This is a lesson about displacement, buoyancy, and density. Learners will understand why ice floats. Includes background information, teacher notes, assessment criteria, and related resources; activities are differentiated for Pre-K-grade 2 and... (View More) grades 3-5. This is lesson 4 of the unit Exploring Ice in the Solar System. (View Less)

This is a detailed lesson about space and how Earth fits in it. Learners will consider the essential question, "What is space?" Activities include small group miming, speaking, drawing, and/or writing about space and the evidence for ice in space.... (View More) Included are detailed games and dialogue. Native stories are shared. This is lesson 9 of 12 in the unit, Exploring Ice in the Solar System. (View Less)

This is a lesson about the role of robots in space exploration. Learners will examine their prior notions of robots and then consider the characteristics and capabilities of a robot, like the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft, that would be sent into space... (View More) to explore another planet. Students compare robotic functions to human body functions. The lesson prepares students to design, build, diagram, and explain their own models of robots for space exploration in the Saturn system. This is activity 5 of 6 in the Saturn Educators Guide. (View Less)

In this lesson, learners will use History of Discovery cards and interpretive skits to examine how scientists throughout history have explored Saturn. The lesson enables students to discern the multicultural nature of scientific inquiry and to see... (View More) how technology improvements increase our ability to solve scientific mysteries. The lesson also prepares students to create and interpret their own timelines spanning the years 1610 to 2010. The timelines depict scientists, technologies, and discoveries. This is lesson 4 of 6 in the Saturn Educators Guide. (View Less)

This is an activity about gravity. Learners will design their own experiments to explore the fundamental force of gravity and then extend their thinking to how gravity acts to keep objects like moons and ring particles in orbit. They use the... (View More) contexts of the solar system and the Saturn system to explore the nature of orbits. The lesson enables students to correct common misconceptions about gravity and orbits and to learn how orbital speed decreases as the distance from the object being orbited increases. This is lesson 3 of 6 in the Saturn Educators Guide. (View Less)