Big Idea 5: Earth in Space and Time

Choose a satellite to see the current view of Earth from that satellite.

Type: Image/Photograph

This site offers images captured by Hubble, a telescope that orbits Earth! You will find images of planets, stars, galaxies, moons, nebulae, and more.

Type: Image/Photograph

In this lesson students will categorize a list of stars based on absolute brightness, size, and temperature. Students will analyze astronomical data presented in charts and plot their data on a special graph called a Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram (H-R Diagram). Using this diagram, they must determine the proper classification of individual stars. Using their data analysis, students completing this lesson will develop two short essay responses to a professional client indicating which stars are Main Sequence Stars and which ones are White Dwarfs, Giants, or Supergiants.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will predict the challenges for humans living on Mars in the future by considering the differences between Mars and Earth. In light of these potential challenges, students will consider how the rule of law could influence a new Martian society founded under the principles of the U.S. constitutional republic in this integrated lesson plan. This lesson is Part 1 of 2.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will use their understanding of the habitability challenges on Mars (developed during Part 1) to create a Martian Bill of Rights that will guarantee civil rights and liberties of future Martian citizens in this integrated lesson plan.  This lesson is Part 2 of 2.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will investigate current and potential impacts of the space program on citizens of Florida, relating this to the responsibilities of citizens to be informed and vote to influence tax-funded government programs. They will research the impact of NASA on the economy and ecosystems of Florida and weigh pros and cons of funding a program aimed at exploring Mars. Students will take a position and develop a commercial to convince the public to vote for or against funding this program in this integrated lesson plan.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will collect data to identify planet composition, average temperature, and the distance of some planets within the Milky Way Galaxy from the Sun. Students will complete two-way tables to make comparisons. Students will then analyze and interpret their data. Students will make inferences and justify their reasoning.

Type: Lesson Plan

The student will investigate and construct explanations regarding the uses and applications of the electromagnetic spectrum. Students will investigate the various types of electromagnetic radiation with the use of a graphic organizer and create a foldable to represent the EM spectrum, including the types, uses, and applications.

Type: Lesson Plan

The Soviet Union launched Sputnik I, the first man-made satellite, into space in 1957. Americans watched the Soviet satellite beeping and blinking across the American night sky. Sputnik I weighed only 184 pounds and could do little more than beep, but many people worried that this meant the United States was losing the race to develop space technology.

Pressure exploded from United States politicians and the American public demanding that the country catch up and increase investment in rocket technology and aeronautics. In this lesson students will analyze the film Florida: Moonport USA to describe the effect of the United States space program on Florida's economy, growth and culture.

Type: Lesson Plan

Hands-on modeling of lunar phases in order to recognize each of the eight positions in the lunar cycle.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will analyze an intended to support reading in the content area. The article showcases the recent discovery of a planet orbiting our nearest star that may have the necessary ingredients to harbor life. The possibly Earth-like planet is 4 light years away, however. How might we explore it in greater detail? The lesson plan includes a note-taking guide, text-dependent questions, a writing prompt, answer keys, and a writing rubric. Numerous options to extend the lesson are also included.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will create a working model of the solar system to scale. They will incorporate QR codes to present information on solar system objects, as well as compare the geocentric and heliocentric models of the solar system.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will draw constellations on their desktops with dry erase crayons. They will identify the stars' absolute magnitudes for the brightest stars in the constellation. Students will explore the meaning of absolute magnitude vs. apparent magnitude in a 3D environment. Students will write explanations for how the stars in a constellation can appear to be of similar magnitude and similar distances away from the observer even if their true data shows they are very different.

Type: Lesson Plan

The student will use models to demonstrate the relative positions of the Earth, Sun, and Moon and their impact on tides. Students will explain the impact and relative positions of the Earth, Moon, and Sun on tides.

Type: Lesson Plan

The changing climate is an important topic for both scientific analysis and worldly knowledge. This lesson uses data collected by the National Snow and Ice Data Center to create and use mathematical models as a predictive tool and do critical analysis of sea ice loss.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will analyze an informational text that explains the importance of examining moons in our solar system for signs of life. The text provides evidence on several moons of Saturn and Jupiter and explains how these moons might be good candidates for potentially harboring life, in part due to the presence of water. This lesson is designed to support reading in the content area. The lesson plan includes a graphic organizer, text-dependent questions, a writing prompt, answer keys, and a writing rubric. Numerous options to extend the lesson are also included.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this activity, students will gain basic knowledge of the different types of galaxies. There is a presentation via Prezi to show, guided practice, and an activity. To measure their understanding, they will create a travel brochure for a galaxy. Students will need two classes or one 90 minute block to complete.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will be able to visualize how mass and distance influence gravity. Using simple materials, students will explore how mass and distance affect gravitational pull through this 5-E lesson.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will explore current space technology and explore the possibilities of traveling to Pluto. Students will participate in an Engineering Design Challenge in which they will construct and test their rockets to see how far they can go!

