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Where Are the Distant Worlds? Star Maps
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This fun hands-on astronomy activity lets learners use star maps (included) to find constellations and to identify stars with extrasolar planets (Northern Hemisphere only, naked eye).

Dunking the Planets
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In this demonstration, learners compare the relative sizes and masses of scale models of the planets as represented by fruits and other foods.

Make a Sun Clock: Tell Time with the Sun
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Before there were clocks, people used shadows to tell time. In this outdoor activity, learners will discover how to tell time using only a compass, a pencil, a handy printout, and a sunny day.

Solar Cell Simulation
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In this activity, learners model the flow of energy from the sun as it enters a photovoltaic cell, moves along a wire and powers a load.

How to View a Solar Eclipse
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This is an activity to do when there is a solar eclipse!

My Angle on Cooling: Effects of Distance and Inclination
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In this activity, learners discover that one way to cool an object in the presence of a heat source is to increase the distance from it or change the angle at which it is faced.

Biodomes Engineering Design Project
In this design-based activity, learners explore environments, ecosystems, energy flow and organism interactions by creating a model biodome. Learners become engineers who create model ecosystems.

The Thousand-Yard Model
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This is a classic exercise for visualizing the scale of the Solar System.

Does the Moon Rotate?
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This fun and simple hands-on astronomy activity lets learners make 3-dimensional models of the Earth and Moon.

Portable Sundial
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Learners construct one or more of the following kinds of sundials: a shadow plot, a horizontal sundial, and a diptych sundial.

Experiencing Parallax With Your Thumb
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In this activity, learners investigate parallax, a method used to measure distances to stars and planets in the solar system.

Solar System in My Neighborhood
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In this activity, learners shrink the scale of the vast solar system to the size of their neighborhood.

Stargazing
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In this nighttime, outdoor activity, learners keep a record of what they see in the sky by drawing constellations, the Moon, and making note of the weather and conditions each day.

Rain Machine (Solar Still)
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In this activity, learners work in groups to build simple solar stills filled with salt water. After the stills are complete, learners observe what happens when they place the stills in the sun.

Using a Simple Astrolabe
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In this activity, learners use an astrolabe to measure the altitude of objects. Learners will first practice taking measurements by measuring the altitude of trees and buildings.

Light is Made of Colors
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Learners observe different light sources, outdoors and indoors, using prism glasses (diffraction glasses) and color filters.

Solar Water Heater
Learners work in teams to design and build solar water heating devices that mimic those used in residences to capture energy in the form of solar radiation and convert it to thermal energy.

The Shadow Knows I
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In this activity, learners will measure the length of their shadow from the Sun and compare it three to four months later.

The Size and Distance of the Planets
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In this activity, learners investigate the concepts of relative size and distance by creating a basic model of the solar system.

Comet Cratering
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Make impact craters with marbles (or rocks or washers) in a container of flour. Find out what you can learn about your "comets" by the craters they make.