The 4th of October marks the beginning of World Space Week 2020: a week-long celebration of all that’s celestial, cosmological, and cosmonautical…if that’s a word? This year’s theme is “satellites improve life” and it got us thinking…do we have any sensational resources in orbit that improve your life? If you’re planning on slipping this national celebration into your lesson plans next week, we just might have a secondary resource or two that may pique your interest. Houston…dish out the space-based learning materials in T minus, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1…

🛰️🚀📡🌐📺📻🌌🌗

What on earth is World Space Week?

World Space Week is exactly that: a week devoted to Humanity’s final frontier that’s celebrated in over 80 countries worldwide. “The largest space event on Earth” (except for living on the Earth, which is in itself a pretty big space event) World Space Week involves numerous talks, debates, open days, and stargazing activities, all of which revolve around a central theme. If you’re planning on sprinkling space dust on your secondary lessons this time around, we have a resource or two that you should check out first.

World Space Week – Satellites – KS3

This lesson pack has been designed to help your KS3 science students find out about different types of satellites, from natural satellites like the moon to humanly-constructed satellites like those used for communication. This pack also helps your students investigate the effect of orbital radius on the speed of travel.

World Space Week – Investigating Orbits Worksheet

This differentiated investigation pack helps your students find out how the speed of travel of a satellite is affected by its distance from the centre of gravity. The further a planet is from the object the planet orbits, the slower its orbit will be. This leads to planets on the outer edges of our solar system having orbits that last many Earth years.

Gravity, Mass and Weight – KS3 Science

We’ve all seen the grainy 60s footage, we know that you bounce up and down in a most peculiar way when you’re walking on the Moon, our resident satellite. Well, using Forces Lesson 3, part of our Forces Unit of Work, you and your KS3 Science class can understand why. Explore the difference between mass and weight, simulate the gravitational forces at play on the Moon, and gain a wider understanding of the effect of gravity.

World Space Week Making Rockets Lesson Pack

This set of World Space Week Making Rockets Worksheets is great for science lesson plans during World Space Week. Lesson one focuses on designing a rocket, lesson two on making a rocket, and lesson three on testing the rocket. This making rockets resource engages students with World Science Week by carrying out fun, practical experiments.

So, there you have it – an interstellar collection of satellite-themed secondary resources to get you and your class in the mood for World Space Week. Whether you’re learning facts about the Moon, experimenting with gravitational forces, exploring the many uses of satellites, or grappling with speed, distance, and time calculations, Beyond Secondary has everything you need to make this national celebration truly out of this world…

Like what you see? Why not subscribe to Beyond for access to thousands of secondary teaching resources – including these World Space Week resources you’ve just seen. You can also sign up for a free account and take a look at our free resources too!