Students will learn about the Transit of Venus through reading a NASA press release and viewing a NASA eClips video that describes several ways to observe transits. Then students will study angular measurement by learning about parallax and how astronomers use this geometric effect to determine the distance to Venus during a Transit of Venus. This activity is part of the Space Math multimedia modules that integrate NASA press releases, NASA archival video, and mathematics problems targeted at specific math standards commonly encountered in middle school textbooks. The modules cover specific math topics at multiple levels of difficulty with real-world data and use the 5E instructional sequence.

Students learn more about forces by examining the force of gravitational attraction. They observe how objects fall and measure the force of gravitational attraction upon objects.

Students should analyze the Frontispiece to 'A Discourse concerning a New World and another Planet' by John Wilkins (1640) after learning about notable scientists of the period. In their analysis, students should attempt to identify technological advances and theories portrayed in the frontispiece.

Students should analyze the Frontispiece to 'A Discourse concerning a New World and another Planet' by John Wilkins (1640) after learning about notable scientists of the period. In their analysis, students should attempt to identify technological advances and theories portrayed in the frontispiece.

This collection of activities is based on a weekly series of space science mathematics problems distributed during the 2012-2013 school year. They were intended for students looking for additional challenges in the math and physical science curriculum in grades 5 through 12. The problems were created to be authentic glimpses of modern science and engineering issues, often involving actual research data. The problems were designed to be one-pagers with a Teacher’s Guide and Answer Key as a second page.

Did you know that you would be a different age if you lived on Mars? It's true! In this activity, you'll learn about the different rotation and revolution periods of each of the planets and calculate your age respectively. Included is an astronomy history lesson and explanation of Kepler's Laws of Orbital Motion. The activity has a calculator built into the web page, but the activity can be made more math intensive by using the given data to calculate the learner's age by hand.