Earth's Place in the Universe

Exploring Lunar and Solar Eclipses via a 3-D Modeling Design Task is a detailed lesson plan published in the October 2016 issue of NSTA’s Science Scope journal.  It is free to NSTA members but can be purchased for a nominal fee by non-memb ...

Including Students presents a single, kinesthetic model that can be used to explain such varied concepts as rotation, revolution, phases of the Moon and seasons. The outlined activities are meant to be used throughout an entire Astronomy unit.   ...

The NASA Eclipse Web Site contains multiple pages of data which students can explore, analyze and use to explain phenomena.  The site contains data on solar and lunar eclipses and on the transits of Venus and Mars.  On the solar eclipse pag ...

Seasons Interactive provides students an opportunity to investigate the existence of seasons.  In this simulation, users cause the Earth to revolve around the Sun by toggling through a calendar year. Users can compare daylight duration (in hours ...

Lunar Phases is an interactive simulation consisting of three scaffolding activities. In Activity One, students are tasked with determining which half of the Earth and Moon is lit as the Moon revolves around the Earth. The directions state that use ...

In Eclipse Interactive, students investigate both lunar and solar eclipses by manipulating up to three independent variables: Moon's tilt from orbit, Earth-Moon distance and size of the Moon. By viewing the effects of changes to these variables, stud ...

Seasons Interactive provides students with the opportunity to investigate how Earth's angle of inclination affects three factors: the angle of incoming sunlight, average daily temperatures and the Sun’s ecliptic path. Three preset values fo ...

This is a set of multiple choice items developed by AAAS Project 2061 focused on the topic of the seasons. The items are different from many multiple choice science test items in that they assess students’ conceptual understanding (not just facts ...

The activity is similar to the traditional activity where there is a bright light source in the classroom and students place a Styrofoam ball on a pencil. However, rather than having the teacher explain the model, students are instead asked to use a ...

This simulation by the University of Nebraska at Lincoln demonstrates the correspondence between the moon's position in its orbit, its phase, and its position in an observer's sky at different times of day.

This vocabulary matching engagement includes terms for tides and lunar phases and can be used as a formative assessment with middle school students.

This activity description provides a kinesthetic model of tides: high and low, as well as spring and neap.

This activity is designed to show students the relationship between ocean tides and the lunar movements by creating and examining graphs of the tides over months and comparing the lunar phases to the pattern.

Complete Description of project and files for your use shared in an easy to navigate website.

In this series of games, your students will learn about the Earth’s rotation and the resulting “migrations” of celestial bodies. The Sun, Moon, and Stars: Patterns of Apparent Motion learning objective — based on NGSS and state standards — delivers i...

In this series of games, your students will learn about the what, how, and why of the Moon and its cycles. The Lunar Phases learning objective — based on NGSS and state standards — delivers improved student engagement and academic performance in your...

In this series of games, your students will learn about the major phenomena caused by the sun, earth, and moon’s relative positions: solar eclipses, lunar eclipses, and the four seasons. The Eclipses and Seasons learning objective — based on NGSS and...

To assess students' three dimensional learning it's necessary to have a task that will enable you to see what they can do.

In this activity, students investigate what causes the seasons by doing a series of kinesthetic modeling activities and readings.

This activity engages learners to investigate the impact of Earth's tilt and the angle of solar insolation as the reason for seasons by doing a series of hands-on activities that include scale models. Students plot the path of the Sun's apparent move...

This teaching activity is an introduction to how ice cores from the cryosphere are used as indicators and record-keepers of climate change as well as how climate change will affect the cryosphere.

A computer animation on the reason for the seasons. Voice-over describes the motion of Earth around the sun to show how the sun's light impacts the tilted Earth at different times of the year, causing seasonal changes.

This activity supports educators in the use of the activities that accompany the GLOBE Program's Earth System Poster 'Exploring Connections in Year 2007'. Students identify global patterns and connections in environmental data that include soil moist...

An applet about the Milankovitch cycle that relates temperature over the last 400,000 years to changes in the eccentricity, precession, and orbital tilt of Earth's orbit.

This animated visualization of precession, eccentricity, and obliquity is simple and straightforward and provides text explanations. It is a good starting place to show Milankovitch cycles.

An interactive that illustrates the relationships between the axial tilt of the Earth, latitude, and temperature. Several data sets (including temperature, Sun-Earth distance, daylight hours) can be generated.

This animation demonstrates the changing declination of the sun with a time-lapse animation. It shows how the shadow of a building changes over the course of a year as the declination of the sun changes.

This Motions of the Sun Lab is an interactive applet from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Astronomy Applet project.

This three-part, hands-on investigation explores how sunlight's angle of incidence at Earth’s surface impacts the amount of solar radiation received in a given area. The activity is supported by PowerPoint slides and background information.

This interactive activity, in applet form, guides students through the motion of the sun and how they relate to seasons.

A phenomenon-based unit driven by student questions about Earth and space that builds toward MS-ESS1-1, MS-ESS1-2, MS-ESS1-3, and MS-PS2-4. This Google folder contains all documents needed for this 5 week unit. This unit has been submitted to Achie...