This is an activity about visual analysis. Learners will create art inspired by planetary images while learning to recognize the geology on planetary surfaces. This presentation and accompanying activity uses the elements of art - shape, line,... (View More) color, texture, value - to make sense of features in NASA images, while honing observation skills and inspiring questions. (View Less)

This is an activity about albedo, which is a measurement of the reflectance of a planetary surface. Learners will classify areas on an image in terms of albedo values and then sketch their own portion of an image from space. These sketches are... (View More) assembled to view the larger image that the class or group has created. (View Less)

This is a set of two activities about Saturn. Learners will create science journals called Saturn Discovery Logs, to chronicle their journey of discovery about Saturn and NASA's Cassini-Huygens mission. They will use observation skills and write... (View More) about their observations. In teams, they also discuss and record what they wonder about. Their writing forms the basis for "claims" and "evidence" as projects and presentations are formulated. Includes a glossary, information for families, and guidance for deepening the science. This is lesson 1 of 8 in the Jewel of the Solar System: From Out-of-School to Outer Space an adaptation for afterschool programs of the Cassini-Huygens educational product Reading, Writing, and Rings. (View Less)

In this activity, students experiment to test the hypothesis that Mars was once hotter. The activity requires some advance preparation by the teacher: the day before the activity, need to place a plastic bottle filled with water in the freezer.... (View More) Materials needed include plastic bottle of water and thermometer. It is a companion piece to a CD about the exploration of Mars that uses song and drama to tell the story of Spirit and Opportunity, NASA's Mars Exploration Rovers, and their mission to search for signs of ancient water. (View Less)