Earth Activities
The lessons below are teacher-favorite lessons focused on Earth. For more search options or to search by other science target, missions and other criteria, visit our Fast Lesson Finder. You can also search by curriculum standards on our popular Curriculum Standards Quilts.
Earth Lessons:
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.
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.
Inside Mars -- Puzzling Patterns -- Where Does Volcanism Occur?
Topic: Comparing Solar System Objects
Grade Level: K-4, 5-8
Body: Earth, Mars
Short Description: Students compare volcano maps of Earth and Mars and identify patterns, similarities and differences.
Investigating the Dynamic Martian Polar Caps
Grade Level: 5-8
Body: Earth, Mars
Short Description: Students use internet resources and image processing to measure and compare the Martian and terrestrial polar caps at different seasons, and analyze their results.
It's Just a Phase: Water as a Solid, Liquid, and Gas
Topic: Modeling Solar System Objects
Grade Level: 5-8
Body: Earth
Short Description: Students construct models of the way water molecules arrange themselves in the three physical states.
Magnetic Globe
Topic: Magnetism
Grade Level: 5-8
Body: Earth
Short Description: Students use a magnet inside a small globe and clamped staples to model the magnetic field lines of the Earth.
Magnetic Math
Topic: Magnetism
Grade Level: K-4, 5-8, 9-12
Body: Earth
Mission: Earth Science (Earth)
Short Description: This book contains hands-on exercises and math problems which allow students to explore magnetism and magnetic fields. The activities include drawing and geometric construction, and introduce students in the use of simple algebra to quantitatively examine magnetic forces, energy and magnetic field lines and their mathematical structure.
Magnetic Sensor Measurements with a Graphing Calculator
Topic: Magnetism
Grade Level: 9-12
Body: Earth
Mission: Earth Science (Earth)
Short Description: This activity uses magnetic field sensors with the "Texas Instrument" Graphing Calculator and CBL to measure and plot magnetic fields. This allows the student to prove that magnetic fields decrease as the negative cube of the distance.
Magnetism and Electromagnetism (Background Material)
Topic: Magnetism
Grade Level: 9-12
Body: Earth
Mission: Earth Science (Earth)
Short Description: This teacher's guide is designed to support a multi-year investigation of Earth's magnetic field using the magnetometer network and resources of NASA's THEMIS (Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms) satellite mission education program. The education program's web site can be found at http://ds9.ssl.berkeley.edu/themis/. One particular THEMIS education program, the Geomagnetic Event Observation Network by Students (GEONS), aims to bring magnetometer data to high school classrooms. These guides support that effort.
Magnetism and Electromagnetism (Main Portal)
Topic: Magnetism
Grade Level: 9-12
Body: Earth
Mission: Earth Science (Earth)
Short Description: In this review of basic magnetism, students map field lines around bar magnets to visualize the magnetic dipole field, and create their own electromagnet using copper wire, a battery and a pencil to learn that electric currents create magnetic fields.
