Classroom Lessons

Understanding the physics behind the THEMIS science requires some understanding of magnetic fields, charged particles, forces, motions, and energy. We have created three teacher's guides, "Magnetism and Electromagnetism ," "Exploring Magnetism on Earth," and "Space Weather" with many lessons on Earth's magnetic field to develope a student's background understanding of THEMIS ground-based magnetometer data. For the teacher, we have developed a User Manual with background science and technical information, "THEMIS GEONS Users Guide." We have also selected a few lesson books developed by NASA space science mission education programs. The lessons in these books are related to magnetism, auroras, and Earth's magnetosphere. Each lesson is tied to National Science Education Standards. Currently, we are testing some classroom lessons to use with the THEMIS Education and Public Outreach (E/PO) magnetometer data. Part of this guide is a tutorial about the magnetometer data, found on the left sidebar of this page. Look for this upcoming teacher's guide here around August, 2007.

Grades 6-9

			Exploring Magnetism - This is a teacher's magnetism guide with three sections: Magnetism, Electromagnetism, as well as a background and material section, a glossary, and a reference section. Click on the title to access the HTML version of this teacher's guide. Click here for the HTML Versions of the Exploring Magnetism Series of Guides. PDF Versions           Entire Guide (814KB)           Session 1 worksheets (205KB)           Session 1 assessment rubric (256KB)           Session 2 worksheets (255KB)           Session 1 assessment rubric (257KB)

Grades 8-12

			THEMIS-GEONS Users Guide - This is a book with background material for teachers who want to use the THEMIS magnetometer data in their classrooms. It accompanies the other guides listed below. It covers an introduction to geomagnetism, space weather effects, the THEMIS mission, Magnetism and measurement Techniques, the THEMIS flux-gate magnetometers located at schools, and web resources for further information. Download an Acrobat version here - (PDF Format - 5.0MB).

			Magnetism and Electromagnetism - This is a Teacher's Guide with 4 activities that explore magnetism and electromagnetism. This magnetism guide is the first of three guides that provide students with the opportunity to build on science concepts related to Earth’s magnetism and its changes, as detected by THEMIS magnetometers located in schools across the U.S. This guide contains a review of basic magnetism, similar to what is encountered in most grade-level physical science texts. Students are introduced to magnets and the concepts of polarity, magnetic lines of force, and electromagnetism. These materials are mostly used by teachers presenting Earth and Physical Science courses in grades 6-9 and occasionally as a lab at the end of high school physics classes. Download an Acrobat version here - (PDF Format - 2.5MB).

			Exploring Magnetism on Earth - This is a Teacher's Guide with 4 activities that explore Earth's magnetism. This magnetism guide is the second of three guides that provide students with the opportunity to build on science concepts related to Earth’s magnetism and its changes, as detected by THEMIS magnetometers located in schools across the U.S. It contains problems which examine Earth's changing magnetic field in time and space, and how these changes can impact navigation on Earth's surface. Students use basic math skills to interpret graphical information that displays polar wander and magnetic changes, and answer questions about quantitative aspects of these changes. The lessons have been used in physical science, geology, and astronomy classes. Download an Acrobat version here - (PDF Format - 2.8MB).

			Space Weather - This is a Teacher's Guide with 6 activities that explore how Space Weather affects Earth's magnetic field and aurora. This magnetism guide is the third of three guides that provide students with the opportunity to build on science concepts related to Earth’s magnetism and its changes, as detected by THEMIS magnetometers located in schools across the U.S. The guide covers the Earth’s magnetosphere, time zones and Universal Time, the evolution of auroras, and space weather forecasting using geomagnetic indices. The lessons have been used in high school physics and astronomy classes. Download an Acrobat version here - (PDF Format - 2.13MB).

			Earth's Magnetic Personality - This is the fourth and final guide, which was developed with the goal that students can work directly with the THEMIS magnetometer data. The guide covers vectors, the x-y-z magnetometer plots, creating a prediction for aurora using the magnetometer data, calculating the total magnetic field strength and observing it over months, and the waves in Earth’s magnetic field excited by large magnetic storms. Download an Acrobat version here - (PDF Format - 3.00MB).

			The Northern Lights - This is a workbook of ten activities that explore the Northern Lights. The activities include essays, triangulation, parallax, geometry, calculator mathematics, graph analysis, prediction and forecasting. The link takes you to the original site that contains Word documents. Download an Acrobat version here - (PDF Format - 2.9MB).

All Grades

			Exploring the Earth's Magnetic Field - This is a workbook of 23 hands-on activities for K-12 teachers who want to discuss Earth's magnetosphere. The link takes you to the original site that contains an Acrobat Reader PDF file. Download an Acrobat version here - (PDF Format - 1.4MB).

More Space Physics Lessons

NASA's Space Math Page - This web page contains problem sets for the Weekly Space Science Problem program. The goal of these problems is to teach students about space weather by using mathematics.

Space Weather Center - A site with instructional lessons as wells as games and activities all about space weather. Particularly relevant sections include: Our Dynamic Sun, Solar Wind, and Our Protective Shield.

SEGway Education Page - A web site where you can find over 20 lessons covering geophysics (e.g. Surfing for Earthquakes and Volcanoes) to space physics (e.g. The Light Tour) at grade levels from K-12.

Central Operation of Resources for Educators (CORE) - This web site hosts the worldwide distribution center for NASA-produced multimedia materials that can be used as curriculum supplement materials. Search their catalog under the subject of "Space Physics/General" to find books, videos, and posters.

Space Science Education Resource Directory - A web page with links to K-12 educational materials and information related to NASA Space Research. Many of these resources have been evaluated by a team of scientists and teachers. The recommended resources are indicated with an apple.

NASA's Science Education - NASA's Science Mission Directorate's Education and Public Outreach (E/PO) web page that is dedicated to "to fostering the broad involvement of the science research community in E/PO with the goal of enhancing the Nation's formal education system and contributing to the broad public understanding of science, mathematics, and technology. ." Click on the Education Resource Directory to find K-12 Space Physics lessons to use in your classroom.

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