Saturn Activities
The lessons below are teacher-favorite lessons focused on Saturn. 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.
Saturn Lessons:
A Grapefruit Saturn
Topic: Modeling Solar System Objects
Grade Level: 5-8
Body: Saturn
Mission: Voyager 1 (Our Solar System), Voyager 2 (Our Solar System)
Short Description: Students will construct a scale model of Saturn; use it to explain a Voyager image of Saturn's shadow on its rings; and, by trial and error, discover that light moves through space in straight lines.
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.
Antenna Activity
Topic: Communication
Body: Saturn
Short Description: Demonstrates how signals are focused.
Can Photosynthesis Occur at Saturn?
Topic: Light and Spectra
Grade Level: K-4
Body: Saturn
Mission: Cassini (Saturn)
Short Description: Participants learn the basic principle of photosynthesis and explore the intensity of sunlight on Saturn and its affect on photosynthesis.
Capturing a Whisper from Space
Topic: Communication
Grade Level: 5-8
Body: Saturn
Mission: DSN (Our Solar System)
Short Description: Participants learn how a worldwide system of antennas is used with NASA's interplanetary spacecraft. Participants construct a cardstock antenna to demonstrate how the radio waves would be used to communicate.
DPS Slide Set: A Sunlit Lake on Titan
Grade Level: 9-12
Body: Saturn
Mission: Cassini (Saturn)
Short Description: This four-slide Powerpoint by the Division of Planetary Science includes basic information for college-level introductory courses.
Edible Cassini Spacecraft
Grade Level: K-4
Body: Saturn
Short Description: Participants construct an edible spacecraft to better understand the nature of the design.
Gingerbread Spacecraft
Topic: Modeling Solar System Objects
Grade Level: K-4
Body: Saturn
Short Description: Participants understand the nature of spacecraft design by constructing their own model using edible materials.
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.
