Winter, spring, summer, and fall—Earth experiences them all! But what about Mars? Scholars compare the planets in terms of distance, tilt, and rotation during a lesson from PBS's Space series. Great visual models of Earth and Mars, plus...

Almost every phone has GPS installed, but a large number of teens don't know how the technology works. An initial activity illustrates how GPS determines a location on Earth. Scholars then apply trilateration procedures to a...

How do you know there is air? Can you see it, smell it, feel it? To begin the investigation, learners watch a video and discuss what they know about air and the atmosphere. Then, they participate in five different hands-on, inquiry-based...

It's good thing that it isn't up to RJ to spin the earth on its axis; he can't even keep a basketball spinning! In this video animation, he and viewers learn about Earth's movements in space. One thing to consider before you use this...

Blast off! How do satellites, space shuttles, and space stations escape Earth's gravity and achieve orbit? Young astronauts study rocket science (literally) with an interactive lesson. They discover the four main uses for satellites, how...

This assignment is out of this world! It is an online learning exercise about sunspots and solar cycles, a sort of WebQuest if you will. Links to two NASA websites and spaceweather.com are written into the questions so that your...

How do different parts of the world experience day and night? Introduce scholars to the concept of global citizenship while teaching about animal behavior with discussion of nocturnal and diurnal animals. Then, learners complete...

The moon orbits Earth while the Earth is rotating, and the Earth revolves around the sun. This can be a tricky concept for young astronomers. Implement an activity that helps distinguish between the movements of Earth's systems around...

How do scientists know the difference between a meteorite from space and a regular rock from the earth? Scholars read a passage and answer comprehension questions about the creation of the solar system. They extrapolate the main ideas to...

Why does Earth experience summer, fall, winter, and spring? Using an informative demonstration, learners see how the angle of the sun on Earth and the rotation of Earth determine the seasons. Scholars work in pairs to learn that the...

Take your class up, up, and away with an engaging weather balloon simulation! Individuals get hands-on experience in creating and launching their own airborne labs to study how temperature and pressure affect substances at 100,000...

Not just a simple globe of the moon, this interactive version allows you to choose lighting according to the location of the sun, views from different positions on Earth, and more! Satellite images and topographic data have been combined...

Get an up-close-and personal look at the sun from the safety of your classroom with this fun science application. Offering numerous activities, images, and videos, the resource supports children of all ages as they learn about the sun.

Neptune takes 164.8 Earth years to travel around the sun. In the fifth of 22 lessons, young scientists create a travel guide to a planet in our solar system. They provide tips for others on what to bring, what they see, and their...

Earth is a complex structure. Learners explore their home, the earth, using a fun hands-on activity. They create tactile models of the earth using ordinary household materials that represent some common features: land, polar caps,...

Your pupils may believe that you and their parents are the oldest things in the universe, but surprise! There are elements of the universe that are even older. Elementary scientists create a class timeline to demonstrate the...

How do greenhouse gases affect the climate on Earth?  Pupils explore the concept by first building their own apparatuses to model the greenhouse effect. Then, they record data to measure temperature change and determine...

How did the 2017 eclipse look in Los Angeles—or Chicago? Experience both views, plus many more, using a lesson from PBS's Space series for middle schoolers. Scholars follow the movements of the sun, moon, and Earth during the most recent...

Why is there more daylight in June than in December if you live above the equator? How does the angle of sunlight shift throughout the year? Answer these questions and more with an interactive article about the sun, its path through the...

What a great idea for scientific inquiry. This lab was intended for use as children explored a college campus, but it could be used anywhere. They go to three different places on campus and conduct a simple experiment that shows an...

A somewhat amusing assignment, this instructional activity lists statements that an ancient organism may have made and asks learners to determine what geologic era that each may have lived in. It uses witty word puzzles and...

Take a look at climate change from another angle. Readers learn about the MISR instrument on the Terra satellite and how it studies Earth. Pupils experience how the multiple cameras give scientists multiple views so they can better study...

The surface of the moon has an amazing tale to tell. Learn about the moon's story with a PowerPoint presentation that describes the unique features of the moon's surface as well as explains its movement in relation to Earth.

The winds of change are blowing in our very own solar system!  But what makes some heavenly bodies more affected by solar winds than others?  Pupils discover the concept of magnetic forces at work in space in this...