Third Grade Astronomy – Supercharged Science

Getting Started

Astronomy is a fantastic area of science for teachers and students alike because it combines many different fields of science and still leaves a lot of room for wonder and exploration.

Astronomers study celestial objects (stars, planets, moon, asteroids, comets, galaxies, etc) that exist outside our planet’s atmosphere. Its the one field that combines most science, engineering and technology areas in one fell swoop. Astronomy is also one of the oldest sciences on the planet.

Originally, astronomy was used as celestial navigation and involved with the making of calendars, but nowadays is mostly classified in the field called astrophysics.

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	Star Charting If you want to get from New York to Los Angeles by car, you’d pull out a map. If you want to find the nearest gas station, you’d pull out a smaller map. What if you wanted to find our nearest neighbor outside our solar system? A star chart is a map of the night … Continue reading "Star Charting"
	Simple Microscope & Telescope Did you know you can create a compound microscope and a refractor telescope using the same materials? It’s all in how you use them to bend the light. These two experiments cover the fundamental basics of how two double-convex lenses can be used to make objects appear larger when right up close or farther away. … Continue reading "Simple Microscope & Telescope"
	Song of the Sun Did you know that the sun sings a song?
	Sundial Using the position of the Sun, you can tell what time it us by making one of these sundials. The Sun will cast a shadow onto a surface marked with the hours, and the time-telling gnomon edge will align with the proper time. In general, sundials are susceptible to different kinds of errors. If the … Continue reading "Sundial"
	Solar Rotation You are going to start observing the Sun and tracking sunspots across the Sun using one of two different kinds of viewers so you can figure out how fast the Sun rotates. Sunspots are dark, cool areas with highly active magnetic fields on the Sun’s surface that last from hours to months. They are dark … Continue reading "Solar Rotation"
	Watch Your Weight If you could stand on the Sun without being roasted, how much would you weigh? The gravitational pull is different for different objects. Let’s find out which celestial object you’d crack the pavement on, and which your lightweight toes would have to be careful about jumping on in case you leapt off the planet. Weight … Continue reading "Watch Your Weight"
	What’s Up in the Sky? Today you get to learn how to read an astronomical chart to find out when the Sun sets, when twilight ends, which planets are visible, when the next full moon occurs, and much more. This is an excellent way to impress your friends.The patterns of stars and planets stay the same, although they appear to … Continue reading "What’s Up in the Sky?"
	Meteorites A meteoroid is a small rock that zooms around outer space. When the meteoroid zips into the Earth’s atmosphere, it’s now called a meteor or “shooting star”. If the rock doesn’t vaporize en route, it’s called a meteorite as soon as it whacks into the ground. The word meteor comes from the Greek word for … Continue reading "Meteorites"
	Volcanoes If you’ve ever wanted to make your own version of a volcano that burps and spit all over the place, then this is the experiment for you. We used to teach kids how to make genuine Fire & Flame volcanoes, but parents weren’t too happy about the shower of sparks that hit the ceiling and … Continue reading "Volcanoes"
	Making Clouds Indoor Rain Clouds Making indoor rain clouds demonstrates the idea of temperature, the measure of how hot or cold something is. Here’s how to do it: Take two clear glasses that fit snugly together when stacked. (Cylindrical glasses with straight sides work well.) Fill one glass half-full with ice water and the other half-full with … Continue reading "Making Clouds"
	Seasons One common misconception is that the seasons are caused by how close the Earth is to the Sun. Today you get to do an experiment that shows how seasons are affected by axis tilt, not by distance from the Sun. And you also find out which planet doesn’t have sunlight for 42 years. The seasons … Continue reading "Seasons"
	Planetary Magnetic Fields You’re going to use a compass to figure out the magnetic lines of force from a magnet by mapping the two different poles and how the lines of force connect the two. A magnetic field must come from a north pole of a magnet and go to a south pole of a magnet (or atoms … Continue reading "Planetary Magnetic Fields"
	Sky in a Jar Have you ever wondered why the sky is blue? Or why the sunset is red? Or what color our sunset would be if we had a blue giant instead of a white star? This lab will answer those questions by showing how light is scattered by the atmosphere. Particles in the atmosphere determine the color … Continue reading "Sky in a Jar"
	Magnetic Tornadoes This lab is a physical model of what happens on Mercury when two magnetic fields collide and form magnetic tornadoes. You’ll get to investigate what an invisible magnetic tornado looks like when it sweeps across Mercury. Materials Two clear plastic bottles (2 liter soda bottles work best) Steel washer with a 3/8 inch hole Ruler … Continue reading "Magnetic Tornadoes"
	Build a REAL Scale Model of the Solar System Ever wonder exactly how far away the planets really are? Here’s the reason they usually don’t how the planets and their orbits to scale – they would need a sheet of paper nearly a mile long! To really get the hang of how big and far away celestial objects really are, find a long stretch … Continue reading "Build a REAL Scale Model of the Solar System"
	Solar System Treasure Hunt After you've participated in the Planetarium Star Show, treat your kids to a Solar System Treasure Hunt! You'll need some sort of treasure (I recommend astronomy books or a pair of my favorite binoculars, but you can also use 'Mars' candy bars or home made chocolate chip cookies (call them Galaxy Clusters) instead.You can print out … Continue reading "Solar System Treasure Hunt"

Getting Started

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