Learners will construct a mock-up of planetary surface rover. They begin by exploring the importance of engineering in our society and work as a team to build a prototype of the team's rover using student science notebooks and team sketches as a... (View More) guide. The lesson uses the 5E instructional model and includes: TEKS Details (Texas Standards alignment), Essential Question, Science Notebook, Vocabulary Definitions for Students, Vocabulary Definitions for Teachers, three Vocabulary Cards, and a Mini-Lesson. This is lesson 13 of the Mars Rover Celebration Unit, a six week long curriculum. (View Less)

This is an activity about the Moon's formation, changes over time, gravitational connection to Earth, or influence on our culture and urban legends. Learners share their learning by creating zines: small, self-published magazines inexpensively... (View More) duplicated on standard letter paper and folded into eight-page booklets. This is the concluding activity of Explore! Marvel Moon, a series of activities developed specifically for use in libraries. (View Less)

Learners will construct a mock-up of a planetary surface rover. They begin by exploring the importance of engineering in our society, and work as a team to build a prototype of the team's rover using student science notebooks and team sketches as a... (View More) guide. The lesson uses the 5E instructional model and includes: TEKS Details (Texas Standards alignment), Essential Question, Science Notebook, Vocabulary Definitions for Students, Vocabulary Definitions for Teachers, three Vocabulary Cards, and a Mini-Lesson. This is lesson 13 of the Mars Rover Celebration Unit, a six-week curriculum. (View Less)

Learners will explore the features of Mars through a demonstration of Google Earth Mars, gather, and analyze data from multiple sources on the internet as well as print sources, develop and use strategies for reading informational text to... (View More) systematically find information, and understand that Earth and Mars have similar geological features. The lesson uses the 5E instructional model and includes: TEKS Details (Texas Standards alignment), Essential Question, Science Notebook, Vocabulary Definitions for Students, Vocabulary Definitions for Teachers, two Vocabulary Cards, and a reading strategy supplement. This is lesson 3 of the Mars Rover Celebration Unit, a six week long curriculum. (View Less)

Learners will identify, become familiar with and use the Engineering Design Process, use the engineering design process to sketch a reasonable drawing of the rover that will be built, use the steps of the engineering design process to build a Mars... (View More) Rover prototype, develop a concept map to communicate requirements and features of the rover. The lesson uses the 5E instructional model and includes: TEKS Details (Texas Standards alignment), Essential Question, Science Notebook, Vocabulary Definitions for Students, Vocabulary Definitions for Teachers, three Vocabulary Cards, and a concept map Mini-Lesson. This is lesson 11 of the Mars Rover Celebration Unit, a six week long curriculum. (View Less)

Learners will become familiar with and use the engineering design process to sketch a reasonable drawing of the rover that will be built. The lesson uses the 5E instructional model and includes: TEKS Details (Texas Standards alignment), Essential... (View More) Question, Science Notebook, Vocabulary Definitions for Students, Vocabulary Definitions for Teachers, three Vocabulary Cards, and a concept map Mini-Lesson. teacher notes, vocabulary, student journal and reading. This is lesson 11 of the Mars Rover Celebration Unit, a six week long curriculum. (View Less)

Learners will review the structure, content and size of the Solar System. This lesson is designed using the 5E instructional model and includes: teacher training, unit pacing guides, essential questions, a black-line master science notebook, a... (View More) student presentation booklet, supplemental materials, and vocabulary for both students and teachers. This is lesson 1 of the Mars Rover Celebration Unit, a six week long curriculum. (View Less)

Learners will take and then compare the images taken by a camera - to learn about focal length (and its effects on field of view), resolution, and ultimately how cameras take close-up pictures of far away objects. Finally, they will apply this... (View More) knowledge to the images of comet Tempel 1 taken by two different spacecraft with three different cameras, in this case Deep Impact and those expected/obtained from Stardust-NExT. This lesson could easily be adapted for use with images from other NASA missions. (View Less)

This is a lesson about the Discovery Program's exploration of the solar system. Learners will identify and communicate to others the varied space science explorations carried out by the Discovery Program and dig into one mission in depth. They can... (View More) then respond to a NASA Discovery Program Announcement of Opportunity (AO) to submit a mock proposal. Includes the 29-minute Discovery Program overview video, "Unlocking Mysteries of Our Solar System." (View Less)

This is a unit in 11 sessions about the solar system. Learners will explore the terms planet and moon, they will sort and classify various solar system bodies into categories, and use this context to discuss if Pluto is a planet. They will also... (View More) research a particular solary system object and create a travel brochure for that object which they will use to help their classmates take a tour of the solar system. They will then construct an outdoor scale model of the inner and outer solar system. Finally they will create a human-powered orrery. This is Unit 3 of the GEMS Space Science Sequence for Grades 6-8, which is available for purchase (see related link). (View Less)