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Activities

Educational Materials

Lesson Plans

All Ages

Who Is King of the Ice Dwarfs?

Learn more about Pluto on NASA's Space Place website.

Grades 3-5

Discovering Planet "X" (Grades 3-5)

An activity exploring parallax and then simulating the discovery of Pluto with a Blink Comparator via an online interactive.

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Orbit and Spin (Grades 3-5)

A whole-body activity that explores the relative sizes, distances, orbit, and spin of the Sun, Earth, and Moon.

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Signals and Noise, Oh Boy! (Grades 3-5)

Students are introduced to the terms "signal" and "noise" in the context of spacecraft communication. They explore these concepts by listening to a computer-generated signal from two different distances with no additional background noise, and then with background noise and compare their experiences in a science journal page.

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Grades 6-8

Appearances Can Be Deceiving!

Students explore the relationship between angular width, actual size, and distance by using their finger, thumb and fist as a unit of angular measurement in this hands-on activity.

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Earth Calling

A hands-on activity exploring spacecraft radio communication concepts, including the speed of light and the time-delay for signals sent to and from spacecraft.

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Signal-to-Noise Ratio

This activity engages students with a hands-on activity and an online interactive to explore the Signal-to-Noise Ratio, a fundamental concept in spacecraft communication. The activity also includes a pencil-and-paper component that addresses relevant topics, such as proportions and ratios.

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Grades 9-12

Invisible Collisions

This activity relates an elastic collision to the change in a satellite's or spacecraft's speed and direction resulting from a planetary fly-by, often called a "gravity assist" maneuver. Both hands-on and online interactive methods are used to explore these topics.

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What is a Planet?

Students learn about the characteristics of planets, comets, asteroids, and trans-Neptunian objects through a classification activity. Students can then apply what they have learned by participating in a formal debate about a solar system object discovered by the New Horizons spacecraft and by defining the term 'planet.'

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Grades K-2

Earth Matters (Grades K-2)

Classification activities that will lead students from simple sorting of familiar objects to classifying materials into liquids, gases, and solids.

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New Horizons Growth Chart Activities

Grades 2-5: Charting the Progress of New Horizons

Student Activity Sheet

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Teacher Lesson Plan

Students will learn that the New Horizons poster depicts a scale drawing of the Solar System. They will use the poster to track the true progress of the spacecraft.

Learning Goals:

S - Understanding the long distances and timescales involved in space travel.
M - Using fractions and multiplication to change scales/units.

Materials:

  • Poster
  • Student activity sheet
  • Pencil
  • Ruler (cm)

Standards:

S - D: Objects in the Sky; E: Abilities of Technological Design
M - Measurement; Number and Operations; Problem Solving

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Grades 2-5: Growing Up With A Mission

Boys Growth Chart

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Girls Growth Chart

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Student Activity Sheet (PDF)

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Teacher Lesson Plan (PDF)

Students will measure their height, analyze the heights of classmates, and predict their height at the time New Horizons is scheduled to fly by Pluto using a growth chart.

S - Using a model and measurements to make predictions.
M - Collecting data and finding the mean, mode, and median.

Graphing points on a Cartesian coordinate system.

  • Student activity sheet
  • Pencil

M - Measurement; Data Analysis and Probability

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Grades 2-5: Last Year on Pluto

Student Activity Sheet (PDF)

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Teacher Lesson Plan (PDF)

Students will determine the length of one year on the nine planets and match historical events that occurred on Earth one year ago on these planets.

S - Learning the astronomical meaning of a year and the timescales associated with planets with large orbits.

  • Student activity sheet
  • Pencil

S-A: Abilities Necessary to Do Scientific Inquiry

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Grades 2-5: Looking to the Future

Student Activity Sheet (PDF)

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Grades 2-5: Where Are We Going?

Student Activity Sheet

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Teacher Lesson Plan (PDF)

Students take imaginary trips through the Solar System on a spacebus and use math skills to find out the next spacebus stop.

S -Understanding the order and distances of the planets from the Sun.
M -Problem solving using multiplication, rounding and fractions.

  • Student activity sheet
  • Pencil

S - D: Objects in the Sky
M - Number and Operations; Problem Solving

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Grades K-5: Modeling the Orbits of the Planets

Student Activity Sheet (PDF)

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Teacher Lesson Plan (PDF)

Students will make a scale model of the orbits of the outer planets and explore the peculiarities of Pluto's orbit.

S - Understanding the scale of the Solar System. Learning about Pluto's elliptical and inclined orbit.

  • Student activity sheet (copied onto card stock if possible)
  • Pencil, markers
  • Scissors
  • Paper clips
  • Glue/Glue stick/Tape

S - A: Abilities Necessary to Do Scientific Inquiry; D: Objects in the Sky

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New Horizons Growth Chart Poster

New Horizons Growth Chart Poster

Download Your Own New Horizons Growth Chart poster.

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Models

Arrokoth Shape Model

Print your own 3D model of the New Horizons flyby target Arrokoth. This is a published shape model of Arrokoth (.obj format). Please see the Planetary Data Systems Small Bodies Node for more technical information and other formats.

Credit: JHU Applied Physics Laboratory

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New Horizons Cut Out Model

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Build Your Own New Horizons Spacecraft (Ages 10+)

Best suited for ages 10+, build a scale model of the New Horizons spacecraft!

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Make a Model of the Pluto/Charon System (All Ages)

Pluto and Charon are a binary system. Build your own model of a binary system and see what makes it so unique! With adult help, children of any age will enjoy this activity.

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Model Design Diagram

View the New Horizons spacecraft model design diagram!

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Spacecraft Model Files

Build your own 3D New Horizons spacecraft model. Below is a zipped file of .stl-formatted printable models including instructions for printing and assembly. We understand that 3D printing often involves trial and error. You may make adjustments or changes when printing these models.

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