STEM Modules
These teacher professional development modules were developed in partnership with NASA eClips, Eyes on the Solar System, and Houghton-Mifflin-Harcourt Publishing. They conform to the Common Core State Math Standards and to the NAtional Science Standards for Grades 6, 7 and 8.
NASA eClips, developed by the National Institute of Aerospace (NIA), consists of over 200 short video programs (3-10 minutes) featuring a variety of NASA missions, programs and other topical resources. The videos are narrated by students so that the content is more easily accessible to grade 3-12 students. [Visit Website].
Houghton-Mifflin-Harcourt Publishing is a well-known textbook publisher specializing in science and math textbooks for middle and high school students. They are active in developing textbooks that explicitly comply with the Common Core State Mathematics Standards. Their website, accessible through a registration process, allows access to all of their textbook content and supplementary resources such as the STEM Modules on this page. [Visit the Middle School Math Website]
Eyes on the Solar System is an online, interactive 3-dimensional model of the major bodies in our solar system, together with current NASA spacecraft orbits and positions. The positions of all the bodies are calculated with sophisticated astrodynamics programs which allow for measurement and access to real-world data. The interactive, mathematical model is suitable for engaging students in open-ended, real-world research. [Visit EOSS Website]
Mathematics Grade 6
- Chapter 1 - Dividing Multi-digit Whole Numbers [Click Here] - Students will learn about satellites that gather data about Earth systems through reading a NASA press release and viewing a NASA eClips video segment. Then students will practice dividing multi-digit numbers using satellite data related to Earths ozone layer. Featured NASA Missions: Aura
- Chapter 2 - Translating between Tables and Expressions [Click Here] - Students will learn about black holes through reading a NASA press release and viewing a NASA eClips video segment. Then students will use tables and mathematical expressions to compare black hole sizes and temperatures. Featured NASA Missions: Chandra, Swift
- Chapter 3 - Understanding Decimals [Click Here] - Students will learn about the Cassini mission and its exploration of Saturns moons through reading a NASA press release. By viewing a NASA eClips video segment, students will learn more about these and other moons in our solar system. Then students will use decimals to compare the sizes and distances of Saturns moons to the center of Saturn.Featured NASA Missions: Cassini
- Chapter 4 - Number Theory and Fractions [Click Here] - Students will learn about the Juno mission and its exploration of Jupiter, a giant gas planet, through reading a NASA press release. By viewing a NASA eClips video segment, students will visualize Jupiter and the other 88 largest objects in our solar system. Then students will use fractions to compare Jupiters moons and movements.Featured NASA Missions: Juno
- Chapter 5 - Fraction Operations [Click Here] - Students will learn about the Landsat spacecraft and its study of Earth from space through reading a NASA press release. By viewing a NASA eClips video segment, students will see how Landsat monitors conditions in the Chesapeake Bay. Then students will use fractions to understand land use on Earth based upon Landsat data. Featured NASA Missions: Landsat
- Chapter 6 - Data Collection [Click Here] - During the last sunspot cycle between 1996-2008, over 21,000 flares and 13,000 clouds of plasma exploded from the suns magnetically active surface. These events create space weather. Students will learn more about space weather and how it affects Earth through reading a NASA press release and viewing a NASA eClips video segment. Then students will explore the statistics of various types of space weather storms by determining the mean, median and mode of a sample of storm events. Featured NASA Missions: SDO, ACE, STEREO
- Chapter 7 - Proportional Relationships [Click Here] - Students use simple proportions and fractions to explore the number of stars in the Milky Way, and the relative sizes of some famous stars compared to our own sun. By reading a NASA press release and viewing a NASA eClips video segment, students will learn more about stars and the Milky Way galaxy. Featured NASA Missions: COBE, Spitzer
- Chapter 8 - Measurement and Geometry [Click Here] - Students learn how solar panels can be used to generate electrical power and how the size and area of the panels affects energy production. By reading a NASA press release and viewing a NASA eClips video segment, students see how solar energy is used by various NASA satellites and technology. Featured NASA Missions: Juno
