Students compare real-time Earth and Mars measurements for temperature, wind speed, humidity and atmospheric pressure by accessing Internet-data resources from NASA.
Students plot and analyze NASA data to determine the period of an invisible planet orbiting a wobbling star.
In this series of guided inquiry activities, students explore how organisms adapt to their environments through changes in their genetic codes. The learner will: create make-believe creatures and environments that have specific characteristics; rate the success of each creature in a randomly assigned environment by examining which of the creature's characteristics help, hinder, or have no effect on the creature's success in each environment; write the genetic code for their creatures from a list of fictitious genetic codes; apply his/her knowledge of genetic codes and environments to engineer new creatures that could survive in various extreme environments within our solar system.
Students estimate the number of civilizations in the galaxy by first estimating the number of craters on the Moon and then by performing estimates of multiple-variable systems culminating in the use of the Drake Equation. In this three-part activity, students use estimation techniques to describe complex situations.
These activities are designed to create a sense of disequilibrium in the visual perception of students to make them aware of different ways to to view a picture. The students will view the images, decide what they see in each, record their ideas, and write a story based upon these findings.
These activities are designed to create a sense of disequilibrium in the visual perception of students to make them aware of different ways to to view a picture. The students will view the images, decide what they see in each, record their ideas, and write a story based upon these findings.
In this activity, students plan the first manned mission to Mars.
What makes Earth the perfect home for life as we know it? Students in this activity explore the orbital characteristics a planetary home needs to support Earth-like life forms.
In this activity, students download NASA Hubble Space Telescope (HST) images of the Martian polar ice caps in summer and winter. Using image processing techniques, students measure and compare various images of the changing Martian and Earth polar ice caps.
How special are the circumstances that have allowed complex life, like animals and plants, to develop on Earth? In this activity students systematically investigate the time frame for complex life to develop on Earth.
As we search for life in the universe, it is essential that we be able to identify the chemical composition of planets and moons both inside and outside our Solar System. Remote sensing is one of the most valuable tools that scientists use to gather information about the composition of distant objects. In this lesson, students discover how remote sensing is used to identify the signatures of life even when the particular life form is not directly observable.