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SEC - Additional Activities (5-8)

Solar System Word Puzzle

A Solar System themed crossword puzzle.

Energy Transport in the Sun

This activity focuses upon the mechanisms involved and length of time required for a photon (a single particle of light) to escape from the interior of the sun and thus provide energy to the rest of the solar system.

Measuring the Solar Constant

Students measure the time it takes for the sun to heat up a sample of water, in order to determine the average change in temperature over time. With this information the students can then calculate the energy output of the sun.

Solar Storms and You! (Exploring Satellite Design)

In this exercise Students will learn about satellite design and how various characteristics such as mass can radically affect the cost of sending it into space.

Solar Storms and You! (Exploring the Aurora and the Ionosphere)

A lengthy exposition about the nature and affects of Solar Storms followed by various exercises aimed at understanding the causes and effects of solar storms as well as the Aurora.

Solar Storms and You! (Exploring the Human Impacts of Solar Activity)

A series of exercises designed to teach students about how Solar Activity (or the lack thereof) affects human life from knocking out satellites to endangering high-altitude flight to causing mini ice ages.

Solar Storms and You! (Exploring Magnetic Storms)

A comprehensive guide to localized magnetic instabilities on the surface of the sun and their effects on the Earth's magnetosphere as well as space and ground based technology. This is followed up with activities aimed at understanding how to recognize and measure these solar magnetic storms.

Solar Storms and You! (Exploring Sunspots and Solar Activity Cycles)

A detailed discussion about Sunspots as well as exercises designed to teach about observations of sunspots via ocean temperatures as well as inferring sunspot activity in other stars by observing their magnetic storms.

Solar Storms and You! (Exploring the Wind from the Sun)

A series of 3 activities aimed at teaching about the nature and affects of Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs).

Game Cards

A board game activity designed to teach about human space travel through the solar system.

Data Analysis and Measurment (Having a Solar Blast)

A research activity focusing on introducing students to how NASA scientists study the sun via crucial satellite technology. Students will also analyze NASA solar data to determine the Solar Cycle.

Living With a Star

A Comprehensive guide to NASA and other resources for information on the Sun-Earth Connection. Included are exercises teaching students how to safely observe the sun via projection, draw sunspots, and viewing solar eclipses.

The Northern Lights

A series of activities designed to teach about the Aurora Borealis. Topics include, among other things, how scientists explain and describe the Aurora, how to predict when and where they will appear, and the Norse Mythology surrounding the Lights.

Origami Sun (Part 1)

This is the first part of a 2 part exercise. In this part students learn some basic facts about the sun and discuss them.

Origami Sun (Part 2)

This is the second part of a 2 part exercise. In this part, an origami pattern of the sun is provided for the students to construct a paper model of the sun.

Radiation Hazards in Space

Students will learn about the types and hazards of radiation in space and how it affects human space travel, via a board game.

Solar System Puzzle Kit

A detailed disquisition about the solar system focused around an activity involving the construction of a cube with faces that display the solar system.

The Sun as a Star

A series of eight exercises focusing on observation of the Sun. Among other topics, students learn about the nature of light itself as well as its use as the primary investigative tool for observing the sun, how the length and angle of shadows relates to the SunÕs position in the sky, and the images taken by the SOHO satellite.

Our Star-The Sun

A detailed fact sheet about the Sun. No exercises.

Where to Get More Stuff

A list of NASA educational resources.
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