About 4.6 billion years ago, a cloud of interstellar dust, ice crystals, and gas collapsed to form a rapidly rotating disk with a young sun at its center: our solar system. This comic strip, a supplement to the Hall of Meteorites Educator's Guide, explains the processes that led to the creation of the planets and the asteroid belt.

This video segment from Nature describes how glaciers eroded the bedrock of IrelandŒë_í_Œ_ landscape.

This annotated index includes a wide range of free, online labs appropriate for Astro 101 courses, organized by chapter of the OpenStax Astronomy textbook. So, you can look up free labs on Kepler's Laws, H-R diagram, the Drake Equation, and many other topics in introductory astronomy. These lab activities have been put on line by universities, NASA and NSF sponsored projects, and instructors who want to share their labs with colleagues.

If we have missed any labs that are available free online, please suggest additions by emailing fraknoi@fhda.edu

The lesson will first explore the concept of current in electrical circuits. Current will be defined as the flow of electrons. Photovoltaic (PV) cell properties will then be introduced. Generally constructed of silicon, photovoltaic cells contain a large number of electrons BUT they can be thought of as "frozen" in their natural state. A source of energy is required to "free" these electrons if we wish to create current. Light from the sun provides this energy. This will lead to the principle of "Conservation of Energy." Finally, with a basic understanding of the circuits through Ohm's law, students will see how the energy from the sun can be used to power everyday items, including vehicles. This lesson utilizes the engineering design activity of building a solar car to help students learn these concepts.

This article describes the IGLO project and its involvement with local science centers and museums. Webcasts, online materials, and other resources are linked within the article.

As part of UC San DiegoŐs Division of Physical Sciences 50th Anniversary Lecture Series, join UC San DiegoŐs Tom Murphy on an exploration of how his project looking for deviations in EinsteinŐs theory of general relativity led to the discovery of the Soviet Lunokhod 1 lunar rover that vanished mysteriously nearly 40 years ago. (58 minutes)

The GLOBE Cave Protocol Field Guide utilizes existing GLOBE protocols to explore an extreme environment. Caves provide an opportunity to utilize GLOBE protocols to investigate underground environments and compare them to surface environments. Outside the cave, students record elevation, MUC, latitude and longitude, air temperature, relative humidity and air pressure. Inside the cave, students record air temperature, relative humidity and air pressure as well as observe and describe cave features in each room. Students also note evidence of biological activity and human impact. If water is present inside the cave, students record water temperature and pH. Follow up questions are included in the Field Guide.

During a scavenger hunt and an art project, students learn how to use a handheld GPS receiver for personal navigation. Teachers can request assistance from the Institute of Navigation to find nearby members with experience in using GPS and in locating receivers to use.

In this Digital Universe activity, students learn firsthand about estimation strategies and observational bias. They estimate how common several celestial objects are based on their location and make inferences about larger population patterns throughout the galaxy. The printable PDF activity includes illustrated step-by-step instructions for the following hands-on and computer-assisted activities: Introduction to Celestial Objects, Broad Distribution of Objects in the Galaxy and Making Galactic Estimates

This video lesson has the goal of introducing students to galaxies as large collections of gravitationally bound stars. It explores the amount of matter needed for a star to remain bound and then brings in the idea of Dark Matter, a new kind of matter that does not interact with light. It is best if students have had some high school level mechanics, ideally Newton's laws, orbital motion and centripetal force. The teacher guide segment has a derivation of centripetal acceleration. This lesson should be mostly accessible to students with no physics background. The video portion of this lesson runs about 30 minutes, and the questions and demonstrations will give a total activity time of about an hour if the materials are all at hand and the students work quickly. However, 1 1/2 hours is a more comfortable amount of time. There are several demonstrations that can be carried out using string, ten or so balls of a few inches in diameter, a stopwatch or clock with a sweep second hand and some tape. The demonstrations are best done outside, but can also be carried out in a gymnasium or other large room. If the materials or space are not available, there are videos of the demonstrations in the module and these may be used.

This video segment adapted from NOVA shows how Galileo, using his newly developed refracting telescope, observed four of Jupiter's moons, the first astronomical bodies to be discovered since ancient times.

In the early 1600s, most people believed that the Sun revolved around a stationary Earth. This video segment adapted from NOVA tells how Galileo proved that the Sun, not Earth, is at the center of our universe.

This video segment adapted from NOVA shows how Galileo used his telescope to carefully observe and study sunspots.

This video from NASA describes the GLAST satellite, which is equipped with a gamma-ray telescope, and shares some background about the kinds of extreme universal phenomena indicated by the presence of gamma rays.

The Gamma-ray Burst Skymap website automatically updates for each gamma-ray burst as it occurs, whether detected by Swift or other orbiting satellites. For each burst, the location on the sky, star map, constellation and detecting mission are generated automatically. It is then quickly updated by hand to include a written description of the burst properties and scientific significance, as observations continue. Note: In order to view the content of the website, users need to download and install Silverlight on their computers.

This video segment from Swift: Eyes through Time introduces and explains theories of the origin of gamma-ray bursts.

Students learn how a telescope's aperture determines how much light it can gather in this Moveable Museum unit. It has three procedures, one of which is optional. The four-page PDF guide includes suggested general background readings for educators, activity notes, step-by-step directions, and information about where to obtain supplies. In this activity, the light collector is not a lens or a mirror, but a hole in a cardboard box. Light enters through the hole and lights up the box. Users can change the size of the hole and see how the amount of light entering the box changes. The results show why increasing the aperture of a telescope increases the amount of light it can collect.

This article provides links to web sites about geologic time, fossils, and the archaeology and culture of the Arctic for elementary teachers.

This video segment from NatureScene examines the landforms of Death Valley and how they came to be.

See how the geology of the North Dakota badlands has changed over time in this video segment from NatureScene, featuring the landscape at Theodore Roosevelt National Park.