Looking for activities you might use in the classroom for the IPY launch? Check out the "Ice in the Solar System"
Exploring Ice in the Solar System, a NASA-funded educational CD authored by Dr. Richard Shope from JPL and produced by Dr. Julie Edmonds at the Carnegie Academy for Science Education for the Carnegie Institutions of Washington MESSENGER and Astrobiology projects, was rated "outstanding" in a NASA space science education product review.
Twelve conceptual change lessons spring out from the activated curiosity inspired by the central Ice Experience lesson, moving from exploring ice in everyday life, to ice at the Polar Regions, to icy places on Mars, moons of Jupiter and Saturn, Pluto, Mercury, Comets and the Moon. Each standards-aligned lesson consists of substantive background information, inquiry-based activities, teaching tips, resources, photo gallery and strategies for differentiated instruction and evaluation.
Be forewarned: these PDF files are robust, full-blown modules that may require some patience to download and delve into....and then implement in your classrooms. But these materials are a potential treasure-trove of inquiry-based activities for varying grade levels, all relating to the physical processes and properties of ice and the phase changes of water.
These resources include:
Inquiry Icebreaker: An Ice Experience
Lesson 1:Melting and Freezing
Lesson 2:Ice Has Structure
Lesson 3:Ice Is a Mineral
Lesson 4:Ice Floats
Lesson 5:Ice Flows
Lesson 6:Snow is Ice
Lesson 7:Layers of Ice
Lesson 8:Life in Icy Places
Lesson 9:Ice in Space
Lesson 10:Comets
Lesson 11:Investigating Icy Worlds
Lesson 12:Ice in the Shadows
Maybe you can't do them all, but perhaps one fits in with the curriculum you are teaching. Try it out in your classrooms or science centers, and let us know the results.