This is a make-it-yourself planisphere designed to show where Kepler is pointing. Learners can use it to locate exoplanets around stars in the night sky. It comes with two wheels: one with coordinate grid for plotting additional exoplanet stars and... (View More) one without grid that is easier to read; and two holders for varying latitudes (one for 30°-50° and one for 50°-70°). The product is updated approximately annually to incorporate improvements and any newly discovered planets orbiting naked eye stars. (View Less)

This is a set of three activities about the distance to Saturn. Learners will use simple props to create a playground model for size and distance for the Sun, Earth, and Saturn - then walk on their scale model to Saturn. Includes a glossary,... (View More) information for families, and guidance for deepening the science. This is lesson 2 of 8 in the Jewel of the Solar System: From Out-of-School to Outer Space an adaptation for afterschool programs of the Cassini-Huygens educational product Reading, Writing, and Rings. (View Less)

This is a set of four activities about spacecraft design. Learners will think like engineers as they design, peer review, and then construct and present their spacecraft to travel to Saturn. Includes a glossary, information for families, and... (View More) guidance for deepening the science. This is lesson 5 of 8 in the Jewel of the Solar System: From Out-of-School to Outer Space an adaptation for afterschool programs of the Cassini-Huygens educational product Reading, Writing, and Rings. (View Less)

This is a game about the formation of the solar system. Learners dynamically engage in modeling the growth of asteroids from specks of matter. Similar to tag, the children run around, have fun, and burn off energy. Different from tag, there is... (View More) science involved! The end of activity debriefing discusses strengths and limits of the model. Note the setting for this activity should be large and open where students can run. (View Less)

This is a lesson about ice worlds in the outer planetary regions and the role they play in understanding the Solar System. Learners will role-play stories connecting science-related literature to ice worlds, view and interpret space-based images of... (View More) ice worlds, and investigate surface and interior features of outer planetary ice worlds. Photometry and spectroscopy will be used as background. Activities include small group miming, speaking, drawing, and/or writing. This is the lesson 11 of 12 in the unit, Exploring Ice in the Solar System. (View Less)

This is an activity about the planet Mars. Learners will create cratered surface models illustrating different lengths of time. Then, they will compare their models with three different surface images of Mars, placing these images in order from... (View More) youngest to oldest based on the evidence. Learners will discover that the oldest surface has the most craters, while also discussing what events could make a surface on a planet both half-craters and half-smooth. (View Less)

This is an activity about observation. Learners will make a 3-dimensional model of a mock planetary surface inside a box, and then place a lid on top. They will then introduce a simple probe, such as a pencil or stick, at various points through... (View More) regularly-placed holes in the box top to touch the surface below. Then, they will record the depth at which the probe descends, using the data to make a contour map of its surface. This will help learners see how scientists can research objects which are not easily studied strictly by visual means. This is Activity C-7 of Universe at Your Fingertips 2.0: A Collection of Activities and Resources for Teaching Astronomy DVD-ROM, which is available for purchase. (View Less)