- Chapter 9 - The Coordinate Plane [Click Here] - As astronomers study stars, planets and galaxies, they keep track of their positions in space. For flat systems like our solar system, or traveling over the surface of planets like Mars, a 2-dimensional coordinate plane is useful to identify positions. Students will learn more about the NASA Curiosity rovers travels across Mars by reading a NASA press release. By viewing a NASA eClips video segment, students will reinforce their understanding of rectangular coordinate systems. Students will demonstrate their knowledge of integers and the coordinate plane system by completing several problems. Featured NASA Missions: Curiosity
- Chapter 10 - Graphing Functions [Click Here] - Students learn about changes in sea ice observed by NASA satellites through reading a NASA press release. By viewing a NASA eClips video segment, students discover how scientists study the effects of global climate change on Earth's biomes. Students then explore global climate change by studying the properties of functions that have been derived from actual data describing ocean level rise, temperature and carbon dioxide increases, and arctic ice declines, among other climate data. Featured NASA Missions: Nimbus-7
- Chapter 11 - Areas of Polygons [Click Here] - Students learn about the properties of snowflakes through reading a NASA press release. By viewing a NASA eClips video segment, students discover how snowflakes form and how their shapes relate to their history. Students then explore the geometric shapes of snowflakes by viewing them as polygons and calculating their areas using the area properties of right triangles. Featured NASA Program: History of Winter
Mathematics Grade 7
- Chapter 1 - Words into Math [Click Here] - Students will learn more about how the orbit of the International Space Station changes as a result of atmospheric drag through reading a NASA press release and viewing a NASA eClips video segment. Then students will read a paragraph describing the increases and decreases in the orbit altitude to calculate the final orbit altitude. Featured NASA Missions: International Space Station
- Chapter 2 - Integer Arithmetic [Click Here] - Students will explore how methane molecules are produced from larger molecules, and how NASA is using signs of methane gas to search for life on other planets such as Mars. Students will read a NASA press release and view a NASA eClips video segment. Then students will use integer arithmetic to tally the number of hydrogen, oxygen and carbon atoms in a molecule and determine the number of methane atoms that can result. Featured NASA Missions: Mars Science Laboratory
- Chapter 3 - Solving Simple Equations [Click Here] - Students will learn about the technology of cryogenics where engineers and scientists work with very cold gases and liquids. They will use a simple equation to convert from the Fahrenheit to the Celsius temperature scales and to the Kelvin scale which is used in cryogenics. They will also view a NASA eClips video and read a press release dealing with very cold gases and liquids. Featured NASA Missions: Webb Space Telescope
- Chapter 4 - Scale Models and Diagrams [Click Here] - Students will learn more about the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) through reading a NASA press release and viewing a NASA eClips video segment. Then students will explore scale modeling by measuring scaled drawings using high-resolution images of the lunar and martian surfaces. Featured NASA Missions: LRO, Opportunity Rover
- Chapter 5 - Interpreting Graphs [Click Here ] - Students will learn about the temperature change of Earth during the 20th century and through 2010. They will read a NASA press release describing recent trends in global climate change since 1900, and view a NASA eClips video segment about the energy budget of Earth. They will then examine data to look for trends, calculate slopes and rates of change, and use this information to predict climate change for the year 2050. Featured NASA Missions: Earth Science
- Chapter 6 - Applications of Percents [Click Here] - Students will learn about NASAs Fermi satellite and gamma ray sources through reading a NASA press release. They will also learn about gamma rays and the electromagnetic spectrum by viewing a NASA eClips video segment. Then, students will use percentages to explore the origins of mysterious gamma ray sources in the sky using NASA Fermi data. Featured NASA Missions: Fermi
- Chapter 7 - Mean, Median and Mode [Click Here] - During the last sunspot cycle between 1996-2008, over 21,000 flares and 13,000 clouds of plasma exploded from the suns magnetically active surface. Students will learn more about space weather through reading a NASA press release and viewing a NASA eClips video segment. Then students will explore the statistics of various types of space weather storms by determining the mean, median and mode of different samples of storm events. Featured NASA Missions: SDO
- Chapter 8 - Angular Measure [Click Here] - Students will learn about the Transit of Venus through reading a NASA press release and viewing a NASA eClips video that describes several ways to observe transits. Then students will study angular measurement by learning about parallax and how astronomers use this geometric effect to determine the distance to Venus during a Transit of Venus. Featured NASA Missions: Kepler, SDO
