The two activities included in this guide introduce students to the principles behind Newton's Law of Gravitation. The guide provides teachers with background information, preparation suggestions for each activity, as well as material lists, and... (View More) demonstrations. The activity guide assumes knowledge of Newton's Second Law of Motion, can be tailored for the level of the students, and can be completed individually or in groups. This is the last of four posters on Newton's Laws and a copy of the wallsheet intended to accompany these activities is available on this website. (View Less)

This educational wallsheet provides several simple illustrations of Newton's Second Law. In the activity included, students study the motion shown in the drawings to decide how it relates to the object's velocity, whether or not the velocity is... (View More) changing (acceleration), and what forces are causing any acceleration. The activity provides teachers with background information, pre-activity reading, pre-activity discussion questions, an assessment, an extension activity for advanced students, and post-activity discussions that tie the classroom activity back to the Swift satellite launch. This is the second of four posters on Newton's Laws. A copy of the wallsheet intended to accompany the activity is available on this website. (View Less)

In this activity, identified as the capstone activity, students will be asked to examine and analyze spectra from a past mission and compare it to simulations of data from future missions, including Suzaku. A thorough comparison will show better... (View More) data from each successive generation of spacecraft. Students will compare and contrast their findings as a class. The guide includes discussion questions and instructions for using the video - Building the Coolest X-ray Satellite: Astro-E2 - in the classroom. The video describes NASA's development of the X-ray Telescopes and X-ray Spectrometer for the Astro-E2 (Suzaku) mission. This is the final activity in the educator guide. (View Less)

In this activity, students use rulers to measure distances between hypothetical galaxies and then use these distances to calculate the velocities of the galaxies. This activity is part of the "Cosmic Questions" educator's guide that was developed to... (View More) support the Cosmic Questions exhibit. This activity can be in conjunction with, or independently of, the exhibit. (View Less)

In this activity, students work in groups to create a presentation that illustrates the meaning of the statement "To make an apple pie from scratch you must first invent the universe." Students pick an element that can be found in apple pie and... (View More) trace its evolutionary history back to the birth of the universe itself. They also share their vision of the environment in which that element may find itself 5 or so billion years from now after the Earth is long gone. Presentations are intended to demonstrate student understanding of the origins and life cycle of matter, so this activity is appropriate as a conclusion to a unit. This activity is part of the "What is Your Cosmic Connection to the Elements" information and activity booklet. The booklet includes teacher notes, grading guide and student handouts. (View Less)