This lesson is an introduction to the scientific method of observation, hypothesis formation and experimentation.

This handout is designed to enhance a visit to the museum's Hall of the Universe and Space Show. The printable two-page handout includes information about water, energy, elements, and the other factors whose favorable balance allows life to exist on Earth, an overview, with illustrations, of how our solar system was formed and questions for students to answer based on the information in this handout and the exhibits at the museum.

This lesson uses NASA satellite data to correlate cloud cover over Africa to the solar declination. The student will access NASA data using the MY NASA DATA Live Access Server and import the data into Excel spreadsheet software. Students will use NASA satellite data to correlate cloud cover over Africa to the solar declination.

In this classroom activity, students create models of the spinning Earth and see how the planet's revolution around the Sun creates differing daily and seasonal patterns of dark and light. The printable five-page handout includes a series of inquiry-based questions to get students thinking about daily and seasonal light cycles, detailed experiment directions and a worksheet that helps students use the experiment results to gain a deeper understanding of why Antarctica doesn't have daily nights and days.

This laboratory activity demonstrates how seismic waves are generated and helps students understand how they can reveal the composition of Earth's inner layers. Students will construct models by filling shoe boxes with various materials, drop rocks on them to generate 'seismic waves', record the waves, and make observations about their differences.

This resource explores the cultural context of scientific inquiry through an interdisciplinary lens. Undergraduate students are invited to follow two characters from William Shakespeare’s play King Lear who debate the cosmos with various scientists from the 17th – 20th centuries, including Galileo Galilei, Isaac Newton, and Marie Curie. The joined scientific / literary lens models how intellectual questions about knowledge and analysis often draw from interrelated traditions of thought and practice, and asks students to consider the nature of their own intellectual questions. The resource is broken into five brief modules and can be completed entirely in class, or in partial increments as take-home.

This resource lists short videos (less than 15 min) that could go with each chapter of the OpenStax Astronomy textbook. Some are one minute animations, others are elaborately produced documentary segments. A few are cartoons. All can be obtained from the web and links are given in the document.

In this decision-making exercise, students investigate what would occur if a dam were built along Nanticoke Creek, a real stream just north of West Corners near the Village of Endicott, New York. They will use topographic maps to determine how much area would be flooded by the new reservoir, to study river drainages, and to consider the impacts of dams on a region. They must also consider rivers in the context of their relation to humankind. The exercise can be extended to other, more local locations having similar topography.

In this adapted ZOOM video segment, cast members calculate how much water they each use during a typical shower. They compare their results to their original predictions.

In this activity, students investigate convection as it applies to Earth processes. They will assemble a model using a bread pan to view convection in two paired cells. They will also investigate the strengths and weaknesses of the model thay have constructed and answer some questions about what they are seeing.

The purpose of this resource is to investigate the center pixel of a homogeneous land Cover Site in order to understand that individual land areas are part of a larger land system.

The purpose of this resource is to investigate the idea that every dynamic system has energy and matter in different forms.

This video segment adapted from NOVA/FRONTLINE looks at American energy consumption and the resulting production of greenhouse gases.

The SDO curriculum teaches students through self-directed solar explorations and encourages them to be engaged learners in order to understand the science of our Sun and to apply the knowledge they gain to solve tomorrow’s solar situations.

What is a solar eclipse and why are they only visible in some parts of the world? In this video segment adapted from NASA, astronomer Susan Stolovy uses animations to provide an answer to these questions.

In this video segment adapted from ZOOM, cast members assemble a solar still and make fresh water from saltwater, demonstrating two steps of the water cycle, evaporation and condensation.

Solar scientists need you! Help them spot explosions on the Sun and track them across space to Earth. Your work will give astronauts an early warning if dangerous solar radiation is headed their way. And you could make a new scientific discovery.

This is an introduction to the study of the solar system with emphasis on the latest spacecraft results. The subject covers basic principles rather than detailed mathematical and physical models. Topics include: an overview of the solar system, planetary orbits, rings, planetary formation, meteorites, asteroids, comets, planetary surfaces and cratering, planetary interiors, planetary atmospheres, and life in the solar system.

The students will paint and arrange spheres to form a model of the solar system. They will first make models using the plastic spheres of different sizes. Then they will make similar models using clay, cotton, etc., and organize them in the right order from the Sun.

This OLogy activity gives kids a grounded way to understand the scale of the planets in our solar system. The activity begins with a brief overview that tells them why all planets are round and introduces them to the concept that the planets vary widely in size. Kids are then asked to create a model of the solar system using found objects that match the provided scale in inches for the planets. The activity ends with a series of challenges, which include arranging the planets according to size and distance from Earth.