In this lesson, students explore the Moon's habitability and sustainable resources with activities that culminate with plans for the design and creation of a lunar station.

In this lesson, students will learn how galaxies around us formed and what their stories can tell us about the past, present, and future of our Universe. Students will also have the opportunity to work with astronomers to study and classify galaxies.

Students explore the geological history of Mercury and the other terrestrial planets, Venus, Earth, and Mars. The development of the lesson revolves around GeoHunter, an interactive for planetary geology. They will also learn about MESSENGER, the spacecraft mission to Mercury.

Sample Learning Goals
Describe the relationship between the Sun, Earth, Moon and space station, including orbits and positions
Describe the size and distance between the Sun, Earth, Moon and space station
Explain how gravity controls the motion of our solar system
Identify the variables that affect the strength of gravity
Predict how motion would change if gravity was stronger or weaker

This lesson is about the role of rockets in history. Learners will create a multiple tiered timeline on the history of rocketry. Includes a teacher's guide and students handouts. Video and audio clips are provided. This lesson 3 of 8 from the Dynamic Design: Launch and Propulsion module.

This media-rich essay discusses astronomy's latest theories on the size and shape of the universe. Supplemental resources, including a background essay and discussion questions, are also provided.

Learners will use a variety of resources to conduct research to try to find answers to the questions they generated in previous activities. They continue to work the way scientists do by communicating what they learned from their research about Mars and present questions they still have and that others might want to think about researching in the future. This is activity 8 of 9 in Mars and Earth: Science Learning Activities for After School.

In this lesson about cosmic rays, students will describe why cosmic rays are dangerous to astronauts. Includes information about student preconceptions. This is activity 3 of 4 from "The Cosmic Ray Telescope for the Effects of Radiation (CRaTER)."

Students compare and contrast three NASA satellites. Other satellite information is included, but the project's main focus is a simple introduction to the electromagnetic spectrum as used by the three space observatories.

This presentation and suggested script are about major discoveries made with telescopes and their technologies that changed the way we think about the universe.

In this lesson, students will prepare a presentation defending their opinion about whether money should be spent on additional space exploration using the Hubble or a similar telescope or whether it should be used for immediate research needs on Earth. Students will research at least five discoveries that have been made using the Hubble telescope.

In this activity, students explore the transit method of searching for planets. They plot graphs of light measurements from stars, searching for dimming that indicates the presence of a planet, and calculate its size.

This poster describes the IBEX spacecraft and how it collects data to map the boundary of the solar system. The second page (back) of the poster provides background content and activities.

This series of videos desribes the IBEX mission and what scientists are learning about the solar system through the mission.

This 24 minute planetarium show teaches about meteors, meteorites, asteroids, and comets. The show was created for fulldome theaters, but is also available on DVD to be shown in flat version for TVs and computer monitors, and can be freely viewed online. It shows the effects of the Chixulub and Tungusta events, plus the Pallasite impact that resulted in the Brenham meteorite fall, and describes ways that asteroid hunters seek new objects in the solar system, and how ground penetrating radar is used to find meteorites that have survived to the Earth's surface. Narrated by astronaut Tom Jones, it also discusses ways that humans might try to deflect an asteroid or comet that is on a collision course with Earth. The show was created for informal science venues (digital planetariums); it is also useful as supplemental material for middle school science. Impact Earth is available for free if presented directly from the Space Update site (widescreen or fisheye views linked from YouTube). Otherwise, a DVD of the show can be purchased for $10.

This is a lesson about the robotic arm on the International Space Station. Learners will build a robotic arm to grapple (grab onto) a spacecraft and then use it to grapple different classroom objects. This is technology activity 2 of 2 found in the ISS L.A.B.S. Educator Resource Guide.

In this activity, students consider evidence for life on other planets, including those outside of our solar system by examining data.

Students imagine they are Titanian scientists planning a mission to search for life on planet Earth. Students research the instruments carried aboard Cassini-Huygens and then work as a group to determine what questions the Titanian scientists would want their mission to answer.

In this lesson, students discover how we learn about stars and the atmospheres of exoplanets by examining the light in greater detail. Students will match up the spectra of stars and planets with their atmospheric ingredients. In particular, what ingredients are we looking for in planets that may harbor life?