An Engineering Design Challenge is a combination of project-based learning, design thinking, and the engineering design process that develops the innovator's mindset through iteration. This lets students use their own imaginations to design projects according to science and engineering processes.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson will introduce heliocentric and geocentric models of the solar system. The presentation will go through some of the greatest thinkers and their contributions to each model. This includes a presentation, and a foldable template for students to link the contributors to the model and their input.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will analyze an informational text that explains how ranchers in Australia are using satellite data to more effectively manage their land. The text also describes how NASA's satellite technology is used by farmers in other parts of the world, providing them with data to help them track changes to their land in near real-time and over time. This lesson is designed to support reading in the content area. This lesson includes a note-taking guide, text-dependent questions and a writing prompt, sample answer keys, and a writing rubric.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will draw three dots on an unblown balloon to represent three different galaxies. They will measure the distance between these "galaxies" and then blow up the balloon in three stages, measuring the distance between the "galaxies" at each stage.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson teaches the students how distance and mass affect gravity in a system using centripetal force. This is best done when correlating to the formation of the solar system.

Type: Lesson Plan

A Change for Every Season highlights how the sun affects Earth's seasons. The activity asks students to pack a suitcase for a vacation in the Southern Hemisphere. The goal of this lesson is to demonstrate that the tilt of the Earth on its axis, direct and indirect sunlight determines the seasons. The lesson will only address the portion of the standard SC.8.E.5.9 pertaining to seasons.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this POE-based lesson, students will explore the relationships between several variables for the inner-terrestrial planets in our solar system. 

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will create a tidal range graph for one month worth of data and compare it to the moon phases for that month to see the connection between the moon phase and the tidal range.

Type: Lesson Plan

Provide your students with the opportunity to experience the gradually changing phases of the moon. By the end of this activity students will be able to model the relative positions of the sun, moon, and Earth for any moon phase and explain why the moon appears to go through phases that gradually change throughout the month. Students will model the revolution of the moon around Earth in 3 dimensions and make careful observations of the way the moon looks to them as the shadows on the moon gradually change. Students will draw what the moon looks like from their perspective at strategic positions that model the relative positions of the sun, moon, and Earth at New Moon, Waxing Crescent, 1st Quarter, Waxing Gibbous, Full Moon, Waning Gibbous, Last Quarter, and Waning Crescent.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will create a poster showing comparisons of historical models of the Solar System, including the geocentric and heliocentric.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students conduct a brief review on frequency and wavelengh.  Students are then assigned a specific region of the Eectromagnetic Spectrum to research in small groups.  Posters representing their assigned region are created following specific guidelines.  Posters will include frequency, wavelength, energy level and appplications of their assigned radiation.  Students will then display their posters during a class gallery walk with guiding questions.  This allows students to compare the research they conducted with that of fellow classmates. 

Type: Lesson Plan

In this activity, students will gain basic knowledge of the different types of galaxies. To measure their understanding, they will complete a lab activity that will help them classify pictures of different galaxy types. Students will need two days to complete this activity.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this activity, students will work collaboratively in groups of 3 or 4 to create a model of the Sun's interior layers (core, radiative zone, and convection zone), atmosphere (photosphere, chromosphere, and corona) and solar activity (prominences, solar flares, and sunspots) and will implement the properties of all layers into their model.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students plot temperature and luminosity data from a provided star table to create a scatter plot. They will analyze the data to sequence the colors of stars from hottest to coolest and to describe the relationship between temperature and luminosity. This lesson does not address differentiation between absolute and apparent magnitude.

Type: Lesson Plan

This is a two day lesson that will teach students about the layers and features of the Sun. On day one, students will research and describe the layers of the Sun using websites. On day two, students will learn about the features of the Sun in a PowerPoint and then show the knowledge they have gained by completing a foldable ending with three critical thinking closure questions.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will use inquiry to find out how many sugar crystals are in one packet of sugar. They will explore the number one billion and they will use this number to understand how many stars are in a galaxy and how many galaxies are in the universe. They will then create a 3-D model of a galaxy (edible model suggested). Students will then tie all of their information they have learned into a foldable activity.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this engaging lesson, students will investigate and explore the effects of temperature, size, and magnitude on the luminosity and life span of stars using glow sticks. This lesson includes a guided inquiry lab and website exploration.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson students will explore The Law of Universal Gravitation. Students will respond to fictional letters from planets and stars seeking advice on topics that deal with gravity. The advice column will reinforce the concept of Universal Gravitation and give students an opportunity to practice argumentation as they formulate their responses.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson expands students’ understanding of how electromagnetic waves are used to reveal information from imagery taken in space by using c-spectra or spectroscopes, light sources, and colored gel filters.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will learn the layers of the sun (core, radiative zone, convective zone, photosphere, chromosphere, and corona) and three types of solar activity (sunspots, solar flares, and prominences). They will be able to build a model of the sun with labels and descriptions.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lab exposes a common misconception: that the distance the Earth is from the Sun causes the change in seasons. In this lab experience students will start with a exploratory lab to model the distance between the Earth and Sun during aphelion and perihelion. To dispel this misconception, students then engage in one of two suggested labs that address the true cause for the seasons, Earth's tilt. During both of these labs students will learn that the tilt of the Earth causes one hemisphere to receive more direct sunlight than the other. Earth's axis doesn't tilt in its orbit but as the Earth progresses through its orbit the hemispheres receive varying amounts of direct and indirect sunlight.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this Model Eliciting Activity (MEA) STEM (Science Technology Engineering Math) lesson, students will solve a real world open ended problem. It also promotes collaboration through teamwork. This particular lesson asks students to assist a client in choosing the best three companies (rank in order) to be considered for hire to launch an orbiter into space. The students' original decision (and "twist") will be based on information from the client's letter(s) and data set(s).

Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. MEAs resemble engineering problems and encourage students to create solutions in the form of mathematical and scientific models. Students work in teams to apply their knowledge of science and mathematics to solve an open-ended problem while considering constraints and tradeoffs. Students integrate their ELA skills into MEAs as they are asked to clearly document their thought processes. MEAs follow a problem-based, student-centered approach to learning, where students are encouraged to grapple with the problem while the teacher acts as a facilitator. To learn more about MEAs visit: https://www.cpalms.org/cpalms/mea.aspx

Type: Lesson Plan

In this Model-Eliciting Activity (MEA), students will evaluate wheel designs from different companies to determine which wheel is appropriate for the mission. Further 3D printing is integrated by 3D printing different wheel models which can be directly tested using a LEGO Mindstorms Robot or Simple Rubber Band Powered Sled and different Regolith Simulants for the Moon and Titan.

Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. MEAs resemble engineering problems and encourage students to create solutions in the form of mathematical and scientific models. Students work in teams to apply their knowledge of science and mathematics to solve an open-ended problem while considering constraints and tradeoffs. Students integrate their ELA skills into MEAs as they are asked to clearly document their thought processes. MEAs follow a problem-based, student-centered approach to learning, where students are encouraged to grapple with the problem while the teacher acts as a facilitator. To learn more about MEAs visit: https://www.cpalms.org/cpalms/mea.aspx

Type: Lesson Plan

In this Model-Eliciting Activity (MEA), students rank locations that NASA should search within our solar system for life. Students begin by reading about the origins of life on Earth and locations within our solar system with the potential for life. After students create a ranked list, they must report their findings to NASA in the form of a letter that also includes the procedure used in ranking their choices. A second request is sent from NASA to include distance from Earth as a factor in the ranking of locations and students must return a letter with their revised rankings and the new procedure used.

Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. MEAs resemble engineering problems and encourage students to create solutions in the form of mathematical and scientific models. Students work in teams to apply their knowledge of science and mathematics to solve an open-ended problem while considering constraints and tradeoffs. Students integrate their ELA skills into MEAs as they are asked to clearly document their thought processes. MEAs follow a problem-based, student-centered approach to learning, where students are encouraged to grapple with the problem while the teacher acts as a facilitator. To learn more about MEAs visit: https://www.cpalms.org/cpalms/mea.aspx

Type: Lesson Plan

Students listen to a video that describes Kepler's determination that planetary orbits are elliptical and then will use data for the solar distance and periods of several of the planets in the solar system, then investigate several hypotheses to determine which is supported by the data.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will act as mathematicians and scientists as they use models, observations and space science concepts to perform calculations and draw inferences regarding a fictional solar system with three planets in circular orbits around a sun. Among the calculations are estimates of the size of the home planet (using a method more than 2000 years old) and the relative distances of the planets from their sun.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will learn about moon formation theories, the evidence scientists have to support the current one, and how models can be used to support the theory.

Type: Lesson Plan

The students will learn about different stars. They will categorize them according to their temperature, color and mass. They will also use their imagination to create a star poster project and present their creation. They will name their new star and include its mass, color and temperature. They will present it through a report, song or poem in a poster form. They may work alone or in pairs (teacher's choice).

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will research and summarize the effects of space exploration on the economy and culture of Florida and then create a giant flowchart.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students must decide the destination of a multi-billion dollar space flight to an unexplored world. The location must be selected based on its potential for valuable research opportunities. Some locations may have life, while others could hold the answers to global warming or our energy crisis. Students must choose the destination that they feel will be most helpful to human-kind.

Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. MEAs resemble engineering problems and encourage students to create solutions in the form of mathematical and scientific models. Students work in teams to apply their knowledge of science and mathematics to solve an open-ended problem, while considering constraints and tradeoffs. Students integrate their ELA skills into MEAs as they are asked to clearly document their thought process. MEAs follow a problem-based, student centered approach to learning, where students are encouraged to grapple with the problem while the teacher acts as a facilitator. To learn more about MEA’s visit: https://www.cpalms.org/cpalms/mea.aspx

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will research NASA spinoffs. The students will organize their research by developing a report which will include highlights of the positive impact the spinoffs have had on society.

Type: Lesson Plan

Identify characteristics of stars.

Type: Lesson Plan

This activity will help students understand why astronomers use large units and scientific notation to describe distances in the universe.

Type: Lesson Plan

This activity will help students investigate how a metallic coating developed for use in space was "spun off," or adapted, and used to make thermal survival blankets.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students should understand that the observed phase of the moon is determined by the moon's position relative to the Earth and sun.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will work in teams to conduct research and compare Mars and Earth.  They will develop a procedure and explain their reasoning to rank different rover models to determine which one could be the best to deploy as a part of Mars Exploration Project.

Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. Click here to learn more about MEAs and how they can transform your classroom.

Type: Lesson Plan

The students will demonstrate their knowledge of moon phases by creating the moon phases using cream filled chocolate cookies (Oreos). Students will also complete a moon phase handout depicting the placement of the moon Earth and Sun.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will understand relative distances between objects (planets, stars, and galaxies) in the universe. A light-year (also light year, symbol: ly) is a unit of length (distance), not time.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students show and discuss that the planets' orbits follows a pattern, compare sizes of asteroids relative to the size of Earth and Earth's moon, make asteroid models, research impact craters, and discuss the likelihood and effects of an asteroid impact on Earth.

Type: Lesson Plan

Scientists and engineers, who know a lot about technology, worked together to create satellites so many different things could be studied. In this lesson, students will learn about the launch of the Swift satellite and the data that the satellite collects and sends to Earth. The focus of the lesson is on the people involved in the project and their careers and cooperative activities. Students also explore the different job roles in the development of satellites and web pages used to communicate scientific discoveries from those satellites, with a particular focus on gamma ray bursts.

Type: Lesson Plan

The students will be able to explain the differences between the geocentric and heliocentric models of the solar system. The students will become familiar with the astronomical tools of the sixteenth century and those of the twenty-first century.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students complete a paper model of the solar system that demonstrates both size and distance from the Sun.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson allows students to model and compare the distance of planets from the Sun, as well as, compare the relative sizes of the planets using everyday items.

Type: Lesson Plan

Using a pinhole viewer students will look at a reflected image of the Sun to calculate how far the Sun is from Earth. This activity would be used for enrichment or for advanced students. This lesson requires pre-planning for the teacher to practice making and using the viewers. Simple math calculations are required by the students to complete the assignment.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson incorporates Florida Standard elements while teaching the characteristics of Venus and the importance of the Sun to our existence.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson provides students with an opportunity to investigate the major scientists related to the various models of the solar system. Students participate in a mock trial to determine an appropriate model of the solar system. Students conclude this lesson with a gallery walk of the models that they have produced.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this MEA, students will:

• identify and compare characteristics of the electromagnetic spectrum such as wavelength, frequency, and energy.
• understand the benefits of studying astronomy using the electromagnetic spectrum and appreciate the amount of knowledge available through data and observations such as planetary images and satellite photographs.
• assess the value of technology in science for such purposes as access to outer space and other remote locations, sample collection, measurement, data collection and storage, computation, and communication of information.
• be able to describe the vast distances between objects in space using an understanding of light and how it travels.
• be able to analyze scientific texts and support their findings with textual evidence.

Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. Click here to learn more about MEAs and how they can transform your classroom.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson focuses on the influence of gravity on the the Earth's tides, but addresses every part of the standard SC.8.E.5.9 except seasons and eclipses. Seasons and Eclipses should be taught at another time. Students will be using an online simulator to complete an observation sheet in order to determine the cause of the tides. Students will also apply the knowledge from their observations and notes to real-time data on a graph.

Type: Lesson Plan

Use scientific notation to compare the distances of planets and other objects from the Sun in this interactive tutorial.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Use astronomical units to compare distances betweeen objects in our solar system in this interactive tutorial.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

The universe is so big it is hard to even imagine! Consider the vastness of space with this interactive tutorial. 

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Learn about the variety and amazing features of our universe in this interactive tutorial. 

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Compare conditions on Venus, Earth, and Mars, and learn why Earth is an ideal place for life in this interactive tutorial.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Explore the causes of tides as they occur along the coasts around the world in this interactive tutorial.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Explore and contrast solar and lunar eclipses in this interactive tutorial. By the end, you'll learn how interactions between the Sun, Earth, and moon cause these cool phenomena. 

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Technology is essential to scientific knowledge. In this interactive tutorial, you will learn how technology has helped us make scientific discoveries throughout history. 

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Discover how scientists classify stars according to their brightness, temperature, color, and size in this interactive tutorial.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Explore the challenges related to space travel in this interactive tutorial.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Learn about Isaac Newton's Law of Universal Gravitation. This law helps calculate the force of gravity dependent on the mass of the objects and the distance between them. 

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Explore the universe and identify key facts about galaxies and stars, how scientists learn about the universe, and contemplate the massive size of the universe. 

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Examine the electromagnetic spectrum and characteristics associated with different portions of the spectrum in this interactive tutorial.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Explore the Sun and how energy goes from the Sun's core to our Earth in this interactive tutorial.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Compare and contrast the heliocentric and geocentric models of the Solar System in this interactive tutorial.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Listen as Dr. Austin Mast describes how and why an herbarium collects, maintains, and distributes plant samples for scientific research.

Download the CPALMS Perspectives video student note taking guide.

Type: Perspectives Video: Expert

Physical oceanographer Gary Mitchum explains how and why tide gauges and satellites are useful for understanding sea level changes. Video funded by NSF grant #: OCE-1502753.

Download the CPALMS Perspectives video student note taking guide.

