solar system websites for elementary students

Student projects that appear below contain experiments that can be effectively adapted for use by educators for teaching about the topic. Activities are simplified explorations that can be used in the classroom or in informal learning environments. Lesson Plans offer NGSS alignment, contain background materials to boost teacher confidence, even in areas that may be new to them, and include supplemental resources like worksheets, videos, discussion questions, and assessment materials. Note: Science Buddies Lesson Plans contain materials to support educators leading hands-on STEM learning with students. Modeling the Planets in Our Solar System.The resources below have been grouped as follows:

In learning about the solar system, students explore gravity differences in the size, mass, and composition of planets and asteroids orbits and how natural and manmade satellites work and more. The free STEM lessons and activities below are designed to help educators teach students about the solar system, including the order, size, position, and distances from the Sun of the planets. As students model and explore our solar system, they build the framework on which they will expand their understanding of galaxies, our own and others, distances in space, the age of our solar system, the life cycle of stars, the composition of planets, and more.

Using models and hands-on systems helps students visualize and engage with questions about space and our solar system and brings to life an understanding of Earth as a single planet positioned in a solar system with other planets-and that our solar system is just one such system in the universe.

How do you move beyond these basic concepts in teaching students about the solar system?ĭespite early awareness of basic astronomy, science related to astronomy, the solar system, and even space beyond, can be difficult for students to comprehend because the scale is so large. Students learn that the Earth is one of eight planets in our solar system, a group of planets that circle the Sun at a set pace and in a predictable elliptical pattern. The names of the planets quickly follow, along with stars and the reality that the Sun, too, is a star and is the closest star to Earth. The Earth, the Moon, the Sun, and space are concepts students identify early on.

Solar system websites for elementary students