Field Trips and Classes
Rocketry
Grade Level/s: Grade 1-2, Grade 3-4, Grade 5-6, Grade 7-8, Grade 9-12, K
Class Category: Engineering Design
Venue: Science on a Sphere
Available Packages: Voyage 1, Voyage 2
Students will learn about rocket design and the past, present, and future of rocket launches. Students will assemble rockets while thinking about how forces like direction and magnitude affect the motion of an object. NGSS standards: K-PS2-2, K-2-ETS1-1, K-2-ETS1-1, K-2ETS1-3, 3-PS2-2, MS-ETS1, HS-ETS1. Addresses 21st century essential skills.
Robotics Exploration Mission
Grade Level/s: Grade 4, Grade 5-6, Grade 7-8, Grade 9-12
Class Category: Space Exploration
Venue: Mars Robotic Laboratory
Students engaging in this mission will work in teams to complete mission objectives programming and operating LEGO EV3® robots on our simulated Martian terrain. These missions will improve students’ teamwork, communication and problem-solving skills as well as enhance math, technology and engineering proficiency. NGSS standards: 3-5-ETS1-1, 3-5 ETS1-2, 3-5 ETS1-3, HS-ETS1-2. Addresses 21st century essential skills.
Reason for the Seasons
Class Category: Earth Systems
Venue: Science on a Sphere
Available Packages: Voyage 1, Voyage 2, Voyage 3
Students will learn about the Earth’s tilt and its orbit around the sun, and how these cause the seasons year after year. NGSS standards: K-PS3-1, 1-ESS1-1, 1-ESS1-2, 2-ESS1-1. Addresses 21st century essential skills.
Plate Tectonics
Grade Level/s: Grade 5-6, Grade 7-8
Class Category: Earth Systems
Venue: Science on a Sphere
Available Packages: Voyage 1, Voyage 2, Voyage 3
Students will explore how major geologic events such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, mid-ocean ridges, and mountain formations are associated with plate boundaries and how these attribute to plate motions. NGSS standards: 4-ESS1-1, MS-ESS1-4, MS-ESS2-2, MS-ESS2-3. Addresses 21st century essential skills.
Moon Phases
Grade Level/s: Grade 1-2, Grade 3-4, Grade 5
Class Category: Space Systems
Venue: Science on a Sphere
Available Packages: Voyage 1, Voyage 2, Voyage 3
The relative positions and motions of Earth, Moon, and Sun can be used to explain observable effects such as seasons, eclipses, and moon phases. Students will learn about these motions to further understand the phases of the moon. NGSS standards: 1-ESS1, 2-ESS1, 3-PS2, 4-ESS1, 5-PS2, 5-ESS1. Addresses 21st century essential skills.
Parent Offspring
Grade Level/s: Grade 1-2, Grade 3-4, K
Class Category: Earth Systems
Venue: Science on a Sphere
Available Packages: Voyage 1, Voyage 2, Voyage 3
Students will explore characteristics of living organisms. Students will learn that offspring have characteristics that are similar to, but not exactly like their parents’ characteristics. NGSS standards: K-LS1-1, 1-LS1-2, 1-LS3-1, 2-LS4-1, 3-LS3-1, 3-LS3-2, 3-LS4-3, 3-LS4-4. Addresses 21st century essential skills.
Lunar Impact:LCROSS
Grade Level/s: Grade 4, Grade 5-6, Grade 7-8, Grade 9-12
Class Category: Engineering Design
Venue: Science on a Sphere
Available Packages: Voyage 1, Voyage 2
Students will learn about Moon exploration and the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. Through problem-solving techniques, students will design and engineer a spacecraft based on the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) mission to target craters of scientific interest. NGSS standards: 3-5-ETS1-1, MS-ETS1-3, HS-ETS1-2. Addresses 21st century essential skills.
States of Matter
Grade Level/s: Grade 1-2, Grade 3-4, Grade 5-6, Grade 7-8, Grade 9-12, K
Class Category: Earth Systems
Venue: Science on a Sphere
Available Packages: Voyage 1, Voyage 2, Voyage 3
The Solar System yields an understanding of the physical characteristics and changes of solid, liquid, and gas states. Primary students will study the properties of each state of matter through understanding the physical characteristics of Terrestrial and Jovian planets. 3rd – 12th grade students will create a device that changes liquid water into hydrogen and oxygen gas. NGSS standards: 2- PS1-1, 2-ESS2-3. Addresses 21st century essential skills.
Exoplanet Art
Grade Level/s: Grade 1-2, Grade 3-4, Grade 5-6, K
Class Category: Space Systems
Venue: Science on a Sphere
Available Packages: Voyage 2, Voyage 5
Students will learn about exoplanets and how they are detected, as well as the Kepler telescope and its success in seeking out habitable worlds in our galaxy. Students will explore this topic further through art. NGSS standards: 4-PS4, 5-ESS1, MS-ESS1. Addresses 21st century essential skills.
Electric Earth
Grade Level/s: Grade 3-4, Grade 5-6, Grade 7-8
Class Category: Earth Systems
Venue: Science on a Sphere
Available Packages: Voyage 1, Voyage 2
Students will learn about the Earth’s energy and its uses. Students will understand how electricity moves through wires to create circuits. NGSS standards: 4-PS3-2, 4-PS3-4, 4-ESS3-1, 3-5-ETS1-3, MS-PS3-5, Addresses 21st century essential skills.