Type: Perspectives Video: Expert

In this video, Don Chambers explains how satellite technology is essential for assessment of sea level changes. Video funded by NSF grant #: OCE-1502753.

Download the CPALMS Perspectives video student note taking guide.

Type: Perspectives Video: Expert

Watch as Don Chambers explains the role of satellites in measuring the mass of ice sheets and the connections between ice sheet mass changes and sea level. Video funded by NSF grant #: OCE-1502753.

Download the CPALMS Perspectives video student note taking guide.

Type: Perspectives Video: Expert

Watch as Brad Rosenheim, a geological oceanographer, explains how modern technology and sampling methods are used for sea level research. Video funded by NSF grant #: OCE-1502753.

Download the CPALMS Perspectives video student note taking guide.

Type: Perspectives Video: Expert

Dr. Mahmood Shivji explains satellite tag technologies used to assess global shark migration patterns.

Download the CPALMS Perspectives video student note taking guide.

Type: Perspectives Video: Expert

Air Force Test Pilot discusses the need for systematic testing and collection of data for new flight technologies.

Type: Perspectives Video: Expert

Some places on Earth can be quite remote, like the depths of the ocean. Get there with technology.

Download the CPALMS Perspectives video student note taking guide.

Type: Perspectives Video: Expert

<p>Ken Blackburn, an aerospace engineer for the United States Air Force, describes the relationship between wing shape and flight performance.&nbsp;</p>

Type: Perspectives Video: Professional/Enthusiast

Ken Blackburn, an aerospace engineer for the United States Air Force, describes the design and testing process for developing advanced flight hardware. 

Download the CPALMS Perspectives video student note taking guide.

Type: Perspectives Video: Professional/Enthusiast

What does bird photography have to do with Mars exploration? Bird photographers employ lots of specialized technology to capture the right moment!

Produced with funding from the Florida Division of Cultural Affairs.

Download the CPALMS Perspectives video student note taking guide.

Type: Perspectives Video: Professional/Enthusiast

Just about anything can be data, including how you interact with social media apps!

Download the CPALMS Perspectives video student note taking guide.

Type: Perspectives Video: Professional/Enthusiast

Listen closely as Dr. Austin Mast explains how students can help scientists by transcribing data from real herbarium plant samples. 

Related Site: 

Download the CPALMS Perspectives video student note taking guide.

Type: Perspectives Video: Teaching Idea

In this video, science teacher Susan Cullum describes the impact of field research experiences on classroom teaching practices.

This research is made possible by a grant from the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GoMRI/C-IMAGE II).
This research is made possible by a grant from the NOAA Gulf of Mexico BWET program.

Download the CPALMS Perspectives video student note taking guide.

Type: Perspectives Video: Teaching Idea

Listen as science teacher Patty Smukall recounts past and present marine field experiences and how they affect teaching practices back in the classroom. 

This research is made possible by a grant from the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GoMRI/C-IMAGE II).
This research is made possible by a grant from the NOAA Gulf of Mexico BWET program.

Download the CPALMS Perspectives video student note taking guide.

Type: Perspectives Video: Teaching Idea

Listen as science teacher Lauren Watson explains how marine field experiences are translated for the classroom.

This research is made possible by a grant from the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GoMRI/C-IMAGE II).
This research is made possible by a grant from the NOAA Gulf of Mexico BWET program.

Download the CPALMS Perspectives video student note taking guide.

Type: Perspectives Video: Teaching Idea

Dr. Mahmood Shivji describes a website devoted to displaying shark migration pattern data gathered using satellite tags.

Thumbnail courtesy of 

Download the CPALMS Perspectives video student note taking guide.

Type: Perspectives Video: Teaching Idea

What is compact, packed with sensors, and can be built by students? A satellite that will be launched on a rocket. Check out this pilot program.

Download the CPALMS Perspectives video student note taking guide.

Type: Perspectives Video: Teaching Idea

Students will be over the moon when they get to model lunar phases with cookies!

Download the CPALMS Perspectives video student note taking guide.

Type: Perspectives Video: Teaching Idea

Does the concept of relative distance register with you? Try this solar system activity.

Download the CPALMS Perspectives video student note taking guide.

Type: Perspectives Video: Teaching Idea

This presentation, offered by NASA, includes colorful graphics and presentation notes to help students understand the dynamics of the Sun, of the aurora, and of the turbulent space around Earth.

Type: Presentation/Slideshow

This tutorial is designed to help secondary science teachers learn how to incorporate literacy skills into their science curriculum. This tutorial will demonstrate a number of strategies teachers can impart to students to help them learn how to integrate visual information with textual information. The focus on literacy across content areas is intended to help foster students' reading, writing, and thinking skills in multiple disciplines.

Click "View Site" to open a full-screen version.

Type: Professional Development

Groups of students work with a flashlight and globe to model sunlight on Earth at different times of the year.

Type: Teaching Idea

A lesson from Nova/PBS that describes the landing of the Phoenix Mars Lander, its purpose, function, and initial findings. The lesson plan provides two ways for students to investigate how the lander would collect data from the surface and the benefits and limitations of different types of space probes to do before watching the video. It provides a 12 minute video to show the Phoenix Mars Lander. Lesson also provides ideas for what students can do after they view the video. Extensions to lesson include pictures of surface of Mars, interview with a scientist and a commentary from Neil deGrasse Tyson.

