This series of activities from NASA take a mathematical approach to looking at the Sun-Earth system. They are intended as supplementary problems for students looking for additional challenges in mathematics and physical science from age 11 to 16 years.

The problems were created to be authentic glimpses of...

From NASA, Solar Energy for Space Exploration is a problem-based learning activity. The project requires students to propose and defend a design to provide power to a lunar or Martian research base for six astronauts. To prepare for the final project, students investigate the variables that affect the operation of...

This booklet is part of the ‘Innovations in Practical Work’ series published by the Gatsby Science Enhancement Programme (SEP). Solar cells use light from the Sun to generate electricity, and it is now quite common to see solar-powered consumer devices. What has held...

A crowd funding web site recently raised more than two million US dollars to fund solar roadways. These roads, claim the developers, will remain snow-free, and, at the click of a switch, can be transformed into car parks or even sports pitches. In this activity students consider whether solar roadways are worth...

This Catalyst article is about the surface of the Sun. The article looks at a sunspot as seen by the Japanese Hinode solar observatory. Sunspots enable research about the nature and activity of the Sun. They are regions of strong magnetic activity and the article reports on the history of research into sunspots....

This resource provides an activity in which children create a scale representation of the distance of the Planets away from the Sun. Using the scale of one sheet of toilet paper = 50,000,000 km children calculate the number of sheets of toilet paper required for the correct spacing of the Planets from the Sun. This...

From NASA, this is a set of high quality images and information about the solar system. The set of materials features the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Earth’s Moon, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, asteroids, comets, meteors and meteorites, the Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud, and moons of the solar system...

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...

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.

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...

This activity introduces children to simulations - modelling or acting out real-world, or maybe imaginary, situations. Linking to the teaching of space, it asks what factors need to be considered when simulating the solar system. Out of these, the children then decide what the most important things to include in...

This resource, aimed at primary level, contains three activities relating to the Solar System. In the first activity children create a solar system flip book to show that the four planets closest to the Sun (Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars) revolve around the Sun in the...

This collection contains resources relating to the Solar System and Planets. There are a range of activities, images, video and information from sources such as the European Space Agency and NASA. There are a range of materials which can be used with primary or secondary students.

From NASA, these high resolution images show separately the planets of our solar system. Images in this resource include: Sun, Earth, Moon, Mars, Venus, Neptune, Mercury, Saturn, Jupiter, Uranus and the dwarf planet Pluto.