This activity introduces students to the visible light spectrum, and demonstrates what happens to the appearance of an image when certain wavelengths of light are blocked by filters or made visible using special tools. Students are lead through experiments with light and filters, demonstrating that the broader the range of the electromagnetic spectrum we can detect, the more information we gather about the universe. By completing this activity, students gain background information that is necessary for activities that follow this one. This activity is part of the "Cosmic Questions: Our Place in Space and Time" educator's guide that was developed to support the Cosmic Questions exhibit. Activities in the guide can be used in conjunction with, or independently of, the exhibt.

In this activity, students use base-two slide rules, log tapes, and calculators to practice raising exponents in base notation and pulling down exponents in log notation. Students will develop an understanding that antilog notation expresses the exact same idea as raising a base to a power. This activity is activity C2 in the "Far Out Math" educator's guide. Lessons in the guide include activities in which students measure, compare quantities as orders of magnitude, become familiar with scientific notation, and develop an understanding of exponents and logarithms using examples from NASA's GLAST mission. These are skills needed to understand the very large and very small quantities characteristic of astronomical observations. Note: In 2008, GLAST was renamed Fermi, for the physicist Enrico Fermi.

Students are introduced to the important concept of density with a focus is on the more easily understood densities of solids. Students use different methods to determine the densities of solid objects, including water displacement to determine volumes of irregularly-shaped objects. By comparing densities of various solids to the density of water, and by considering the behavior of different solids when placed in water, students conclude that ordinarily, objects with densities greater than water sink, while those with densities less than water float. Then they explore the principle of buoyancy, and through further experimentation arrive at Archimedes' principle that a floating object displaces a mass of water equal to its own mass. Students may be surprised to discover that a floating object displaces more water than a sinking object of the same volume.

This article provides several challenges that students will be able to solve by applying simple physics principles. Solutions are provided.

This 52-page booklet provides an overview of the history, science and technology of this mission, including an introduction to Einstein's theory of curved spacetime. The guide also contains 18 pages of hands-on classroom activities related to gyroscopes, curved spacetime, frame-dragging and other concepts related to the GP-B experiment.

The Gamma-ray Burst Skymap website automatically updates for each gamma-ray burst as it occurs, whether detected by Swift or other orbiting satellites. For each burst, the location on the sky, star map, constellation and detecting mission are generated automatically. It is then quickly updated by hand to include a written description of the burst properties and scientific significance, as observations continue. Note: In order to view the content of the website, users need to download and install Silverlight on their computers.

Students learn how a telescope's aperture determines how much light it can gather in this Moveable Museum unit. It has three procedures, one of which is optional. The four-page PDF guide includes suggested general background readings for educators, activity notes, step-by-step directions, and information about where to obtain supplies. In this activity, the light collector is not a lens or a mirror, but a hole in a cardboard box. Light enters through the hole and lights up the box. Users can change the size of the hole and see how the amount of light entering the box changes. The results show why increasing the aperture of a telescope increases the amount of light it can collect.

This scientific article provides an overview over static electricty. It starts with the discovery of static electricity and the ethymology of the word "electron." Then two different experiments are explained based on static electricity. In the last part the article explains the phenomenon on a molecular level. The text is written for native speakers age 9 and up.

Students will find pictures made by seven photographers whose work is in the permanent collection of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. Lean about great photographs and the approaches these photographers used to make them.

This article describes how to help students engage with nonfiction text by asking questions, identifying facts, making connections, and reflecting on the text. A template for use with students is included.

This manual provides simple demonstrations to show how lenses and mirrors are used to create telescopes. It was created for use by the Night Sky Network of astronomy clubs.

This lesson examines the effects of surface energy transfer and storage on ocean temperatures. Included are activities that introduce the use of scientific models. Students then use an energy flow computer model to track energy changes by manipulating four variables: solar energy, heat transfer, water transparency, and seasons of the year. Note that this is lesson four of five on the Ocean Motion website. Each lesson investigates ocean surface circulation using satellite and model data and can be done independently. See Related URL's for links to the Ocean Motion Website that provide science background information, data resources, teacher material, student guides and a lesson matrix.

In this lesson, students uses a model to visualize the trajectories of projectiles and investigate horizontal and vertical components of projectile motion.

This is a lesson about planetary atmospheres. Learners will interpret real spectral graphs from missions to determine what some of Earth, Venus, and Mars’ atmosphere is composed of and then mathematically compare the amount of the greenhouse gas, CO2, on the planets Venus, Earth, and Mars in order to determine which has the most. Students brainstorm to figure out what things, along with greenhouse gases, can affect a planet’s temperature. The activity is part of Project Spectra, a science and engineering program for middle-high school students, focusing on how light is used to explore the Solar System.

In this activity, students work in groups to create a presentation that illustrates the meaning of the statement "To make an apple pie from scratch you must first invent the universe." Students pick an element that can be found in apple pie and trace its evolutionary history back to the birth of the universe itself. They also share their vision of the environment in which that element may find itself 5 or so billion years from now after the Earth is long gone. Presentations are intended to demonstrate student understanding of the origins and life cycle of matter, so this activity is appropriate as a conclusion to a unit. This activity is part of the "What is Your Cosmic Connection to the Elements" information and activity booklet. The booklet includes teacher notes, grading guide and student handouts.

The students will be able to identify questions and concepts in the ability to construct accurate graphs, recognize and analyze alternative explanations and models by the end of this activity.

This is an activity about the relation between day length and temperature. In one team, learners will create and analyze a graph of hours of sunlight versus month of the year for a number of latitudes. In another team, learners will graph temperature versus month for the same latitudes. The teams then compare data and draw conclusions from their analyses.

This is a lesson about visual spectra. Learners will explore different ways of displaying visual spectra, including colored "barcode" spectra, like those produced by a diffraction grating, and line plots displaying intensity versus color, or wavelength. Students learn that a diffraction grating acts like a prism, bending light into its component colors. The activity is part of Project Spectra, a science and engineering program for middle-high school students, focusing on how light is used to explore the Solar System.

This resource is a compilation of text and other elements that serves as a multimedia learning experience for students. The resource reviews gravity and how it affects our solar system.

We owe our lives to gravity. It holds the atmosphere to Earth and keeps us all from falling off into space. Not to mention that without gravity, the stars and planets—including Earth—wouldn't even exist! This Moveable Museum article, available as a nine-page printable PDF file, introduces the key concepts of gravity, orbits, weight, and weightlessness.