Type: Teaching Idea

Most planetary scientists expected that lunar samples brought to Earth at the end of each of the six Apollo missions would confirm one of three leading hypotheses of the Moon's origin. Instead, samples left all three explanations unconfirmed, requiring the development of a new hypothesis for how the Moon formed. This video segment adapted from NOVA shows Apollo 15 astronauts collecting a type of rock that would help change our understanding of the Moon's - and Earth's - earliest history.

Type: Teaching Idea

This model gives students an overview of the distances between the orbits of the planets and other objects in our solar system.

Type: Teaching Idea

This resource is intended to support reading in the content area. The text includes information on a newly discovered planet that orbits the nearest star to our sun. Proxima b, while close, is actually quite far—more than four light years from our sun—yet it shows potential for life, close enough for the planet to receive radiation and energy from its star. The article also discusses the possibility of sending robotic missions there using new technology that could perhaps reach the planet in twenty years.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is designed to support reading in the content area. This article from NASA addresses how our solar system’s moons may be a more interesting study than some of the planets because they show a possibility of harboring life due to their composition, atmospheres and presence of water.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is designed to support reading in the content area. The article is provided by NASA and discusses how farmers in Australia are able to use digital data provided by U.S. satellites. These farmers are able to use this satellite data to monitor the condition of their land, and enables them to better manage their farms. The author also provides additional examples of how this data is used by countries throughout the world. The article helps demonstrate how space technology positively impacts the world. The text also discusses the impact of human activities on the environment.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. Scientists may have found a star created from the same nebula that produced our sun. The spectrograph composition data, the motion of the star through the Milky Way, and its age all suggest that it is a "sibling" to our Sun.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. This text examines how humans and all things around us are made of elements created in stars. The article references fusion, the powerful collision of enormous stars, and the intense explosion of supernovas. All of this is tied to the creation of heavier elements that hurtle through space, to be reassembled as distant solar systems.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. This article describes a theory explaining why the outer layer of the sun, the corona, is much hotter than some inner layers. The theory states that magnetic waves transport heat energy from the sun's center to its outer layers. They may be "shuttled" by gas jets that originate deeper within the sun.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. Scientists have been observing a supernova that first appeared in 1987. Specifically, they have measured a large amount of star dust that formed as a result of the supernova. This dust is thought to be the material that forms new stars and studying it may tell scientists something about how stars formed early in the history of the universe.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. In 2012, the rover Curiosity was sent on a mission to Mars in order to explore the planet for signs of life. This article describes the research required to build the rover, its flight and landing on Mars, and the objectives of its mission.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. Most studies of Jupiter's Great Red Spot (a storm) predict that it should have disappeared long ago, and so its continued existence puzzles scientists. A new study that considers the vertical winds within the storm is able to explain why the spot has existed for over 200 years, and could even continue for hundreds of years longer.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. Gorilla Glass on your phone? Magnetic fluid shocks in your car? With applications here on Earth, "smart" materials like these are being studied in the microgravity of space. The programmed rearrangement of particles on a molecular level enhances materials in new high-tech products.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. A brown dwarf, which is essentially a failed star, has been discovered close to our solar system. The brown dwarf is the coldest and one of the smallest yet discovered. Telescopic images and data helped scientists to find and characterize the failed star.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. The article describes the discovery of mega-plumes of plasma within the sun. These long-lasting, larger than Earth heat elevators may be the reason the latitudes of the sun rotate at different speeds. Two different scientists have analyzed data that support this possible explanation.

Type: Text Resource

This article describes a weightless flight taken by student researchers investigating several questions all centering on zero gravity. NASA's Reduced Gravity Education Flight Program uses flights by the commercial Zero Gravity Corporation to perform weightless science.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. This article explains the types of light on the electromagnetic spectrum that our eyes cannot detect; to make them visible, scientists use telescopes to take amazing photographs. Computers turn the data into color that the human eye can see, so the colors are actually "false colors." The article includes additional links, including the Hubble Space Telescope website gallery of photographs.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. This article discusses how stars are classified, especially the different types of dwarf stars. It is still under debate how some star-like objects, like brown dwarfs, should be classified. The text also describes the life cycle of stars, explaining how they change in size and mass over time and eventually expand and die.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. This text briefly describes how astronomers have measured and quantified the apparent brightness and magnitude of stars as astrophysics has evolved over time. This article also discusses the limitations of absolute magnitude in terms of the technology tools utilized.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. This article describes the history of NASA's space shuttle program as it comes to an end. It discusses the scientific advancements that have resulted from the program and the possible next steps in human space flight.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. The article describes how astronomers have found a new exoplanet, Kepler-186f, orbiting a distant star. Research suggests that this planet is in the habitable "Goldilocks" zone—not too close and not too far—of the red dwarf star it orbits. If the planet is in the habitable zone, it mimics the earth/sun relationship we have, and astronomers believe liquid water might be present on this planet. Water, of course, is the key to (extraterrestrial) life.

