Lessons

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  Cooler in the Shadows

  K-2  |  Hands-On
  In this lesson, students will make inferences about the cause of shadows by observing and making their own shadows in the sun.
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  Lunar Cycle

  K-2  |  Interactive
  This lesson offers activity ideas and discussion questions to facilitate students' learning about the phases of the Moon.
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  Sky 1: Objects in the Sky

  K-2  |  Hands-On
  In this lesson, students will investigate objects in the daytime and nighttime sky
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  Sky 4: The Moon

  K-2  |  Hands-On
  Students draw the moon's shape for each evening on a calendar and then determine the pattern in the shapes over several weeks.
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  Star Search

  K-2  |  Hands-On
  In this lesson students observe starts in the night sky and record their observations.
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  Gravity Launch

  3-5  |  Interactive
  In this lesson, students will explore how the earth’s and moon’s gravity affects the path of a rocket launched into space.
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  Sensing Energy

  3-5  
  In this lesson, students will perform simple experiments that will help them to explore unseen energy produced by the sun.
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  Exploring the Solar System

  6-8  
  This lesson introduces students to earth's moon and the eight other planets in our solar system.
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  Looking into Space

  6-8  
  In this lesson, students will learn how telescopes work, will build a model of their own, and will consider how real telescopes can be used to ask—and help answer—questions about the universe.
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  Make a Mission

  6-8  |  Interactive
  The focus of the lesson is technology, not only how it allows humans to collect scientific data and information on a faraway terrestrial planet, but also the constraints involved in designing the spacecraft to carry this technology.
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  Mercury

  6-8  
  In this lesson, students will have the chance to view the solar system and identify the sun and planets that compose it.
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  My Angle on Cooling: Effects of Distance and Inclination

  6-8  |  Hands-On
  In this lesson, students discuss what heat is and how it travels.
• 

  Satellite Orbits

  6-8  
  In this lesson, students refine and expand their understandings of gravity, forces, and motion in the context of satellite orbits.
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  Sensing the Invisible: The Herschel Experiment

  6-8  |  Hands-On
  In this lesson, students find out that there is radiation other than visible light being emitted from the sun.
• 

  Snow Goggles

  6-8  |  Hands-On
  This lesson illustrates how the use of scientific inquiry can solve different kinds of problems, like blocking unwanted sunlight.
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  The Sun

  6-8  |  Hands-On
  This lesson introduces students to our local star, the sun, especially its structure and its features such as sun spots, magnetic fields, and solar flares.
• 

  Team Moon

  6-8  
  In this lesson, students will first read Team Moon and then divide into teams to further investigate one of the challenges of the Apollo 11 mission.
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  Behind the Mission to Mercury

  9-12  |  Interactive
  In this lesson, students explore the technological design challenges and constraints behind a space mission.
• 

  Black Holes

  9-12  |  Website
  To introduce black holes and demonstrate how space telescopes can provide data to support current hypotheses.
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  Dangers of Radiation Exposure

  9-12  
  In this lesson, students learn about sources of high-energy radiation and calculate student exposure to ionizing radiation over the past year.
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  How Old Are the Stars?

  9-12  |  Hands-On
  In this lesson, students examine the Jewelbox cluster, located within the southern constellation Crux, and determine its age using a relationship between temperature, color, and luminosity.
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  Rocket Launch

  9-12  |  Hands-On
  In this lesson, students will explore design considerations of model rockets.
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  Star Power! Discovering the Power of Sunlight

  9-12  |  Hands-On
  In this lesson, students will discover that sunlight and the electromagnetic spectrum are the main tools with which we study objects in the solar system.
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  Sunspots 1: A Look at Sunspots

  9-12  
  In this lesson, students will learn how the development of new technology has increased our knowledge of how the sun works.
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  Sunspots 2: Correlating Sunspots to Active Regions

  9-12  
  Students will learn how the development of new technology has increased our knowledge of how the sun works.