- Chapter 9 - The Volume of Spheres and Cylinders [Click Here] - Students will learn more about asteroids and comets through reading a NASA press release and viewing a NASA eClips video segment. Then, students will estimate and calculate volumes of comets, asteroids, and spacecraft. Featured NASA Missions: Dawn
- Chapter 10 - Probability and Predictions [Click Here] - Students will learn about the NASA Kepler mission and Earth-like planet discoveries through reading a NASA press release. They will also view a NASA eClips video describing the search for planets beyond our solar system. Then, students will study the statistics of planets outside our solar system and estimate the number of Earth-like planets in the Milky Way galaxy. Featured NASA Missions: Kepler
- Chapter 11 - The Volume of Cylinders [Click Here] - Students learn about tools that measure snow and ice through reading a NASA Press Release and watching a NASA eClips video segment. Then they quantify snow to water ratios and the density and volume of snow. Featured NASA Program: History of Winter
Mathematics Grade 8
- Chapter 1 - Rational Number Operations [Click Here] - Students will learn about the twin STEREO spacecraft and how they are being used to track solar storms through reading a NASA press release and viewing a NASA eClips video segment. Then students will examine data to learn more about the frequency and speed of solar storms traveling from the sun to Earth. Featured NASA Missions: STEREO
- Chapter 2 - Graphs and Functions [Click Here] - Students will learn about NASAs Radiation Belt Storm Probes (RBSP), Earths van Allen Radiation Belts, and space weather through reading a NASA press release and viewing a NASA eClips video segment. Then students will use simple linear functions to examine the scale of the radiation belts and the strength of Earths magnetic field. Featured NASA Missions: RBSP
- Chapter 3 - Scientific Notation [Click Here] - Students will learn about the Spitzer Infrared Observatory and a recently observed dust ring around Saturn through reading a NASA press release and viewing a NASA video segment. Then students will use scientific notation to perform calculations to understand the size, mass, and volume of dust and the new dust ring. Featured NASA Missions: Spitzer
- Chapter 4 - Ratios, Proportions, Similarity [Click Here] - Students will learn about the planet Mercury and the MESSENGER mission through reading a NASA press release and viewing a NASA eClips video segment. Then students will perform calculations using fractions and decimals to explore the relative sizes of planets in our solar system and orbiting other stars. Featured NASA Missions: MESSENGER
- Chapter 5 - Geometry and Angle Properties [Click Here] - Students will learn about the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) and the Curiosity Rover through reading a NASA press release and viewing a NASA eClips video segment. Then students will use the Pythagorean Theorem to determine distance between a series of hypothetical exploration sites within Gale Crater on Mars. Featured NASA Missions: Curiosity
- Chapter 6 - Volume of Spheres, Cylinders and Cones [Click Here] - Students will learn about living and working onboard the International Space Station through reading a NASA press release and viewing a NASA eClips video segment. Then students will use the volume formulas for spheres, cylinders and cones to measure the capacity of objects within the ISS to apply what they have learned. Featured NASA Missions: International Space Station
- Chapter 7 - Multi-Step Equations [Click Here] - Students will learn how NASA uses different types of power systems to generate electricity through reading a NASA press release and viewing a NASA eClips video segment. Then students will solve a series of problems involving multi-step equations to explore these systems in more detail. Featured NASA Missions: Cassini, Mars Science Laboratory
- Chapter 8 - Graphing Lines [Click Here] - Students will learn about how human activity impacts Earth's climate through reading a NASA press release and viewing a NASA eClips video segment. Then students will examine simple mathematical models that predict changes in the Earth system in response to human activity. Featured NASA Missions: Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO-2)
- Chapter 9 - Data, Predictions and Linear Functions [Click Here] - Students will learn about the Big Bang theory of the universe through reading a NASA press release and viewing a NASA eClips video segment. They will use simple linear equations to analyze data that reveals the expansion and early history of the universe after the Big Bang. Featured NASA Missions: Hubble
- Chapter 10 - Graphs and Functions [Click Here] - Students learn about carbon dioxide snowfalls on Mars by reading a NASA Press Release. They also learn about snow phase changes on Earth and the unique properties of water by watching a NASA eClips video segment. Students use formulae and graphs to quantify phase changes and explore relationships between temperature and energy. Featured NASA Program: History of Winter
