The sun is an average size star and the center of our solar system. One of the things surrounding it is an asteroid belt, and the four planets inside that belt are called the inner planets.
The classroom resource provides a slide show that will describe the components of the inner section of our solar system: the sun, the asteroid belt, and the four inner planets. This resource can provide background information for students before they create their own models. There is also a short test that can be used to assess students' understanding.
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are the outer planets of our solar system. There is a dwarf planet called Pluto out there, too!
The classroom resource provides a slide show that will describe the components of the outer section of our solar system: the four outer planets and the dwarf planet, Pluto. This resource can provide background information for students before they create their own models. There is also a short test that can be used to assess students' understanding.
Gravitational force is the constant force of attraction between the masses of two objects. The attraction between objects and the Earth is called gravity. Weight is caused by gravity: it is the measurement of gravity’s force on an object’s mass.
The classroom resource provides a video that will explain how gravity and inertia work together to keep the planets in our solar system revolving around the sun. This resource can provide background information for students before they create their own models. There is also a short test that can be used to assess students' understanding.
Earth’s moon reflects the sun, and so it is visible at night. It also rotates at the same rate that it orbits, 27 days, which means that we only see one side of it. The moon has one-sixth of the gravity of Earth and no atmosphere at all!
The classroom resource provides a slide show that will explain the characteristics of Earth's moon. There is also a short test that can be used to assess students' understanding.
The universe describes space and all of the planets, stars, galaxies, and other matter contained there. It is so big that some scientists believe that it might go on forever.
The classroom resource provides a video that will describe the components of the universe and their relationship to each other. This resource can provide background information for students before they create their own models. There is also a short test that can be used to assess students' understanding.
The teacher will present an informational text from the website, ReadWorks. Students will interact with this non-fiction text by annotating the text digitally. This learning activity can introduce students to the concept of gravity and celestial bodies or serve as reinforcement after students have already learned this concept.
In this lesson, students refine and expand their understandings of gravity, forces, and motion in the context of satellite orbits. This lesson is most appropriate for students who have already had instruction in the forces acting on falling bodies and gravity. The purpose of this lesson is for students to explore satellite orbits and gravitational force.
The purpose of this lesson is to explore how the Earth’s and moon’s gravity affects the path of a rocket launched into space. The heart of this lesson will focus on an online interactive, in which students launch a rocket from Earth on various space missions. Students will have control over the angle and thrust of the rocket and should see the relationship between the two as they change these settings.