Science Updates

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  Astronaut Health Risks

  6-12  |  Audio
  Astronauts on long-term space missions may face health risks that their predecessors didn't have to worry about. These Science Update reports describe two of them.
• 

  Dinosaur-Killing Asteroid

  6-12  |  Audio
  Scientists have identified the event that probably created the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs. This Science Update takes a closer look at the research.
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  Faces in Space

  6-12  |  Audio
  In this Science Update, you'll hear about a proposed system to spot signs of burnout on marathon space flights.
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  Gas Giant Origins

  6-12  |  Audio
  This Science Update discusses how planets called gas giants form.
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  Mars 500 Mission

  6-12  |  Audio
  A crew of six volunteers has embarked on a simulated, 520-day Mars mission.
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  Mars Hotel

  6-12  |  Audio
  Hear about research to try to make long distance space travel more comfortable for astronauts.
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  Rail Space Launcher

  6-12  |  Audio
  In this Science Update, find out why giving spacecraft a running start on a long rail may significantly reduce launch costs.
• 

  SETI at Home Upgrade

  6-12  |  Audio
  SETI, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, is looking for more recruits to hunt for aliens with their home computers.
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  Solar Power from Moon

  6-12  |  Audio
  Solar power is clean, abundant, and becoming cheaper and more efficient all the time. Unfortunately, however, the sun isn't always there when you need it—like when it's cloudy, or it's raining, or it's nighttime. In this Science Update, you'll hear about an ambitious plan to get around that problem.
• 

  Tilted Earth

  6-12  |  Audio
  In this Science Update, learn how the earth got tilted on its axis.

Tools

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  Lunar Cycle 1: Calendar

  K-5  |  Interactive
  This tool includes printable calendars where you can record your observations of the moon. In addition, it provides illustrations of the phases of the moon (a full lunar cycle) that can be printed and cut out for a hands-on activity where you can place the phases of the moon in the correct order on a calendar.
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  Lunar Cycle 2: The Challenge

  K-5  |  Interactive
  This activity allows you to "drag" pictures of different phases of the moon to their correct places in lunar cycles.
• 

  Gravity Launch

  3-12  |  Interactive
  Gravity Launch is an interactive activity that allows you to virtually launch a rocket into space to see how the force of gravity can pull an object toward the earth and moon.
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  Sizing Up the Universe

  6-8  |  Video
  This interactive from the Smithsonian Institution helps you visualize the scale and distances between objects in our solar system.
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  Day on Mercury

  6-12  |  Interactive
  A Day on Mercury allows the user to experience a typical Mercurian day, which is actually 176 Earth days.
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  Fact Challenge

  6-12  |  Interactive
  This interactive activity challenges you with questions about Mercury.
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  GeoHunter

  6-8  |  Interactive
  This interactive provides you with data about the geological structure of the planet Mercury.
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  Make a Mission

  6-12  |  Interactive
  In this interactive, you should build a spacecraft in order to explore the planet Mercury—just as the NASA team did when they planned and built the real MESSENGER spacecraft!
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  Orbit & Rotation

  6-12  |  Interactive
  This resource is an animation showing the orbit and rotation of Mercury around the sun.
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  Places in the Sun

  6-12  |  Interactive
  This animation allows you to see a side-by-side comparison of the sun on Earth and Mercury.
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  Planet Size Comparison

  6-12  |  Interactive
  In this animation, you can find out how the dimensions for each planet as well as how they compare in size.
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  Phoenix Mars Lander: Entry Descent and Landing

  6-12  |  Video
  This short film discusses the design challenges faced by the quest to land the Phoenix Mars Lander near the north pole of Mars in May 2008.
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  Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum

  3-12  |  Website
  The Adler Planetarium is the oldest planetarium in the country, created in 1930.
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  Amazing Space

  K-12  |  Website
  Amazing Space uses the Hubble Space Telescope’s discoveries to encourage you to learn about the universe.