In this kinesthetic activity, learners act out the rotation and revolution motions of Earth around the Sun over the course of one year. Learners also physically model the tilt of the Earth and will identify the summer and winter solstice and vernal... (View More) and autumnal equinox locations in relation to Earth's orbit around the Sun. (View Less)

This is an activity about the relation between day length and temperature. In one team, learners will create and analyze a graph of hours of sunlight versus month of the year for a number of latitudes. In another team, learners will graph... (View More) temperature versus month for the same latitudes. The teams then compare data and draw conclusions from their analyses. (View Less)

This is an activity involving observations of the Sun. Learners use pinhole cameras, solar telescopes, and/or solar viewing glasses to make solar observations, draw what they see, and identify sunspots, if they are present. Then, learners go online... (View More) and compare their drawings to images obtained by the SOHO spacecraft. This activity requires the use a sunny outdoor location. This activity also require use of safe methods for observing the Sun, such as pinhole cameras, telescopes with proper solar filters attached, and/or viewing glasses that are designated for safe solar viewing. No one should look at the Sun unless one or more of these methods is used in a proper fashion. (View Less)

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... (View More) 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. (View Less)

This is an activity about the measurement of time. Learners model the rotation of Earth over one day by holding a flashlight for the Sun and a blow up globe, and record their observations. Then, they use those observations to create devices that... (View More) will track time and test their devices outside. This final part of this activity requires access to a sunny outdoor location for an extended period of time so learners can test their time measurement devices. (View Less)

Using a set of activities, recommendations, and diagrams, participants will construct a fully functional Space Weather Action Center (SWAC) for use in a classroom. Students will access, analyze, and record NASA satellite and observatory data to... (View More) monitor the progress of an entire solar storm. Afterward, they will transform the data collected in their student journals into real SWAC news reports using an adaptable SWAC script. (View Less)