This activity, by Paper Plate Education, models why Venus' transits come in pairs that are eight years apart, followed alternately by spans of 121 ½ years and 105 ½ years.
Photons in the Radioactive Zone
Topic: Light and Spectra
Grade Level: 5-8
Body: Sun
Mission: Genesis (Our Solar System)
Short Description: Participants model how photons leave the Sun.
Teacher Guide
Student Activity
Student Text
Scale Model of Sun and Earth
Topic: Modeling Solar System Objects
Grade Level: K-4
Body: Sun, Earth
Short Description: This activity explores the relative size of the sun and Earth, as well as the distance between them.
Size and Shape Imaged
Topic: Life
Body: Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Asteroids, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Comets, Kuiper Belt & Oort Cloud, Earth's Moon
Short Description: This activity contains a series of images of very small things. Students will view the images, hear the information from a script, and make some observations and connections. They will see Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) images and Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM) images of small living organisms and rock surfaces. Then, using their new perspective, they will view unidentified samples and speculate about the surfaces and the origins of the features in the images. The goal is to get the students to think about looking at very small objects and to realize
that observations are a great way to start scientific research.
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.
Space Math: The Transit of Mercury
Topic: Math
Grade Level: 9-12
Body: Sun, Mercury
Mission: Heliophysics (Sun)
Short Description: As seen from Earth, the planet Mercury occasionally passes across the face of the sun; an event that astronomers call a transit. From images taken by the Hinode satellite, students will create a model of the solar disk to the same scale as the image, and calculate the distance to the sun.
The Invisible Fire
Topic: Light and Spectra
Body: Sun
Mission: Genesis (Our Solar System)
Short Description: Examine the properties involving extreme heat.
Student Activity
Student Text
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: 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.
Tracking Sunspots: Using Real Data from SOHO (English)
Grade Level: 9-12
Body: Sun
Mission: SOHO (Comets)
Short Description: Students observe sunspots and analyze their data to calculate the sun's rotation.
Tracking Sunspots: Using Real Data from SOHO (Spanish)
Grade Level: 9-12
Body: Sun
Mission: SOHO (Comets)
Short Description: Students observe sunspots and analyze their data to calculate the sun's rotation.
Transit Math
Topic: Math
Grade Level: 5-8, 9-12
Body: Sun, Mercury, Venus, Saturn, Kuiper Belt & Oort Cloud, Earth's Moon
Short Description: The introduction clearly explains the apparent "collisions," eclipses, transits, and occultations. The collection includes problems on synodic periods, planetary conjunctions, geometry, fractions, linear equations, and probability. The Table of Contents clearly separates middle school level problems from high school problems.
Transit of Venus Math
Grade Level: 5-8, 9-12
Body: Sun, Venus, Earth
Mission: Heliophysics (Sun), SOHO (Comets)
Short Description: This problem book covers 17 specific mathematics problems that are common to studying the transit of Venus more critically.
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 Makes Shadows? Observing and Drawing Shadows
Grade Level: K-4
Body: Sun
Short Description: Students learn about shadows as they observe and draw the shadow of a classmate.
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