This video segment adapted from Shedding Light on Science describes how astronomical …
This video segment adapted from Shedding Light on Science describes how astronomical distances can be measured in units of light-years, and how the finite speed of light allows astronomers to study how the universe looked long ago.
Students groups act as aerospace engineering teams competing to create linear equations …
Students groups act as aerospace engineering teams competing to create linear equations to guide space shuttles safely through obstacles generated by a modeling game in level-based rounds. Each round provides a different configuration of the obstacle, which consists of two "gates." The obstacles are presented as asteroids or comets, and the linear equations as inputs into autopilot on board the shuttle. The winning group is the one that first generates the successful equations for all levels. The game is created via the programming software MATLAB, available as a free 30-day trial. The activity helps students make the connection between graphs and the real world. In this activity, they can see the path of a space shuttle modeled by a linear equation, as if they were looking from above.
This part of the Student Observation Network allows you to make observations …
This part of the Student Observation Network allows you to make observations to answer the question, "Have auroras been seen within the last 24 hours due to a solar storm?"
The Student Observation Network provides guided inquiry. While participating in the Auroral Friends program your students may think of other questions that they wish to investigate. For instance, they may wish to know; "What causes the aurora?", "What affect does a solar storm have on aurora?", and "What conditions enhance auroras?". These open inquiries may reveal to them that coronal holes may energize auroras even when solar storms have not occurred.
Two children act as the Moon and the Earth. By holding hands …
Two children act as the Moon and the Earth. By holding hands and spinning around they mimic the tidal locking of the Moon. They note that the Moon always keeps the same face towards Earth.
Can you avoid the boulder field and land safely, just before your …
Can you avoid the boulder field and land safely, just before your fuel runs out, as Neil Armstrong did in 1969? Our version of this classic video game accurately simulates the real motion of the lunar lander with the correct mass, thrust, fuel consumption rate, and lunar gravity. The real lunar lander is very hard to control.
Can you avoid the boulder field and land safely, just before your …
Can you avoid the boulder field and land safely, just before your fuel runs out, as Neil Armstrong did in 1969? Our version of this classic video game accurately simulates the real motion of the lunar lander with the correct mass, thrust, fuel consumption rate, and lunar gravity. The real lunar lander is very hard to control.
Why does the Moon not always look the same to us? Sometimes …
Why does the Moon not always look the same to us? Sometimes it is a big, bright, circle, but, other times, it is only a tiny sliver, if we can see it at all. The different shapes and sizes of the slivers of the Moon are referred to as its phases, and they change periodically over the course of a lunar month, which is twenty-eight days long. The phases are caused by the relative positions of the Earth, Sun, and Moon at different times during the month.
Students work in teams of two to discover the relative positions of …
Students work in teams of two to discover the relative positions of the Earth, Sun and Moon that produce the different phases of the Moon. Groups are each given a Styrofoam ball that they attach to a pencil so that it looks like a lollipop. In this acting-out model exercise, this ball on a stick represents the Moon, the students represent the Earth and a hanging lightbulb serves as the Sun. Students move the "Moon" around them to discover the different phases. They fill in the position of the Moon and its corresponding phase in a worksheet.
This exercise was designed to address student misconceptions about why the Moon …
This exercise was designed to address student misconceptions about why the Moon exhibits phases. Using a sketchbook, digital camera, or flex cam, a student sits at the center of a darkened room illuminated by a single light source in a stationary position. Stools are set up surrounding the student in the center and other students take those positions, always keeping their faces toward the center. The center student sketches or take pictures of the faces at each of the positions. Substituting a sphere (such as a ball) for the students' faces provides an even more vivid illustration of the shadowing of the sphere and connects directly to the rationale for lunar phases.
Students learn about the unique challenges astronauts face while eating in outer …
Students learn about the unique challenges astronauts face while eating in outer space. They explore different food choices and food packaging. Students learn about the engineering design process, and then, as NASA engineering teams, they design and build original model devices to help astronauts eat in a microgravity environment --- their own creative devices for food storage and meal preparation.
This is a booklet containing 37 space science mathematical problems, several of …
This is a booklet containing 37 space science mathematical problems, several of which use authentic science data. The problems involve math skills such as unit conversions, geometry, trigonometry, algebra, graph analysis, vectors, scientific notation, and many others. Learners will use mathematics to explore science topics related to Earth's magnetic field, space weather, the Sun, and other related concepts. This booklet can be found on the Space Math@NASA website.
Students study magnetic field by using a classroom-made magnetometer. They use iron …
Students study magnetic field by using a classroom-made magnetometer. They use iron filings to reveal the magnetic field lines and record their observations on a sketch map.
This OLogy activity gives kids a fun way to mesh their own …
This OLogy activity gives kids a fun way to mesh their own thoughts with those of Albert Einstein. Three ready-to-print letterheads are provided as downloadable PDFs. They include colorful looks at:that most famous of equations, E=mc2the great web of existing scientific thought that Einstein built his ideas upon a thought experiment that asks the question, "What if you could ride on a beam of light?"
This OLogy activity provides insight into the phases of the Moon and …
This OLogy activity provides insight into the phases of the Moon and why it looks a little different each night. The activity begins with an explanation about how the Moon itself doesn't really change, just our view of it. Then kids go to "See the Moon in Action," an interactive illustration of the Moon's orbit around the Earth, in which they can see what the Moon looks like from Earth at eight different positions in its orbit. The activity ends with a Moon Watch Log, a printable PDF file, that kids use to observe the Moon for 28 nights and then compile their illustrations into a flipbook.
The Mars Education lesson plans section is here to serve as a …
The Mars Education lesson plans section is here to serve as a resource for educators, grades K-12 to download and utilize in formal classroom settings. For questions on the Mars Education Lessons please contact us. All of the Mars Education Program lesson plans include elements of inquiry-based learning that are aligned to Common Core and Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) as well as problem-based learning and the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study (BSCS) 5-E instructional model. The STEM lessons included in this section of the website are the very lessons that we apply throughout our educator conferences and professional development training sessions. To get a more thorough understanding and deeper knowledge of these lessons as an in classroom instructional tool, educators may want to consider attending an ASU Mars Education Conference.
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