Teacher: Angie ApautyLesson Title/Topic: Planets of the UniverseGrade: 2Duration: 50 minutesLearning Objectives: At the conclusion of this activity, students will be able to identify, name, locate, and determine the order of the planets of our solar system. Number and Size of Groups: 5 groups of 3 studentsLearner Activity/Teacher Activity:Whole group discussion. The teacher will ask the students the question, "What do you remember about the planets of our solar system and can you list them all?". The teacher will allow students time to think and write down their answers on their mini white boards. Next, the teacher will use the main white board to write down all the planets the students can recall. Then the students will get into their groups and each group will work together to do research and create a presentation over the planets. The teacher will visit each group to offer any help the students may need. The students will work on their presentations on day two and on day three, each group will give their presentations to the class using the smart board.At the end of the lesson, each group will receive a card with a planet on it and tape on the back. One person from each group needs to come to the front and place their planet in the correct order in the solar system with the help of the class.  

Using the planetarium program Stellarium, you will display the evening sky just after sunset for the date and location of your birthplace.  You will determine the times of the sunrise, sunset, and moon rise on your birthday, note the phase of the moon, and observe planetary positions and visibility.   ---------------------------------------Distant Nature: Astronomy Exercises 2016 by Stephen Tuttle under license "Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike".

This course covers examination of the state of knowledge of planetary formation, beginning with planetary nebulas and continuing through accretion (from gas, to dust, to planetesimals, to planetary embryos, to planets). It also includes processes of planetary differentiation, crust formation, atmospheric degassing, and surface water condensation. This course has integrated discussions of compositional and physical processes, based upon observations from our solar system and from exoplanets. Focus on terrestrial (rocky and metallic) planets, though more volatile-rich bodies are also examined.

This lesson is about the solar system and its objects, such as planets, moons, asteroids, and comets, it is revolving around the place where each celestial body resides. It engages students in exploring, researching, modeling, and discussing these objects and their characteristics, as well as the factors that make Earth habitable and the importance of space exploration. The lesson has four main parts: an introduction, where students are hooked by a hidden moon rock and learn about the lesson’s objectives and agenda; an exploration, where students work in groups to research various solar system objects using classroom resources and the NASA Solar System Exploration website, formulating questions about the solar system; an activity, where groups create models to represent Earth under different solar system conditions, based on “what if” questions, and present their findings; and a discussion, where a class discussion follows, focusing on the habitability factors of planets and the importance of space exploration. The lesson ends with students writing and peer-reviewing reflections on what they have learned.

Learn about our search for new planets using the Hubble Space Telescope, NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, James Webb Space Telescope and more!

students are engaged in reflecting on whether plate tectonics is a general theory of planetary organization and evolution. Students use topographic, magnetic, spectral, and other data from NASA and ESA missions to determine whether "Earth-style" plate tectonics is functional on planets and moons elsewhere in the solar system. Students are engaged in a data-rich environment from which they must formulate and test multiple hypotheses. Throughout the process, students are engaged in small groups to identify what they need to learn to answer their questions, what resources are available to them, how best to report their findings, and how they can assess the amount of learning that is taking place.

"Family of the Sun," which tells the story of the planets in our solar system. After the story, do a craft to make a solar system playset.

If you visited another world, you would notice a change in your weight, because the force of gravity acting on you there would be different from the force of gravity here on Earth.

Move the sun, earth, moon and space station to see how it affects their gravitational forces and orbital paths. Visualize the sizes and distances between different heavenly bodies, and turn off gravity to see what would happen without it!

Move the sun, earth, moon and space station to see how it affects their gravitational forces and orbital paths. Visualize the sizes and distances between different heavenly bodies, and turn off gravity to see what would happen without it!

Students use scaling from real-world data to obtain an idea of the immense size of Mars in relation to the Earth and the Moon, as well as the distances between them. Students calculate dimensions of the scaled versions of the planets, and then use balloons to represent their relative sizes and locations.

Introduction to Astronomy provides a quantitative introduction to the physics of the solar system, stars, the interstellar medium, the galaxy, and the universe, as determined from a variety of astronomical observations and models.

This course includes Quantitative introduction to physics of the solar system, stars, interstellar medium, the Galaxy, and Universe, as determined from a variety of astronomical observations and models. Topics: planets, planet formation; stars, the Sun, "normal" stars, star formation; stellar evolution, supernovae, compact objects (white dwarfs, neutron stars, and black holes), plusars, binary X-ray sources; star clusters, globular and open clusters; interstellar medium, gas, dust, magnetic fields, cosmic rays; distance ladder; galaxies, normal and active galaxies, jets; gravitational lensing; large scaling structure; Newtonian cosmology, dynamical expansion and thermal history of the Universe; cosmic microwave background radiation; big-bang nucleosynthesis. No prior knowledge of astronomy necessary. Not usable as a restricted elective by physics majors.

This set of activities is designed to help students develop an understanding of scale/distance and ordering the planets from the sun, understanding Earth's position in the solar system, and developing new ways of determining "order."

Play a question and answer card game on the solar system and learn about the properties of the Sun and its planets.

You can make your own solar system on this website! To create your solar system, you need to add planets, asteroids, and comets. Have fun!

Make your own planet on this website! You can change the color of your planet and add land, water, trees, and weather. You can then name your planet and write a short story about it. For even more fun, compare the planets in our solar system with your planet!

Aaron Parness leads the Extreme Environment Robots Group at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Learn how Aaron went from ski bum to building robots for JPL.