Type: Text Resource

The text’s grade band recommendation is based on a text complexity analysis of a quantitative measure, qualitative rubric, and reader and task considerations.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. This article from Universe Today describes the quantity of operational satellites and "space junk" orbiting the Earth. Those figures are broken down by the satellites' various orbits and include examples of the types of objects found in each area.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. The article describes how technology is developing to not only recycle the water out of human urine but to pull energy from it to help power its own recycling. The text describes why this is a necessary process for extended space travel and how a similar system is already in place on the International Space Station. The text concludes that this recycling method could have several Earth-borne uses as well.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. This article describes the accomplishments of the Voyager 1 spacecraft since its launch in 1977. It also explains the arguments for determining the current location of the spacecraft—possibly interstellar space—and what will happen when it begins to shut down entirely.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. This is a clearly organized high-interest informative text explaining how astronauts use the bathroom, sleep and eat in zero gravity. The web version has a video, library of photos, and many other related sites that students can independently investigate.

Type: Text Resource

Images recently discovered by the Herschel telescope reveal the formation of previously unseen high-mass star formations. These new findings help us learn more about our own galaxy as well as star formation, and will lead to a better understanding of larger distant galaxies.

Type: Text Resource

Technological advances and partnerships with technology companies help with research on biodiversity. Satellites – used in conjunction with GPS-enabled tablets loaded with imaging software – can assist scientists with uncovering, locating, and collecting data on species that would normally not have been discovered.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. The discovery of a comet-like asteroid baffles scientists and poses questions about its formation, make-up, and changing appearance.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text is intended to support reading in the content area. The text covers many topics about weather and climate including the water cycle, seasons, greenhouse effect, and climate change.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. The text describes NASA's "Kepler" mission, which uses a photometer telescope to examine our region of the Milky Way Galaxy for habitable planets similar to Earth.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text is intended to support reading in the content area. This news article describes an astronomer's theory that a particularly strong series of tides contributed to an abundance of icebergs and may have resulted in the sinking of the Titanic. It is complete with the evidence behind the theory and a contrary opinion from another astronomer.

Type: Text Resource

This resource is intended to support reading in the content area. This article describes how NASA sent a Centaur rocket attached to a mother craft (LCROSS) to the moon. The rocket detached, crashed and stirred up a plume of debris. The mother craft flew through the debris plume, took pictures and analyzed the plume's contents. The measurements revealed the presence of water in significant quantities.

Type: Text Resource

This website is a collection of references, images, and information for general astronomy. This work covers topics from the basics of science and observation through the solar system, stars, cosmology, and telephotography. The material is clearly organized by topic using links to reference materials on the web.

Type: Text Resource

This website provides an overview of objects in the solar system. The user can click on different links to learn about objects such as the inner and outer planets and minor bodies. It also includes a link to explorations and activities. This is the on-line version of the printed "StarDate: the solar system" guide.

Type: Text Resource

The 2012 Report of the Kennedy Space Center includes significant events, engineering achievements, partnerships, environmental work, education work, and outreach. In addition, the final section includes the economic impact and work force diversity.

Type: Text Resource

This is a very interesting web site about the electromagnetic spectrum. It gives great background information and examples on the different types of waves.

Type: Text Resource

This Frequently Asked Question page can be used by educators and students as a scientific resource to answer the question, "Why isn't Pluto a planet?". From the International Astronomical Union, the definitive answer from the governing body that classified Pluto as a dwarf planet.

Type: Text Resource

This tutorial discusses how the Earth's tilt causes the different seasons. The tutorial supports student learning with visual representations of how the tilt of the Earth as it orbits the Sun influences the seasons in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.

Type: Tutorial

Spring, summer, fall and winter. Many places on the Earth have seasons. Others do not. What causes the seasons? This tutorial discusses seasonal changes and describes that they are caused by the movement of the Earth around the sun, the tilt of the Earth, and how high the sun will get in the sky.

Type: Tutorial

This website contains numerous interesting facts, images and activities intended to support greater understanding of properties of our solar system.

Type: Tutorial

This complete lesson culminates by having the students create a solar system catalog. It goes beyond the typical solar system brochure to include other components of our solar system.

Type: Unit/Lesson Sequence

In this video, new observation technologies are presented. National Geographic is developing and using these technologies to better capture the world.

Type: Video/Audio/Animation

Ocean explorer Robert Ballard gives a TED Talk relating to the mysteries of the ocean, and the importance of its continued exploration.

Type: Video/Audio/Animation

• This interactive tool contains views of Mars taken from Curiosity Rover
• Students get to observe the a close view of the surface of Mars
• Snap shots of different things identified on the surface are also displayed

Type: Video/Audio/Animation

This video contains a collection of the best images of the Earth taken from space in 2012

Type: Video/Audio/Animation

This video provides a historical background about the definition of a planet and how different objects discovered in space were classified as planets or fir into a different category

Type: Video/Audio/Animation

This animation depicts key events of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission, which launched in late 2011 and landed a rover, Curiosity, on Mars in August 2012.

