Journey to Mars – A Collection of Resources for Teaching and Learning About Mars
Earlier this year SciShow Kids published a series of four videos all about Mars. To wrap-up that series SciShow Kids recently published a compilation of all of those videos in one video titled Journey to Mars. I’ve embedded that video below. The compilation video above doesn’t include an earlier SciShow Kids video about Mars. That […]
Designing a Mars Rover
A couple of weeks ago I published an all about Mars post that included a video from SciShowKids titled Meet the Mars Rovers! SciShow Kids has published a follow-up to that video. The follow-up is titled How to Design a Mars Rover! How to Design a Mars Rover! explains to elementary school students how scientists […]
225 NASA Infographics
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory website contains a large library of infographics that you can download and print for free. The library contains infographics about spacecraft, exploration missions, planets, moons, the solar system, and comets. I downloaded the What is Comet Made Of? infographic that you see pictured below. Applications for Education If printed in color, […]
A Dozen Neat NASA Resources for Students and Teachers
On Thursday I wrote about NASA’s From Hidden to Modern Figures collection of videos and lesson plans. Creating that blog post inspired me to look through my archives for some of the other neat NASA resources that I’ve found and shared over the years. Here they are in no particular order. The Langley Research Center […]
NASA From Hidden to Modern Figures
NASA’s From Hidden to Modern Figures is an excellent resource for teaching about the women who made significant contributions to the development of NASA’s space program. The site features written and video biographies of Katherine Johnson, Mary W. Jackson, and Dorothy Vaughan who were instrumental in many of NASA’s missions including the first orbit of […]
How Rockets Fly – And DIY Model Rockets
This morning Jeff Bezos is blasting into space on a new rocket designed by his company, Blue Origin. The BBC has a succinct overview of how the rocket is designed to work. For a kid-friendly explanation of how rockets work, turn to SciShow Kids. Last week SciShow Kids released a video titled How Do Rockets […]
Nine Neat NASA Resources for Students and Teachers – Updated
Years ago I published a list of nine neat NASA resources for students and teachers. At the time the list was current. Over the weekend someone emailed me to point out that few of them were no longer available due to the deprecation of Flash. Here’s my updated list of neat NASA resources for students […]
Video: The Solar System to Scale
I guess I’ve been a bit of a space kick lately as over the weekend I shared an augmented reality app about spacecraft and yesterday I featured the NASA selfies app. This morning I found an interesting video about creating a true-to-scale model of the solar system. The video is titled To Scale: The Solar […]
NASA Selfies – Put Yourself in Space and Learn a Bit About It
NASA Selfies is a fun and free app for “taking a selfie in space.” What it really does is just put your face into the helmet of a space suit that is floating in space. You can pick the background for your space selfie. Backgrounds are provided from NASA’s huge library of images. When you […]
Spacecraft AR – Explore NASA Spacecraft With Augmented Reality
Spacecraft AR is a free iPad and Android app offered by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The app enables students to learn about various NASA spacecraft including the Curiosity rover, Voyager, Mars Exploration Rover, and a handful of other spacecraft. Spacecraft AR includes information about each spacecraft’s development and use. With Spacecraft AR installed and open […]
NASA Artifacts for Schools
Thanks to my friend Steve Dembo this morning I learned about a U.S. General Services Administration program that lets schools acquire artifacts from NASA’s space program. The program has two parts. One part lets schools, museums, and similar organizations borrow artifacts. The other program lets schools acquire artifacts for no cost other than shipping fees. The […]
Neil and Buzz Go For a Walk – A Tour of the First Hours on the Moon
This weekend marks the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing. By now you’ve probably seen Google’s Google Earth story about the mission. If you haven’t seen it, it’s worth a few minutes of your time. Neil and Buzz Go For a Walk is another neat site about the Apollo 11 mission that’s worth […]
How to View the Moon and Mars in Google Earth
This morning I answered an email from a reader who wanted to know how to view the solar system in Google Earth. While you can’t view the entire solar system in Google Earth, you can view Mars, the moon, and some constellations in Google Earth Pro. Google Earth Pro is the free desktop version of […]
Sun, Moon, and Planets 101
National Geographic’s YouTube channel has an excellent playlist that is titled National Geographic 101. As you might guess, the playlist is full of short overviews of the basics of a wide variety of topics in science and geography. In National Geographic 101 you will find short videos about Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, Earth, Mercury, Mars, Pluto, […]
Best of 2018 – NASA’s Interactive Guide to the Solar System
This week is a vacation week for the vast majority of readers of this blog. As I do at this time every year, I’m going to republish some of the most popular posts of 2018. Here’s one from April. I have been reviewing and sharing sharing resources from NASA for almost as long as this […]
This Is What an Astronaut’s Camera Sees
What an Astronaut’s Camera Sees is an impressive narrated video of images of Earth as captured from space. The video is narrated by Dr. Justin Wilkinson from NASA. The video includes images of deserts in Africa, Sicily, the Kamchatka Peninsula, China, the Zagros Mountains, Australia, the Great Salt Lake, and the Andes Mountains. The video […]
Three Sites That Help Students Understand the Size of the Universe
Living in a relatively rural area that doesn’t have a lot of artificial light helps make it easy to spot constellations. Some nights when I take my dogs out before bedtime I look up at the constellations and I try to wrap my head around the size of the universe. Over the last few years […]
A 360° Video That Shows You How to Find the Summer Constellations
NPR’s Skunk Bear YouTube channel has recently become one of my favorite YouTube channels. The latest video published on the channel is a 360° video that explains how to find the constellations that are visible in the summer night sky over North America. Because the video is a 360° video you can pan through the […]
NASA’s Interactive Guide to the Solar System
I have been reviewing and sharing sharing resources from NASA for almost as long as this blog has existed. Somehow, I missed NASA’s Solar System Exploration until it was mentioned last week on Maps Mania. NASA’s Solar System Exploration website contains interactive displays of the planets, dwarf planets, and moons of our solar system. To […]
SkyView – An Augmented Reality App to Help Students Find Constellations
SkyView is a free augmented reality app (an Android version and an iOS version is available) that helps students identify stars and constellations. With the free app installed students can point their phones at the sky and see constellations identified on their screens. In addition to constellations the app will identify planets, satellites, and some […]
5 Ways to Use Google Earth & Maps Outside of Social Studies Lessons
When most teachers hear “Google Earth” or “Google Maps” they immediately think of history and geography lessons. While Google Earth and Google Maps are great for history and geography lessons, Earth and Maps are also powerful tools in other areas. Here are some ways that you can use Google Earth and Maps outside of social […]
Extreme Planet Makeover
Extreme Planet Makeover is an interactive activity produced by NASA as a part of the Exoplanet Exploration website. Extreme Planet Makeover lets students choose the size of a planet, position relative to the largest and nearest star, and planet age. Students instantly get feedback on the characteristics of the planets they create. For example, if […]
Print Dozens of NASA Infographics or Make Your Own
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory website contains a large library of infographics that you can download and print for free. The library contains infographics about spacecraft, exploration missions, planets, moons, the solar system, and comets. I downloaded the What is Comet Made Of? infographic that you see pictured below. Applications for Education If printed in color, […]
Put a Planetarium In Your Web Browser
Planetarium by Neave Interactive is a website on which you can specify your current location and it will show you a map of the night sky based upon your location and the date. You can also use Planetarium without specifying your location and instead explore the night sky from any place on Earth. For Google Chrome […]