Day and Night, Seasons

In this activity developed by the Institute of Physics, students model the motion of a planet around a star and investigate how day and night and seasons may be different on other planets. Working in pairs or small groups, students demonstrate night and day and seasons to each other. They can then go on to model...

The Habitable Zone

In this activity developed by the Institute of Physics, students investigate how temperature changes with distance from a heat source and relate this to planetary temperatures. After completing this activity, students should be able to:

*Understand that the temperature of a planet depends on its distance...

Planet Density

In this activity developed by the Institute of Physics, students use iron and sand to model the composition of the Earth and estimate what fraction of the Earth is occupied by its iron core. After completing this activity, students should be able to: *Measure mass and volume. *Calculate density from mass and volume...

The Transit Method

In this activity, developed by the Institute of Physics, students use a lamp and polystyrene balls to model how astronomers detect exoplanets using the transit method. After completing this activity, students should: *Understand that the transit of a planet in front of its star temporarily reduces the star’s...

Solar System Simulation Activity

This activity introduces children to simulations - modelling or acting out real-world, or maybe imaginary, situations. Linking to the teaching of space, it asks what factors need to be considered when simulating the solar system. Out of these, the children then decide what the most important things to include in...

Imaging the Earth

Combing satellite and ground-based imagery, this cross-curricular learning resource for primary teachers explores planet Earth from a range of perspectives.

The activities are intended to build map skills and recognition of many physical geography features in familiar and unfamiliar locations. Mathematics...

Gardens in the Sky

This Catalyst article investigates how plants can be grown in orbiting spacecraft and how this may be useful in future manned space missions.

The article is from Catalyst: Secondary Science Review 2014, Volume 25, Issue 3.

Catalyst is a...

Are Airships Making a Comeback?

This Catalyst article investigates whether airships are making a comeback. The Airlander is an airship which can be used for transporting heavy loads over long distances.

The article is from Catalyst: Secondary Science Review 2014, Volume 25, Issue 3.

...

Solar System

This resource provides an activity in which children create a scale representation of the distance of the Planets away from the Sun. Using the scale of one sheet of toilet paper = 50,000,000 km children calculate the number of sheets of toilet paper required for the correct spacing of the Planets from the Sun. This...

VEX IQ with ModKit

This sample of a teacher guide introduces basic robotics using VEX IQ robotics kits and ModKit programming software – the activities are based upon a single robot model which can be constructed from the VEX starter kit.

Students learn about basic movement of the robot rover, as well as related challenges, in...