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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  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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  GeoHunter

  6-8  
  In this lesson, students will explore the geological history of Mercury and the other terrestrial planets, Venus, Earth, and Mars.
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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.
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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.
• 

  Exploring the Solar System

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

  Behind the Mission to Mercury

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

  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.
• 

  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.

Tools

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  GeoHunter

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

  Advanced Fast Fact Challenge

  6-12  |  Interactive
  This resource tests your knowledge about the solar system in general and Mercury in particular.
• 

  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.
• 

  Fact Challenge

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

  Going Around the Sun

  6-12  |  Interactive
  Going Around the Sun presents a graphic representation of Mercury's orbit around the sun.
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  Gravity Assist Simulator

  6-12  |  Interactive
  The Gravity Assist Simulator takes you through a series of simulated collisions to show how the New Horizon and Messenger spacecraft will use planned collisions to extend their missions.
• 

  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!
• 

  Orbit & Rotation

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

  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.
• 

  Planet Mass Comparison

  6-12  |  Interactive
  This interactive helps visualize the differences between any two of these objects by putting them side by side on an old-fashioned balance scale.
• 

  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.

Science Updates

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  Mercury's Volcanoes

  6-12  |  Audio
  The planet Mercury seems placid compared to others in the solar system. But the MESSENGER spacecraft is revealing a more tumultuous past.