This is a lesson about using light to identify the composition of an object. Learners will use a spectrograph to gather data about light sources. Using the data they‰Ûªve collected, students are able to make comparisons between different light sources and make conjectures about the composition of a mystery light source. The activity is part of Project Spectra, a science and engineering program for middle-high school students, focusing on how light is used to explore the Solar System.

This is an activity about using spectrogram plots as an indicator of magnetic activity on Earth. Learners will analyze spectrogram data and compare it to local Kp indices in an attempt to determine global magnetic storminess. This activity uses real data from the THEMIS (Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms) Magnetometer, and requires a computer with Internet access. This is activity 20 in the Exploring Magnetism: Earth's Magnetic Personality teachers guide.

This is a activity about how reaction wheels affect spacecraft orientation (attitude). Learners will observe Newton's Third Law (action-reaction) in the changes caused by a reaction wheel acting upon a spacecraft suspended from a support wire and in the ensuing interfering forces from the wire support. The experiment includes an option for demonstration and for learner investigation. Notes about gyroscopes are included.

This article discusses an example of a practical use of the square root of 2 by explaining how this irrational number figures in printing two pages on one side of A series-sized paper. 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.

In a mechanical demonstration of the Pythagorean theorem, this example provides a practical, hands-on method for deriving square roots using a carpenter's square. 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.

This is a lesson about detecting atmospheres of planets. Learners will explore stellar occultation events (by interpreting light curves) to determine if an imaginary dwarf planet ‰ÛÏSnorkzat‰Û� has an atmosphere. The activity is part of Project Spectra, a science and engineering program for middle-high school students, focusing on how light is used to explore the Solar System.

This is an activity about star movement due to the Earth's rotation. Learners will utilize the Sky Tonight online program to find the star that appears stationary in our night sky. They will then draw conclusions about the Earth‰Ûªs rotation based on the position changes of certain stars. This activity requires the use of a computer with Internet access. This activity is Sky Tonight Activity 2 in a larger resource, Space Update.

Students participating in Storm Signals play a critical role in the overall process of the Student Observation Network (S.O.N.). They are able to confirm the predictions of the Sunspotter's Sunspot Suspect, and they will predict magnetic storms around Earth, issuing Space Weather alerts that tell other students to begin monitoring the Magnetosphere for magnetic storms. By collecting and analyzing real-time data from their radio antennas, professional observatories, and NASA satellites, they can carry out the same duties as NASA researchers! The Space Weather alerts issued by the Space Environment Center (SEC) of NOAA (National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration) are essential to protect satellites, power grids and astronauts.

In Storm Signals you will learn:

1. How to instruct students in the construction of a simple device to detect radio emissions from the Sun.

2. How to enable students to obtain and interpret radio emissions from ground-based professional observatories.

3. How to enable students to obtain and interpret radio, x-ray and ultraviolet emissions from NASA satellites.

This is a lesson about the motion of a coronal mass ejection, also called a CME. Learners will calculate the velocity and acceleration of a CME based on its position in a series of images from the Large-Angle Spectrometric Coronagraph (LASCO) instrument on SOHO.

This activity is about the use of remote sensing in planetary exploration. Learners will find out how human curiosity in planetary exploration results in science questions, engineering solutions, and teamwork. This activity demonstrates how planetary features are discovered by the use of remote-sensing techniques. Students will experience the different phases in planetary exploration, including telescope observations, fly by missions, orbiters, landers, rovers, and their own ideas about human exploration. The lesson models scientific inquiry using the 5E instructional model and includes teacher notes, prerequisite concepts and vocabulary.

This activity introduces students to what a digital image is and how it relates to the real world. It involves a simple training exercise on making linear and area measurements using NIH Image software. The activity is part of Exploring the Environment.

In this activity students add and subtract log distances on their Log Tapes to discover that the corresponding numbers multiply and divide. This will lead them to an experiential understanding of the laws of logarithms.åÊThis is activity B2 in the "Far Out Math" educator's guide. Lessons in the guide include activities in which students measure,compare quantities as orders of magnitude, become familiar with scientific notation, and develop an understanding of exponents and logarithms using examples from NASA's GLAST mission. These are skills needed to understand the very large and very small quantities characteristic of astronomical observations. Note: In 2008, GLAST was renamed Fermi, for the physicist Enrico Fermi.

This is an activity about the Kp index, a quantification of fluctuations in the Earth's magnetic field due to the relative strength of a magnetic storm. Learners will take a reading from a magnetometer site and make a Kp index estimate to predict whether or not an aurora display will occur near that site. This resource is designed to support student analysis of THEMIS (Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms) Magnetometer line-plot data. This activity requires the use of a computer with Internet access. This is activity 18 in Exploring Magnetism: Earth‰Ûªs Magnetic Personality.

This is a lesson about the electromagnetic spectrum. Learners begin by arranging a set of picture cards; in the discussion afterwards, this activity is related to the electromagnetic spectrum as an arrangement of energy waves. Next, using a clothesline to model a logarithmic scale, they add in the electromagnetic spectrum. Finally, learners conduct several simple tests to detect other types of radiation. This activity requires access to a sunny outdoor location and the use of ultraviolet light-sensitive beads.

In this activity about spectroscopy, learners build a spectroscope, learn about graphing spectra, and then identify elements in gas tubes using their spectra. The activity concludes as learners graph the spectra of different materials. Essential materials required for this activity include spectrum light tubes, the power source for spectrum light tubes, and diffraction grating material.

This is a presentation to be used by educators to teach about the Sun and its effects on Earth's magnetosphere, including characteristics of coronal mass ejections, or CMEs, the aurora, and solar wind. A web link to a PDF or PowerPoint presentation is supplied, along with background information for the instructor. After the presentation, learners will read about various aspects of the Sun-Earth connection and write about one aspect that they found interesting from the presentation and the printed information. Internet access is required to obtain the presentation resources. This resource is Activity 14 of the Magnetic Mysteries of the Aurora teachers guide.

This site offers a series of programs that culminates with a celebration of the spring equinox. Join this journey of exploration and discovery in preparation for a total solar eclipse.

In this activity about magnetic fields and their relation to the Sun, learners will simulate sunspots by using iron filings to show magnetic fields around a bar or cow magnet, and draw the magnetic field surrounding two dipole magnets, both in parallel and perpendicular alignments. Finally, learners examine images of sunspots to relate their magnetic field drawings and observations to what is seen on the Sun.

This is an activity about perspective. Learners will examine pictures of objects up close and far away to try and figure out what they are. Then, given an image of a star and the Sun and through discussion about the differences and similarities of seeing objects up close, learners will use the concept of perspective to relate our nearby Sun to the stars that appear as small points of light in our sky.

This is an activity about identifying patterns of change in shadows as an effect of the Sun's changing position. This activity also discusses how shadows can be used to determine the time of day. Learners will build sundials and collect data based on their observations. The data collection exercise must be done outside on a sunny day. Measurements will be taken at various times throughout the day. This is Activity 14 of a larger resource entitled Eye on the Sky.