In this activity students explore earthquake hazards and damage to buildings by constructing model buildings and subjecting the buildings to ground vibration (shaking similar to earthquake vibrations) on a small shake table. After the initial testing, instructors can illustrate specific design issue problems with model buildings that were successful by modifying them with a specific weakness. Poor ... Full description.

"Pieces of Science" is an online gallery of sixteen educational resources related to a collection of historical science objects. This section deals with the Apollo 8 mission to the Moon. Facts about the crew and mission accomplishments, as well as the new spacesuit designed for the mission are covered. There is an activity guide for teachers, an image gallery, and on-line activities for students. ... Full description.

This section of the Windows to the Universe web site provides information and images about space missions including detailed information about manned and unmanned spacecraft, satellites, history of missions, and tables listing missions. Windows to the Universe is a user-friendly learning system pertaining to the Earth and Space sciences. The objective of this project is to develop an innovative and ... Full description.

Mars Exploration is a Windows to the Universe Exploratour and provides information and images about Mariner missions, Viking missions, Mars Observer, Mars Surveyor Program, Mars Pathfinder, Mars Global Surveyor, Mars Polar Lander and Climate Orbiter, Mars 2001, and Mars 2003. Windows to the Universe is a user-friendly learning system pertaining to the Earth and Space sciences. The objective of this ... Full description.

This resource introduces El Nino, bridging from simple artist diagrams to satellite imagery. An activity has students recreate El Nino conditions in edible, tasty pudding. Full description.

The Earthrise site is divided into five mini-sites: The Solar System, which introduces the nine planets of the solar system; The Tour, which is hosted by a planet character named Apollo, and includes brief introductions to each planet; Space Missions, with introductions to the major space missions which have greatly affected the study of astronomy; Discovery, containing a video of Earth from space ... Full description.

This set of classroom activities presents the challenges of operating a planetary rover, how to construct a scale model of the Earth-Moon system, how Martian surface core samples can be identified and what they tell us about Mars. Each activity comes with clearly delineated instructions, associated standards, guides and worksheets, and enhancement materials. Full description.

This site contains most of the up-to-date information known about the planet Venus, including mean distance from Sun, length of year, rotation period, mean orbital velocity, inclination of axis, average temperature (day and night), and diameter. Many discoveries about Venus have been made using Earth-based radio telescopes, however the images of Venus in this exhibit were collected by the Magellan ... Full description.

Activities at this site include modeling pixels with graph paper, investigating parallax, and calculating the distance modulus of Cepheid variables. Background material includes a discussion about various telescopes and other remote sensing, and the difference between brightness and magnitude of stars. Students are instructed to add the words radio telescope, black hole, Milky Way Galaxy, light year, ... Full description.

This article presents information about the radiation hazards facing astronauts who travel to Mars. It covers the types of radiation including the most dangerous, galactic cosmic rays (GCRs), the damage it does to the body, and methods of shielding against it. One can also listen to this story via streaming audio or a downloadable file. Full description.