NASA Wavelength Resources Collection

NASA Wavelength is a collection of resources that incorporate NASA content and have been subject to peer review. You can search this collection using key words and/or the drop down menus to pinpoint resources to use with your audience of learners.
1604 result(s)

Titan and other Moons of Saturn

This is a lesson about Saturn's largest moon, Titan. Learners will examine and sort through images of Saturn's varied moons to see characteristics they share and those which set them apart. Students will write a paragraph about Saturn’s moons and explain how they sorted them.
Keywords: Visual analysis
Audience: Elementary school, Grades K-2
Topic: Earth and space science, Solar system, Comparative planetology, Earth and space science, Solar system, Planets, The nature of science
Materials Cost: 1 cent - $1
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Distance to the Moon

Learners will use simple sports balls as scale models of Earth and the Moon. Given the astronomical distance between Earth and the Moon, students will determine the scale of the model system and the distance that must separate the two models.
Audience: Elementary school, Grades 3-5, Middle school, High school
Topic: Earth and space science, Solar system, The moon, Mathematics, Measurement
Materials Cost: Free
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Comet on a Stick

In this activity, learners replicate the scientific processes of observing, forming an explanation, revising and communicating about a model of a comet. Learners construct a model of features of a comet using an assortment of common craft supplies.
Audience: Elementary school, Grades 3-5, Middle school, High school, Grade 9, High school, Grade 10, Informal education, Elementary school programming, Informal education, Middle school programming, Informal education, High school programming, Informal education, General public, Informal education, Youth public, Informal education, Families
Topic: Earth and space science, Solar system, Asteroids and comets, Earth and space science, Solar system, Planetary science, Engineering and technology, The nature of science, The scientific process
Materials Cost: $1 - $5
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Electromagnets

This is an activity about the properties of electromagnets, which is a crucial underpinning for understanding how magnetic fields are generated in nature, in the surface of the Sun, and in the interior of Earth.
Keywords: Magnetism
Audience: High school
Topic: Physical sciences, Electricity and magnetism
Materials Cost: $1 - $5
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Using Mathematical Models to Investigate Planetary Habitability: Activity B Making a Simple Mathematical Mode

In this activity, students build a simple computer model to determine the black body surface temperature of planets in our solar system: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto.
Keywords: Solar constant, Black body, Deriving equations, Energy Budget, Global Warming, Global Climate Systems, Greenhouse Effect, Systems Interactions, Mathematical modeling
Audience: High school
Topic: Earth and space science, Earth processes, Climate, Earth and space science, Earth processes, Earth's energy budget, Earth and space science, Earth structure, Atmosphere, Earth and space science, Solar system, Comparative planetology, Life sciences, Ecology and ecosystems, Mathematics, Problem solving
Materials Cost: Free
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Space Weather Software

This software package displays movies and images of the aurora and the Sun in various wavelengths from the ground and from NASA spacecraft; a tutorial about what space weather is and how the aurora is formed; and more.
Keywords: Space weather, Auroras
Audience: High school, Informal education, High school programming, Informal education, General public, Informal education, Informal science education professionals
Topic: Earth and space science, Solar system, The sun, Earth and space science, Solar system, The sun, Solar-terrestrial interactions, Earth and space science, Solar system, The sun, Space weather
Materials Cost: Free
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Can you hear Me Now? Communicating with Spacecraft

Learners will investigate various ways to improve mission design to maximize the scientific return. In the first activity, students examine how the use of flowcharts can help make computer programs error-free and efficient, in this way making the spacecraft more reliable.
Audience: High school
Topic: Engineering and technology, The nature of technology, The design process
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Carbon Dioxide Increases during the last 2,000 years

In this problem set, learners will use a graph of carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere of the last 2000 years to answer questions related to increases over time and why scientists link this increase with human activity. Answer key is provided.
Keywords: Gigaton, Parts-per-million, Unit conversion, Graph analysis
Audience: Middle school
Topic: Earth and space science, Earth structure, Atmosphere, Mathematics, Problem solving, The nature of science, Science and society
Materials Cost: Free
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Ice in the Shadows

This is a lesson about detecting ice on the permanently shadowed craters of Mercury and the Moon. Learners will consider what might be in that ice and will examine why the polar regions of Earth, Mercury and the Moon are colder than elsewhere on the planets.
Audience: Pre-kindergarten, Elementary school, Middle school, Grades 6-8, Middle school
Topic: Earth and space science, Earth processes, Climate, Earth and space science, Solar system, Comparative planetology, Earth and space science, Solar system, Planetary science, Earth and space science, Solar system, The sun, Solar physics, Mathematics, Geometry, Physical sciences, Heat and thermodynamics, Physical sciences, Energy, Physical sciences, Light and optics, Physical sciences, Motion and forces, Physical sciences, States of matter, The nature of science, Science and society, The nature of science, The scientific process, The nature of technology, Technology and society
Materials Cost: $5 - $10
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Solar Week Wednesday: Learn About the Active Sun

This is a reading associated with activities during Solar Week, a twice-yearly event in March and October during which classrooms are able to interact with scientists studying the Sun. Outside of Solar Week, information, activities, and resources are archived and available online at any time.
Audience: Elementary school, Grades 3-5, Middle school, Grades 6-8, Middle school, Middle school, High school, Grade 9
Topic: Earth and space science, Solar system, The sun, Solar physics
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