space

In collaboration with NASA, the NISE Network has assembled a set of engaging, hands-on Earth and space science experiences with connections to science, technology, and society. These files contain the complete 2020 Explore Science: Earth and Space digital toolkit, including...

Included here are links to each activity training and content training video for the Explore Science: Earth & Space toolkit (2018 and 2017 kits), as well as a link to the entire Explore Science: Earth & Space toolkit video album.

"Exploring Size - Powers of Ten" is a card game exploring the relative sizes of various objects. Visitors compete to organize their hand of cards into lists of objects from largest to smallest. "Explore Science - Zoom into Nano Powers...

Visitors "travel through time" with a host playing several characters: from the Future, 1900, 1945 and 1999. Visitors answer questions in a quiz about other people's predictions of future technology, and then are invited to make their own predictions.

What is a robot, and how small can robots be? Are there robots the size of a hand? How about the size of a strand of hair? Can a robot be as tiny as a single molecule? Learn what makes...

This cart demonstration introduces the nanomaterial aerogel, a glass nanofoam. Visitors learn how aerogel is made, how well it insulates, and learn about its other unique properties. They see real aerogel and feel how well it insulates.

Stars have an interesting story to tell—but where can you start with your visitors? This online workshop covers the science behind two of the 2020 Explore Science: Earth & Space toolkit activities – Star Formation and Nebula Spin Art. After...

How do scientists and engineers design and test components for missions to space? This online workshop covered the science behind two of the 2020 Explore Science: Earth & Space toolkit activities – Design, Build, Test and Mission to Space. After...

In collaboration with NASA, the NISE Network has assembled a set of engaging, hands-on Earth and space science experiences with connections to science, technology, and society. These files contain the complete 2017 Explore Science: Earth and Space digital toolkit, including...

In collaboration with NASA, the NISE Network has assembled a set of engaging, hands-on Earth and space science experiences with connections to science, technology, and society. These files contain the complete 2017 Explore Science: Earth and Space digital toolkit, including...

This activity gives caregivers and their children an opportunity to practice scientific ways of thinking that are developmentally appropriate for early learners. In this case, we’re doing so while getting a feel for some properties of water. But rather than...

In this activity, participants will learn how stars form from the dust and gas that exists in space clumping together. They'll model the star-formation process by adding energy (via a hair dryer) to matter floating in space (ping pong balls)...

In "Exploring the Solar System: Design, Build, Test," participants will imagine a scientific mission to space, draw inspiration from existing spacecraft, and then design and build their own simple model spacecraft to accomplish the goals of their mission. After assembling...

In this activity, participants will learn about how gigantic clouds of gas and dust in space, called nebulas, are formed. They'll create their own colorful model nebula using paint and a spinner. Because of the unique quantities and locations of...

In this tabletop board game, players will represent a team of scientists and engineers sending a spacecraft on a mission to space. They'll meet with the surprises, setbacks, and success that accompany every scientific mission. The player who collects enough...

In this activity, participants will imagine the challenges and opportunities of asteroid mining. Participants will draw their own asteroid mining machines, and consider how these devices would extract, process, and return mined materials to Earth. They can also assume roles...

The Engineering is Elementary after-school modules were developed as part of the Engineering is Everywhere project, an engineering curriculum for middle school-aged youth in afterschool and camp programs. Engineering Everywhere empowers youth to tackle real-world engineering problems using the engineering...

This presentation discusses NASA's past lunar missions, and what future plans it may have for the Moon. A pdf file with presentation notes and credits is included.

Apollo Lunar Landing Sites v1.0: This video gives a brief overview of the six successful Apollo moon landing missions, and the lunar landing sites chosen for each.

Breakfast Moon is a picture book for young readers. In a simple story, the book talks about when we can see the Moon, what it looks like, and how it changes over the course of a month. Included with a...

These vintage-style travel posters were produced by NASA to spur the imagination about newly discovered exoplanets (planets beyond our solar system). Use the link to NASA's Exoplanet Travel Bureau below for free, high-res printable posters for your Earth and Space...

This activity encourages visitors to build an electroscope—a simplified version of one of the tools scientists use to study the invisible forces on Earth and in space. Participants will learn how static electricity works, how scientists can use it to...

Space Guess Quest is a fun game that encourages participants to identify the many types of objects in space, from human-made spacecraft to nebulas, galaxies, stars, and worlds. Players ask yes-or-no questions about their opponents' secret object until they can...

This activity includes a hands-on model of the way the universe is expanding—and how it has been expanding since the Big Bang. As participants pull at the edges of a stretchy model universe, they see that the space between objects...

This activity lets participants safely view the Sun and study features on its face. A solarscope projects an image of the Sun on a flat surface, where visitors can trace its outline and mark any sunspots on a sheet of...