Type: Video/Audio/Animation

• Illustrate the change in temperature and pressure of the atmosphere with altitude
• Show the difference in temperature and pressure of the Earth's atmosphere versus the Martian atmosphere for the same altitude

Type: Video/Audio/Animation

A collection of crossword puzzles that test the knowledge of students about some of the terms, processes, and classifications covered in science topics

Type: Video/Audio/Animation

This video clip explores some of the possible theories that might help explain what causes gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). Scientists have only been studying GRBs since 1967, even though they originated billions of years ago. Once they were found, it took scientists another four years to determine what these flashes of nuclear energy were.

Type: Video/Audio/Animation

This video from NASA presents the 2005 hurricane season with actual data that NASA and NOAA satellites measured. Sea surface temperatures, clouds, storm tracks, and hurricane category labels are shown as the hurricane season progresses.

Type: Video/Audio/Animation

Prior to the seventeenth century, it was generally believed that the center of the universe was Earth. Galileo Galilei challenged this belief with his published work which supported the sun-centered Copernican theory. In this NOVA-adapted video clip, learn about these two opposing worldviews, as well as the strong piece of evidence he presented in support of the heliocentric theory.

Type: Video/Audio/Animation

Every now and then, the Sun, Earth, and Moon align so that, when viewed from parts of the Earth, the Moon eclipses the Sun's light. Solar eclipses are fairly common -- the Moon will block out some portion of the Sun at least twice a year. However, it is still a special event to be able to witness a total solar eclipse. In this video segment adapted from NASA, learn how solar eclipses happen and why they are so difficult to witness.

Type: Video/Audio/Animation

More than 155 planets have been found outside of our solar system since the first extra-solar planet was identified in 1995. The search has long been heavily biased towards finding massive planets with short orbits. Now, to find an Earth-like planet, scientists are looking for a planetary setup that is similar to our own, in which a Jupiter-like planet lies a good distance away from its sun. This video segment adapted from NOVA explores how the arrangement of planets in our solar system may have affected the development of life on Earth.

Type: Video/Audio/Animation

The Sun produces a solar wind — a continuous flow of charged particles — that can affect us on Earth. It can, for example, disrupt communications, navigation systems, and satellites. Solar activity can also cause power outages, such as the extensive Canadian blackout in 1989. In this video segment adapted from NASA, learn about solar storms and their effects on Earth.

Type: Video/Audio/Animation

The Moon, Earth's natural satellite, seems to hover in the sky, unaffected by gravity. However, the reason the Moon stays in orbit is precisely because of gravity -- a universal force that attracts objects. With the right combination of speed and gravity, satellites can fall around, instead of into, the body that they orbit. In this animated video segment adapted from NASA, learn about how the Moon stays in orbit around Earth.

Type: Video/Audio/Animation

In July 1991, the alignment of the Sun, Moon, and Earth produced a rare opportunity — a total solar eclipse with a particularly long duration and a path that crossed easily accessible locations, including a major astronomical observatory in Hawaii. In this video segment adapted from NOVA, learn about the mechanics of solar eclipses and observe the rare 1991 eclipse from the top of Mauna Kea.

Type: Video/Audio/Animation

This animation simulates a voyage from the sun past all nine planets. For convenience, the planets are lined up in the same direction. The animation shows each planet's average distance from the sun.

Type: Video/Audio/Animation

Join teenager Hannah on a trip through the solar system in this "hip-hopera" that uses song and dance to introduce the planets, moons, asteroids and more. Download the lyrics for students to learn and perform or just play the videos in class.

Type: Video/Audio/Animation

This interactive lab explores the Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram in areas of spectrum, classification, luminosity, and temperature. The simulator plots stars according to the areas you chose to explore.

Type: Virtual Manipulative

This website allows you to zoom through the universe to compare the relative sizes of some common and uncommon things.

Type: Virtual Manipulative

• Observe the orbit of the earth around the sun and its relationship to seasons
• Understand the factors affecting Earth's climate
• Observe the effect of Earth's tilt on the seasons

Type: Virtual Manipulative

This resource provides an interactive tool for the exploration of the solar system. To navigate the interactive solar system move the mouse to hover the target over different objects, to learn more about each click to access images, information about scientists, homework help, articles, news, missions, time lines, and important facts.

Type: Virtual Manipulative

This simulation demonstrates the effect of gravitation in determining planetary orbits as well as that of comets and satellites. This simulation allows you to change initial positions, velocities and masses of bodies and see the resulting orbit.

Type: Virtual Manipulative

This interactive demonstrates the impacts of the gravitational force of the sun on motion of objects in the solar system.

Type: Virtual Manipulative

In this simulation, students will learn the orbits of the Earth and moon as well as gravitational forces. This is a good illustration of the gravitational pull causing tides.

Type: Virtual Manipulative

This is a great resource with online lessons providing inquiry as you learn about the life cycle of the star as well as the usages of the H-R diagram. The images provide a conceptual understanding of the life cycle of the star and how it applies to the H-R diagram. You will enjoy the interactive lab tools as well as the online formative assessment questions.

Type: Virtual Manipulative

Using this online calculator, students enter their weight on Earth. Their "weight" on other planets is calculated.

Type: Virtual Manipulative