This is an activity about how scientists use craters to determine the ages of lunar surface. Learners work in pairs: one child keeps time while the other creates a painting for the other to interpret. Cotton balls coated in different colors of paint... (View More) are thrown at paper to simulate asteroids striking the lunar surface over time. The children take turns in the time-keeping/painting roles to decipher a mystery: In what order did the "impacts" occur? Which painting has more "impacts"? They learn that scientists can estimate the age of a lunar surface by counting its craters. This activity is part of Explore! Marvel Moon, a series of activities developed specifically for use in libraries. (View Less)

Learners model how the Moon's volcanic period reshaped its earlier features. The children consider that the broad, shallow impact basins contained cracks through which magma seeped up. A plate in which slits have been cut is used to represent an... (View More) impact basin and a dish of red-colored water is used to represent the pockets of magma within the Moon's upper layers. When the model impact basin is pressed into the "magma," "lava" fills in the low areas through the same process that produced the dark patches, or maria, on the Moon. Children may examine a type of Earth rock (named basalt) that is also found on the Moon and that would have been shaped by the processes explored here. This station investigates the Moon's "teen years," when it was one to three billion years old. This activity is part of Explore! Marvel Moon, a series of activities developed specifically for use in libraries. (View Less)

Learners model how impacts throughout the Moon's history have broken rocks down into a mixture of dust, rocks, and boulders that covers the lunar surface. They consider how the dust will continue to hold a record of human exploration - in the form... (View More) of astronaut bootprints - for countless years in the future. Children may examine a type of Earth soil ("lunar soil simulant") that is similar to what is found on the Moon's surface and that would have been shaped by the processes explored here. The children create their own records of exploration by making rubbings of their shoes. This activity is part of Explore! Marvel Moon, a series of activities developed specifically for use in libraries. (View Less)

Learners model how an ocean of molten rock "magma" produced the Moon's oldest rocks. Dense materials in the molten mixture sank, while the least dense materials floated to the top and cooled to form the light-colored areas we see on the Moon today.... (View More) Children create a simple model of this process by mixing household materials of different densities in a bottle and allowing them to settle into separate layers. They decide which materials make the best model for the infant Moon. This activity is part of Explore! Marvel Moon, a series of activities developed specifically for use in libraries. (View Less)

In this lesson, students observe the surface of rotating potatoes to help them understand how astronomers can sometimes determine the shape of asteroids from variations in reflective brightness.

Learners will use direct vocabulary instruction to learn the new definitions of planet, dwarf planet, and asteroid. The publicity generated by the International Astronomical Union's definition of Pluto as a dwarf planet in 2006 created a teachable... (View More) moment for schools around the world to consider the definitions of these concepts and how discoveries necessitate a change in the language we use to talk about it. (View Less)

This is a lesson about ice worlds in the outer planetary regions and the role they play in understanding the Solar System. Learners will role-play stories connecting science-related literature to ice worlds, view and interpret space-based images of... (View More) ice worlds, and investigate surface and interior features of outer planetary ice worlds. Photometry and spectroscopy will be used as background. Activities include small group miming, speaking, drawing, and/or writing. This is the lesson 11 of 12 in the unit, Exploring Ice in the Solar System. (View Less)

This is a lesson about radiation and the various sources of radiation that a spacecraft may encounter in its journey. Learners will calculate their annual exposure to high-energy radiation, identify sources of high-energy radiation, and explain why... (View More) the near-Mercury environment is a concern for the Mercury MESSENGER mission. This is lesson 2 of 4 in the high school track of a module, titled Staying Cool. Note: the student guide starts on p. 17 of the PDF. (View Less)

This activity is about the discovery of water ice on Mars. Learners will record and graph temperature data and use a model of an ice-rich and ice-free surface on Mars to examine how ice content in the martian soil would impact the temperature of a... (View More) Mars microbe after impact. A student information sheet introducing the subject of ice and the search for water on Mars is provided. The activity requires access to a freezer the night before the activity. Note: Find the latest information and updates on Mars missions at the NASA Mars Exploration website (see Related & Supplemental Resources to the right). (View Less)

This is a lesson about the path meteorites take to get from the asteroid belt to Earth and how rare it is for the Earth to be hit by a large asteroid. Three activities comprise the lesson. Learners will draw circles and ellipses to illustrate basic... (View More) shapes of orbits in the solar system (Activity A); construct a scale-model of the inner solar system, observe relative distances and sizes, plot paths meteoroids might take and manipulate models to demonstrate the ecliptic plane (Activity B); and graph the locations of Earth and a near-earth asteroid, observe the significance of time and space, and estimate when the asteroid might cross the orbit of Earth (Activity C). Activities, vocabulary words, and experimental extensions are included. This is Lesson 4 of 19 in Exploring Meteorite Mysteries. (View Less)