What are galaxies? Why do they look so different from each other? What can we learn from their shapes and structures? It only takes a keen eye and a creative mind to sort galaxies as early...
Lesson Plans
Want to schedule a virtual visit for your classroom with a Great Basin National Park ranger, Great Basin Observatory scientist, or a Reach for the Stars Educator? Please complete at least three of our lessons with your students, and then reach out to request a visit.
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Students learn about gravity, mass, and weight by traveling through the solar system after a teacher led demonstration.
Students will create models to understand the hydrosphere, biosphere, atmosphere, and geosphere which make up the Great Basin watershed.
Students play with colored transparencies to grasp which parts of the visible spectrum are absorbed and transmitted through objects. They use this knowledge to predict why they can see colors in...
How do we see color? In this activity students release the colors in the rainbow through the action of bending light in a water prism.
Did you know you there are different types of ice on the planets and moons in our solar system? Test your observation skills by using clues to identify different types of ice based on their...
Did you know our eyes actually see everything upside down and backwards? Learn about light properties, how our eyes see, and how early telescopes and early cameras work by making your own camera...
White light has the rainbow hidden within it, but so does black. Understand why with this hands on activity.
Make your own water balloon impact craters and use math to understand how scientists use crater clues to study our solar system.
Why does the moon change shape throughout the month? By modeling a moon rotating around yourself as Earth, students learn moon phases in a kinesthetic fashion that for many will finally make sense...