High School Resources
Looking for materials to supplement your classroom curriculum? Browse our curated collection of resources for high school teachers and give your students the Moon and the stars. Activities are labeled with suggested grade level, curriculum standards, and estimated length to help you find exactly what you’re looking for.
Planet Hunters: TESS
Help NASA scientists discover new planets around stars outside of our Solar System! Look at real data from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) and learn how astronomers use the light from distant stars to find new planets.
Category: Activity, Citizen Science
Length: 7–10 min.
Grade Level: 9–12
Standards: HS-ESS1-3, HS-ESS1-2, HS-ESS1-4
Floating Forests
Help ecologists understand how forests of kelp grow and change over time. We need your help to find these forests in pictures from space. Join a worldwide community of over 2 million people participating in Adler’s Zooniverse people-powered research projects. We need your help!
Category: Activity, Citizen Science
Length: 7–10 min.
Grade Level: 9–12
Standards: HS-ESS2-2, HS-ESS2-7
Raíces Bajo las Estrellas / Rooted Under the Stars
We demonstrate the amazing contributions of Latinx astronomers, astrophysicists, astrophotographers, and scientists in these fields, show barriers resulting from racial biases that need to be overcome, and provide advice and inspiration to future Latinx generations.
Category: Online Exhibition
Length: 30 min.
Grade Level: 9–12
Standards: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.11, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.11-12.9
LIGO Discovers Gravitational Waves
The universe is speaking and now we are listening! Former Adler astronomer, Dr. Shane L. Larson, is a member of an international scientific team that, in 2015, was the first to definitively detect a gravitational wave: a ripple in the fabric of spacetime first predicted by Albert Einstein in 1916.
Category: Video
Length: 3 min.
Grade Level: 9–12
Standards: PS2.B, PS4.A, PS4.C, ETS1.C, HS-PS2-4
Sky Observers Hangout: Getting Close to Mars Part 2
In this episode of Sky Observers Hangout, we’ll explore Mars from afar while it is at its closest to Earth for the next 15 years.
Category: Video
Length: 1 hour 7 min.
Grade Level: 9–12
Standards: HS-ESS1.B, PS2.A
The Aquarius Project
When a meteor crashes in your backyard, you pick it up. When your backyard is a 22,000-square-mile Great Lake, you call your friends and improvise. Follow this teen-led pursuit of retrieving underwater meteorites—a first attempt of its kind.
Category: Website, Podcast
Length: Varies per media (5–60 min. per)
Grade Level: 6–8
Standards: MS-ETS1-1, MS-ETS1-2, MS-EST1-3, MS-ETS1-4, MS-ESS2-1, MS-ESS3-1, HS-ETS1-2, HS-ETS1-3, HS-ESS2-5, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY
Chicago Black Women in STEAM Blog Series
Chicago’s Black Women in STEAM series highlights pioneering women of Chicago who are doing amazing things in STEAM fields here in our own community. Hear the unique stories of these women of varying ages, backgrounds, and interests.
Category: Blog
Length: 15 min.
Grade Level: 6–8
Standards: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY
Adler Collections Database
A database of Adler’s extensive astronomical object collection.
Category: Database
Length: 5–60 min.
Grade Level: 9–12
Standards: N/A
Adler Astronomy Live: Space Ethics
🚀 Going to space is about more than the technical challenges of launching a rocket—it’s also about the way we explore, who can be an explorer, and what we choose to do in space! This discussion addresses ethical choices we face and how they guide the future of both human and robotic space exploration. 🤖
Category: Video
Length: 55 min.
Grade Level: 9–12
Standards: N/A
Skywatch Weekly
Skywatch Weekly is a newer series created in 2020 helping prepare people for what to look for in the night sky on a particular week. A new episode launches on Wednesdays at noon CT on the Adler YouTube channel.
Category: Video
Length: 7–10 min.
Grade Level: 9–12
Standards: HS-ESS1.A/HS-SS2-2, HS-ESS1.B
