Earth and space home experiments

The following resources are suitable for students aged 11-14 and 14-16:

• Marvin and Milo experiments are useful for teaching younger students. In Water Fall, they investigate freefall and, in Doppler Spin, they reproduce the effects of motion on waves.
• Seasons is an experiment that can be done at home that explains why it is warmer in the Summer. A similar activity can be found at the NSO pages.
• The sky tonight shows students what would will be visible this evening. Encourage them to do some (socially distanced) stargazing.
• Solar eclipses can be investigated here.

Simulations can be useful when teaching about Space. 

• All of Space can be explored using Stellarium.
• The size of the Universe can be explored through Magnifying the Universe or If the Moon were only 1 pixel
• The size of the Solar system can be explored using toilet-paper-solar-system. If toilet paper is an issue, use string! If you want to fit the solar system into a particular space, use this solar system calulator.

For students aged 14-19:

• The Blackbody Spectrum can be explored with this PhET simulation. Use it to investigate Wein's Law.
• The spectrum from differentlight sources can be captured using a Pringle's tube. Watch this video for the instructions.

These experiments have been selected by trained teachers as appropriate for use at home, but we have not specifically tested them for home use.

All experiments are carried out at your own risk.

To avoid risk of injury or damage, we recommend that you follow the instructions as shown and that a responsible adult supervises all practical activity and considers the suitability of each task for their child.

Teachers proposing to recommend any resources to their students should:

1. work within safety policies established by their school;
2. use their professional judgement to assess the suitability of experiments for their students;
3. direct students and their parents/guardians to follow all stated instructions.