This is a culminating activity for the MMS Mission Educator's Instructional Guide. Learners should complete the four previous activities in the guide before moving to this activity. Learners will choose and complete three activities about the MMS mission. Activity formats can include creating videos, composing songs, developing written materials, constructing models, investigating current events, utilizing mathematics to explain concepts, and more. Depending on the project(s) chosen by a student, the project activity may require student access to internet accessible computers. This is lesson five as part of the MMS Mission Educator's Instructional Guide.

This is a hands-on lab activity about the properties and states of water. Learners will complete activities using different liquids to understand the three states of matter, explain how the high heat capacity and abundance of liquid water makes life on Earth possible, and understand that water containing salts and minerals has different properties than fresh water. They will graph data to analyze and articulate results and conclusions. The lab is set up as three stations that small groups of students rotate through; it can also be done as demonstrations (e.g., for younger students). Background information, common preconceptions, a glossary and more is included. This activity is part of the Aquarius Hands-on Laboratory Activities.

This module focuses on ultraviolet radiation on Earth and in space and how it affects life. Learners will construct their own "martian" using craft materials and UV beads. They will explore how UV radiation from the Sun can affect living things, comparing conditions on Earth and Mars, and then discuss ways in which organisms may protect themselves from UV radiation. They will then take part in a Mars Creature Challenge, where they will change their creature to help it survive harsh UV conditions ‰ÛÓ like on Mars. They will then test their Mars creatures by subjecting them to different environmental conditions to see how well they "survive" in a martian environment. This investigation will explore shelter and protection as one of life‰Ûªs requirements and how Earth‰Ûªs atmosphere protects life from harmful UV radiation. It also includes specific tips for effectively engaging girls in STEM. This is activity 5 in Explore: Life on Mars? that was developed specifically for use in libraries.

This is a lesson about Saturn. Learners will organize their knowledge of Saturn and Cassini to prepare to write one of the following types of nonfiction for their final piece: descriptive (poetry), compare and contrast, or summary. This is lesson 11 of 12 in the Mission to Saturn Educators Guide, Reading Writing Rings, for grades 3-4.

In this lesson, students analyze land cover change in order to help them grasp the extent, significance, and consequences of land cover change; and to introduce them to the perspective of space-based Earth observations. Students learn to identify kinds of land cover (such as roads, fields, urban areas, and lakes) in Landsat satellite images. They decide which land cover types allow the passage of water into the soil (pervious) and which types do not allow it (impervious). They consider some effects of increasing impervious surface area on ecosystem health. Students then make land cover maps using two Landsat satellite images taken about a decade apart, and quantify the change of land cover from pervious to impervious surface. They also make predictive maps of what they think the nature and extent of land cover change in the area will be in the year 2025, and speculate about the consequences for the availability of water for people and ecosystems. Students justify in writing their predictive maps and their thoughts about the consequences of change. This activity uses Landsat images of Phoenix, Arizona; links are also provided for finding Landsat images of other cities.

This is a lesson about generating hypotheses and testable questions. Learners will use critical thinking and a collaborative approach to pose questions related to the study of Mars and evaluate the quality of their questions. They will explore remote-sensing data collected by a camera orbiting Mars - the Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) and develop a team science question. Students will practice critical thinking skills, use a collaborative approach to this first critical step of the scientific process. Exploring the images of the surface of Mars in Visible (VIS) images, students will come up with a topic of study, their team science question and hypotheses. The lesson models scientific inquiry using the 5E instructional model and includes teacher notes and vocabulary.

The objectives of this lesson are to understand the characteristics of the data that is collected using the Radio JOVE antenna/receiver system. Using calibrations for the equipment, one can determine a proper measure of the peak intensity of the output, identify the duration of the solar or Jovian radio activity, and calculate the approximate total power emitted by the source. Master these concepts by completing example problems.

In this lesson students will understand radio waves and how they relate to the electromagnetic spectrum. They will determine wavelength, frequency, and speed of radio waves and master these concepts by completing example problems.

