Echolocation is the ability to orient by transmitting sound and receiving echoes from objects in the environment. As a result of a Marco-Polo type activity and subsequent lesson, students learn basic concepts of echolocation. They use these concepts to understand how dolphins use echolocation to locate prey, escape predators, navigate their environment, such as avoiding gillnets set by commercial fishing vessels. Students will also learn that dolphin sounds are vibrations created by vocal organs, and that sound is a type of wave or signal that carries energy and information especially in the dolphin's case. Students will learn that a dolphin's sense of hearing is highly enhanced and better than that of human hearing. Students will also be introduced to the concept of by-catch Students will learn what happens to animals caught through by-catch and why.

Music can loosely be defined as organized sound. The lesson objectives, understanding sound is a form of energy, understanding pitch, understanding sound traveling through a medium, and being able to separate music from sound, can provide a good knowledge base as to how sound, math, and music are related. Sound exists everywhere in the world; typically objects cause waves of pressure in the air which are perceived by people as sound. Among the sounds that exist in everyday life, a few of them produce a definite pitch. For example, blowing air over half full glass bottles, tapping a glass with a spoon, and tapping long steel rods against a hard surface all produce a definite pitch because a certain component of the object vibrates in a periodic fashion. The pitch produced by an object can be changed by the length or the volume of the portion that vibrates. For example, by gradually filling a bottle while blowing across the top, higher pitches can be generated. By organizing a few of these sounds with a clearer pitch, the sounds become closer to music. The very first musical instruments involved using various objects (e.g. bells) that have different pitches, which are played in sequence. The organization of the pitches is what transforms sounds into music. Since the first instruments, the ability to control pitch has greatly improved as illustrated by more modern instruments such as guitars, violins, pianos, and more. Music is comprised of organized sound, which is made of specific frequencies. This lesson will help define and elaborate on the connections between sound and music.

This is an activity about the Doppler effect. Learners begin by simulating the noise made by a passing siren. After learning that the change in pitch results from movement, they investigate the definition of frequency, calculate change in frequency, and learn how this applies to light and the study of astronomy. This lesson requires a Doppler ball, also referred to as a buzzer ball.

In this activity about the Sun's influence on plant growth, learners will create a plant box and observe that a plant will grow towards the Sun, its primary source of energy. By periodically collecting data on the growth of the plant, they can come to their own conclusions about why the plant grew towards the sunlight. One to two weeks are needed to grow plants for this lesson; also, time is needed to construct the plant box. Potting soil and bean seeds are needed for this activity.

Students will learn about the growth and development stages of soybeans, look at different ways soybeans are used, and make a picture book demonstrating the life cycle of a soybean.

This lesson is designed to introduce or review the lifecycle of plants. The soybean lifecycle model will help them visualize each stage of the lifecycle. The soybean plant is an excellent plant to use when teaching lifecycles because it has a very typical plant lifecycle and it is grown throughout Iowa.

This is a booklet containing 20 problem sets that involve a variety of math skills, including equations and substitution, time calculations, reading, algebra, and more. Each set of problems is contained on one page. Learners will use mathematics to explore space science topics related to our Sun, auroras, solar features, space weather, sunspots, and solar storms. This booklet can be found on the Space Math@NASA website.

This is a booklet containing 24 problem sets that involve a variety of math skills, including scientific notation, simple algebra, and calculus. Each set of problems is contained on one page. Learners will use mathematics to explore varied space science topics including solar storms, solar energy, coronal mass ejections, and doppler shift, among others.

This is a booklet containing 36 problem sets that involve a variety of math skills, including scientific notation, algebra, geometry, and calculus. Each set of problems is contained on one page. Learners will use mathematics to explore varied space science topics including radiation effects on humans and technology, solar science, and other mathematics topics.

This is a booklet containing 31 problem sets that involve a variety of math skills, including scientific notation, simple algebra, and calculus. Each set of problems is contained on one page. Learners will use mathematics to explore varied space science topics including black holes, ice on Mercury, a mathematical model of the Sun's interior, sunspots, the heliopause, and coronal mass ejections, among many others.

This collection of activities is based on a weekly series of space science mathematics problems distributed during the 2012-2013 school year. They were intended for students looking for additional challenges in the math and physical science curriculum in grades 5 through 12. The problems were created to be authentic glimpses of modern science and engineering issues, often involving actual research data. The problems were designed to be one-pagers with a Teacher‰Ûªs Guide and Answer Key as a second page.

This is a booklet containing 87 problem sets that involve a variety of math skills, including scale, geometry, graph analysis, fractions, unit conversions, scientific notation, simple algebra, and calculus. Each set of problems is contained on one page. Learners will use mathematics to explore varied space science topics in the areas of Earth science, planetary science, and astrophysics, among many others. This booklet can be found on the Space Math@NASA website.

This book presents 49 space-related math problems published weekly on the SpaceMath@NASA site during the 2011-2012 academic year. The problems utilize information, imagery, and data from various NASA spacecraft missions that span a variety of math skills in pre-algebra and algebra.

On this webpage, learners will read fun facts about Pluto and explore why it is no longer considered a planet.

This article describes the work being done by scientists to determine the origin of water found in Earth's oceans. A supplemental exploration of the Herschel Space Observatory is included. The article is targeted to children ages 10-12.

This article explains the role of the tilt of Earth's axis on seasonal changes. An accompanying exploration dispels the commonly held misconception that distances between the sun and Earth are a factor. The article is targeted to children ages 10-12.

This article defines and describes science. A sample experiment outlining the investigation of the autumnal color change of maple leaves is included. The article is targeted to children ages 10-12.

This is a series of three webpages about how humans and computers communicate. Learners will explore the binary and hexidecimal systems and how engineers use them to translate spacecraft data into images.

This article explains how Earth's atmosphere scatters the light from the sun, thereby creating the blue color we typically associate with our sky. Supplementing this article is an explanation of the importance of scattering sunlight. The article is targeted to children ages 10-12.

This lesson for English Language Learners (ELLs) discusses a trend that is becoming more popular with each passing year, space tourism. In this lesson, learners will practice reading, listening, speaking and writing. All activities are automatically graded with feedback provided to the learner upon submission.