Speed of the Earth

This video, from Twig World, explains that the planet earth is constantly moving through space and models the Earth’s orbit as a circle in order to approximate the distance travelled in one year and hence estimate the distance the Earth travels every second. The video is accompanied by a lesson plan and a...

Astronomy and Football

A 100 metres football field could serve as a venue to compare distances in our Solar System. Hopefully, this exercise from ESA will add perspective to the vastness of our part of the Universe and to the learning of astronomy.

Solar System Puzzle Kit

Produced by NASA, this activity contains information about the planets of the solar system. The main activity allows students to create an eight-cube paper puzzle of the solar system. In assembling the puzzle, students colour images of the Sun, planets and asteroids. In addition to puzzle pieces, the kit contains...

Solar System Scale Model

From NASA, this activity helps students see the relative distances from the sun of the planets in our solar system. Astronomers refer to the distance from the sun to the Earth as one 'astronomical unit' or AU. This activity demonstrates an easy way to calculate the distances of the other planets from the sun and...

Solar System Reader

Produced by NASA, this resource contains five activities, teaching tips, fun facts and short narratives in which the sun and each planet introduce themselves. They can be used to help students improve their reading as well as learn about the solar system.

The Sun and Stars

Produced by Teachers TV, as part of the Teaching Astronomy and Space series looks at the Sun before exploring other stars. Solar physicist Lucie Green explains her keen interest in the sun, our nearest star. Modern space telescopes now allow scientists to see it in great detail and recent solar missions have...

The Solar System, Planets, Asteroids and Comets

Produced by Teachers TV, as part of the Teaching Astronomy and Space series, this video looks at Saturn, its moons and finally on the risk of an asteroid colliding with Earth.

Planetary scientist Sheila Kanani shows...

What Keeps Us Stuck to the Earth?

Alice wonders why we don’t float out into space. Their thoughts lead on to the idea that gravity is an acceleration and that they may need Einstein’s ideas of space-time to explain why they are accelerating. This clip could provide a lead in to topics such as relativity, acceleration and gravitational force. 

What's Moving on Titan?

This Science upd8 activity draws on Titan which is the biggest of Saturn's moons.

There are two student activities; one involves labelling a diagram to tell students on Earth about the nature of Titan.

The other asks students to take the role of Titanian space explorers and use data to compare the...

Impact Earth

A Catalyst article about giant asteroids. Astronomers say that, one day, a giant rock from space will collide with the Earth and cause mass devastation. This could lead to the extinction of many species, including humans. The article looks at what can be done to prepare for such an impact and what happened when a...