Students will learn about the twin STEREO spacecraft and how they are being used to track solar storms through reading a NASA press release and viewing a NASA eClips video segment. Then students will examine data to learn more about the frequency and speed of solar storms traveling from the Sun to Earth. This activity is part of the Space Math multimedia modules that integrate NASA press releases, NASA archival video, and mathematics problems targeted at specific math standards commonly encountered in middle school textbooks. The modules cover specific math topics at multiple levels of difficulty with real-world data and use the 5E instructional sequence.

This poster illustrates and describes types of high-, low-, and mid-altitude clouds. Poster back has article and activity related to Earth's water cycle, as well as a cloud identification quiz and a water cycle crossword puzzle.

This is an activity about seasons. Learners begin by brainstorming a list of activities and events that occur in each season. Next, learners perform an experiment by comparing the temperature on thermometers left under a lamp for different lengths of time to illustrate that Earth heats more when the Sun is in the sky longer.

In this activity, students will learn how technology can help scientists solve a problem. One of the challenges scientists face with any spacecraft is attitude control. Students will be introduced to the problem of attitude control in space through an experiment using angular momentum, and experience two different ways scientists address this problem. Students begin by discussing the technology(ies) that powers satellites and enable(s) them to move through space. Students then engage in an angular momentum experiment.åÊEstimated cost of this activity does not include the cost of the bicycle wheel for the angular momentum experiment. This activity is one of several in the Swift: Eyes through Time collection available on the Teachers' Domain website.

This collection of 103 individual sets of math problems derives from images and data generated by NASA remote sensing technology. Whether used as a challenge activity, enrichment activity and/or a formative assessment, the problems allow students to engage in authentic applications of math. Each set consists of one page of math problems (one to six problems per page) and an accompanying answer key. Based on complexity, the problem sets are designated for two grade level groups: 6-8 and 9-12. Also included is an introduction to remote sensing, a matrix aligning the problem sets to specific math topics, and four problems for beginners (grades 3-5).

This is an activity about image resolution. Learners will recreate a solar image taken by the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) using various sizes of building bricks, and discuss how their recreations relate to image resolution. Learners will also compare SDO images to solar images from older spacecraft to see how improved technology helps scientists learn more about the Sun.

This is a resource that explains the rationale behind the multiple time zone divisions in the United States. Learners will work through a problem set to practice calculating the time in one time zone, given the time in another time zone. This is activity 9 from the educator guide, Exploring Magnetism: Magnetic Mysteries of the Aurora.

In this problem-based learning module, students focus on issues related to understanding the nature and transmission of the Rift Valley fever virus, a virus that causes the death of large numbers of livestock in Kenya and in much of sub-Saharan Africa, and can also infect humans. This module is part of Exploring the Environment.

This story can be used to teach that results must be checked against known facts to see if they're reasonable. It is designed as a follow up to "The Fall of the Ruler." This resource is from PUMAS - Practical Uses of Math and Science - a collection of brief examples created by scientists and engineers showing how math and science topics taught in K-12 classes have real world applications.

Using a computer interactive tool, students investigate the changes in coastline that would result from a change in sea level, and suggest what factors could cause a rise in sea level. The activity asks students to reflect on outcomes of their investigations completed during the Ice Ages and Night Life activities, all of which are part of Space Update, a collection of resources and activities provided to teach about Earth and space. Summary background information, data and images supporting the activity are available on the Earth Update data site. To complete the activity, students will need to access the Space Update multimedia collection, which is available for download and purchase for use in the classroom.

This is an online sorting game that compares the lifetime risk of death from an asteroid impact to other threats. For example, are you more likely to be killed by an amusement park ride or an asteroid impact? It is part of the Killer Asteroids Web Site. The site also features a background overview of the differences between asteroids and comets, information on different types of asteroids (rubble piles vs monoliths), a discussion of how at risk Earth really is to an asteroid or comet impact, and background information on light curves.