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Become a crime scene investigator! Learners model Dawn Mission scientists, engineers, and technologists and how they use instrumentation to detect distant worlds. After a briefing to build context, students explore interactions between different... (View More) frequencies/wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum and matter as they investigate the different ways scientists gather and understand remote sensing data, using Dawn instruments as examples. This module is organized around a learning cycle, engaging students through several experiences to activate students' prior knowledge and assess conceptual understanding, informing next steps. (View Less)
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 "Snorkzat" has an atmosphere. The activity is part of Project Spectra,... (View More) a science and engineering program for middle-high school students, focusing on how light is used to explore the Solar System. (View Less)
Learners will explore different ways of displaying visual spectra, including colored "barcode" spectra, like those produced by a diffraction grating, and line plots displaying intensity versus color, or wavelength. Students learn that a diffraction... (View More) grating acts like a prism, bending light into its component colors. 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. (View Less)
This is a lesson about discovering distant planets using an Earth-based observing technique called stellar occultation. Learners will explore how a stellar occultation occurs, how planetary atmospheres can be discovered, and how planetary diameters... (View More) can be determined using actual light curves from stellar occultation events. Includes adaptations for younger students and those with visual impairments. (View Less)
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... (View More) the ensuing interfering forces from the wire support. The experiment includes an option for demonstration and for learner investigation. Notes about gyroscopes are included. (View Less)
Learners will use water balloons to demonstrate meteorite impacts, use geography to assess various terrains for meteorite recovery, attempt to recover simulated meteorite fragments, make experimental predictions, graph the results, and draw... (View More) conclusions. This is lesson 3 of 19 in Exploring Meteorite Mysteries. (View Less)
Materials Cost: 1 cent - $1 per group of students
This is a lesson about mapping objects using triangulation. Learners hunt distant meteorites using geometric properties and relationships, demonstrate and experience triangulation, and apply triangulation to directed and group-challenge mapping... (View More) activities. Activities, vocabulary words, and experimental extensions are included. This is lesson 2 of 19 in Exploring Meteorite Mysteries. (View Less)
This is a lesson about the effects of large impacts. Learners will use critical thinking skills to evaluate and apply data from a narrative to a scientific selection process, will demonstrate or visualize simulations of some of the effects of a huge... (View More) impact, and will write a point of view narrative. Materials and vocabulary lists, and advanced preparation and procedural tips are included. This is lesson 14 of 19 in Exploring Meteorite Mysteries. (View Less)
Learners simulate the process of geological differentiation. The activity ends with an extension question that asks about the makeup of the highlands of the Moon. This activity is in Unit 2 of the Exploring the Moon teacher's guide and is designed... (View More) for use especially, but not exclusively, with the Lunar Sample Disk program. (View Less)
Materials Cost: 1 cent - $1 per group of students