This interactive activity, in applet form, guides students through the motion of the sun and how they relate to seasons.

Move the sun, earth, moon and space station to see how it affects their gravitational forces and orbital paths. Visualize the sizes and distances between different heavenly bodies, and turn off gravity to see what would happen without it!

Move the sun, earth, moon and space station to see how it affects their gravitational forces and orbital paths. Visualize the sizes and distances between different heavenly bodies, and turn off gravity to see what would happen without it!

The High School Integrated Conceptual Science Program (ICSP) is a NGSS-aligned curriculum that utilizes the conceptual progressions model for bundling of the NGSS, High School Conceptual Model Course 1 and strategies from Ambitious Science Teaching (AST) to focus on teaching practices needed to engage students in science discourse and learning. Course 1 is the High School Integrated Physics and Chemsitry Course.   The goal of these units is to encourage students to continue in STEM by providing engaging and aligned curriculum. The focus of this year long course is on the first year of high school (freshman).  While the course is designed to be taught as a collection of the units, each unit could be taught as a separate unit in a science course.  A video about the new course shared its unique approach to learning and teaching. Wenatchee School District, one of the participating districts, wanted a way to share the program with the community. https://youtu.be/9AGk19YUi2oCourse 1 of the ICSP development was funded by Northwest Earth and Space Sciences Pipeline (NESSP) which is funded through the NASA Science Mission Directorate and housed with Washington NASA Space Grant Consortium at the University of Washington.

There are billions of galaxies filled with billions of stars. Each star has the potential to have planets orbiting it. Does life exist on some of those planets? Explore the question, “Is there life in space?” Discover how scientists find planets and other astronomical bodies through the wobble (also known as Doppler spectroscopy or radial-velocity) and transit methods. Compare zones of habitability around different star types, discovering the zone of liquid water possibility around each star type. Explore how scientists use spectroscopy to learn about atmospheres on distant planets. You will not be able to answer the module's framing question at the end of the module, but you will be able to explain how scientists find distant planets and moons and how they determine whether those astronomical bodies could be habitable.

Isaac Newton's famous thought experiment about what would happen if you launched a cannon from a mountaintop at a high velocity comes to life with an interactive computer model. You are charged with the task of launching a satellite into space. Control the angle and speed at which the satellite is launched, and see the results to gain a basic understanding of escape velocity.

Don't have solar glasses? Don't worry. Here are five unique ways to view an eclipse, including using a cracker!

Get creative during a solar eclipse and find out how to use the Sun as an artistic tool.

Learn how eclipses work by making your own with some clay, toothpicks, binder clips, a yardstick and don't forget the Sun!

Humans have been on a mission to learn more about the red planet. Use this content guide to learn more about the challenges facing robotic explorers of Mars.

This Motions of the Sun Lab is an interactive applet from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Astronomy Applet project.

The Integrated Conceptual Science Program Course 1 Integrated Physics and Chemistry is a three dimensional course based on the Conceptual Progression Model of the Next Generation Science Standards. It is designed to be used as part of a three course program that addresses all high school science performance expectations. Course 1 is designed for ninth grade students.
This resource includes the teacher materials, supporting documents, and short videos to support teachers in using the materials.
The Courses were designed using the Ambitious Science Teaching (AST) framework. It is strongly encouraged that before using these materials that you be familiar with AST. We suggest that you watch the AST Overview short video found here: https://datapuzzles.org/ambitious-science-teaching and explore this Google Slide deck that contains many resources designed to further your understanding of AST: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1WOUVmlm636_7i2l0GYa9JkX1TCK3NMdySfpxKN7IM7A/edit?usp=sharing

THE PATTERNS APPROACH
The Patterns Approach to science instruction emphasizes the use of mathematical and phenomenological patterns to predict the future and understand the past. Students construct science knowledge by making an initial “wild-guess”, asking questions, planning and conducting experiments, collecting data, finding a mathematical model that fits their data, explaining the phenomenon based on that model, then finally making a data-informed prediction. Harnessing their own experiences, students compare and contrast low-evidence predictions (wild guesses) to their data-informed prediction to live the experience and learn the value of evidence-based reasoning. Additionally, students engage in several engineering projects in each course, where they must use the Patterns they discover in their designs to optimize their solutions. The Patterns Approach utilizes technology, student-constructed knowledge, frequent opportunities for student talk, and language supports to ensure the engagement and success of every student. By emphasizing, rather than removing, the mathematical connections to science, the Patterns Approach supports student conceptual understanding by connecting real-world inquiry experiences, graphical representations, and mathematical representations of science phenomena.

Here is a way that you can create a 3D model to wrap your head around moon phases.

An applet about the Milankovitch cycle that relates temperature over the last 400,000 years to changes in the eccentricity, precession, and orbital tilt of Earth's orbit.

Maj. Ben Calhoon, Chief of the Positioning, Navigation and Timing Branch within the Space Operations Division of Headquarters Air Force, will discuss the importance of GPS.

Batalha is an astrophysicist at NASA Ames Research Center and the project scientist for NASA's Kepler Mission. Hear about what she is working on and how she got to where she is today.

Alan Stern, principal investigator of NASA's New Horizons mission, shows the exciting images and science results yielded from the New Horizons mission as the spacecraft flew through the Pluto system

A researcher from NASA Ames shares his work to develop new direct imaging technologies to study exoplanets in greater detail and discover habitable worlds outside of our solar system.