This is an activity about Earth's magnetic field. Learners will construct a soda bottle magnetometer, collect data, and analyze the results to detect magnetic storm events. Ideally, learners should collect data for at least a month. If several... (View More) months are available for data collection, this is ideal. This is the first activity as part of the iMAGiNETICspace: Where Imagination, Magnetism, and Space Collide educator's guide. Instructions for downloading the iBook educator's guide and the associated Transmedia book student guide are available at the resource link. (View Less)

This is an activity about observing and mapping sunspots by direct solar observation. Learners will use a small telescope, binoculars, or a Sunspotter to create a projected image of the Sun and trace the position of any observed sunspots on a piece... (View More) of paper. Additionally, learners will mark the direction of the Sun image’s motion. This is Activity 2 of the Space Weather Forecast curriculum. (View Less)

This is an activity about the period of the Sun's rotation. Learners will use image of the Sun from the SOHO spacecraft and a transparent latitude/ longitude grid called a Stonyhurst Disk to track the motion of sunspots in terms of degrees of... (View More) longitude. Using this angular motion measurement, learners will then calculate the sunspot’s angular velocity in order to determine the rotation period of the Sun. This activity requires access to the internet to obtain images from the SOHO image archive. This is Activity 4 of the Space Weather Forecast curriculum. (View Less)

This is a lesson about magnetism and solar flares. Learners will evaluate real solar data and images in order to calculate the energy and magnetic strength of a solar flare moving away from the Sun as a coronal mass ejection. This is Activity 3 in... (View More) the Exploring Magnetism in Solar Flares teachers guide. (View Less)

This is an activity about the periodicity of the solar cycle. Learners will calculate the number of M-class solar flares as a percentage of the total number of X-ray solar flares and graph these results as a function of time. When compared to a... (View More) graph of the number of sunspots as a function of time, learners make conclusions about the period of the solar cycle. This activity uses data from the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES). (View Less)

This is a lesson about the Kp index, a common numerical indicator of magnetic storminess. Learners will access and analyze Kp index plots of magnetic storm strength and determine the relative frequency of stronger versus weaker magnetic storms... (View More) during periods of higher and lower solar activity. This is the fifteenth activity in the Exploring the Earth's Magnetic Field: An IMAGE Satellite Guide to the Magnetosphere educators guide. (View Less)