In this hands-on activity, learners will build a solar cooker by lining a box with reflective material and adding a translucent cover. The cooker can be used to make food products. This activity recommends use of empty (clean) pizza boxes. This... (View More) activity requires a sunny outdoor location for an extended period of time. (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 period of the Sun’s rotation. Learners will select images of the Sun from the SOHO spacecraft image archive. Next, they will calculate an image scale for the selected solar images. Then, they will use it to help... (View More) determine the actual speed of sunspots based on measurements of their motion in the selected Sun images and, finally, determine the period of the Sun's rotation. This activity requires access to the internet to obtain images from the SOHO image archive. This is Activity 3 of the Space Weather Forecast curriculum. (View Less)

In this introductory lesson, students will learn the basics of the aurora through small group discussions, reflection and reading. The lesson includes teacher notes and instructions, student workshops and an online, animated story, and related... (View More) teacher resources on aurora. This is lesson one of a collection of five activities that can be used individually or as a sequence; concludes with a KWL (Know/Want-to-know/Learned) assessment activity. (View Less)

In this lesson, students will demonstrate their understanding of the aurora by writing their own poems. Teachers can decide which form(s) of poetry to use from their worksheets or allow students to create their own. Examples of styles include:... (View More) Acrostic, List, Haiku, Like and As, and May and Could. To help students get inspired, the class will read a poem on the aurora, and they can also look through their portfolios to help form ideas. Includes teacher notes and instructions, student workshops and an online, animated story, and related teacher resources on aurora. This is lesson five of a collection of five activities that can be used individually or as a sequence; concludes with a KWL (Know/Want-to-know/Learned) assessment activity. (View Less)

In this final lesson of the Dancing Lights curriculum, students will reflect on and discuss what they learned about the aurora. First, students will compare what they know now with what they knew at the beginning of the program, and discuss their... (View More) answers with a partner using Think, Pair, Share. The entire class will create a new KWL (Know/Want-to-know/Learned) chart on the board before turning in their individual work. (View Less)

This is an activity about ellipses, their focal points, and how the mathematics involved pertains to planetary orbits. Learners will draw their own ellipse using a string and pencil and calculate the minimum and maximum distance from the Sun for... (View More) each of the planets. This activity requires access to the Space Weather software and is Solar System Activity 5 in a larger resource, titled Space Update. (View Less)