Secret Lives of Stars

Explore the connection between electricity and magnetism and the Sun! Learn about space weather and how energy from the Sun reaches Earth. Expand a balloon to model how stars form, change, and release energy. Students use a spectroscope to view the color spectrum and model the expansion of the universe. 

This Launch level kit includes a full-color student workbook and a detailed teacher guide, with step-by-step instructions for both hands-on and reading-based activities designed to engage students in stars and the universe.  Designed to provide over 15 hours of education and entertainment, both teacher and student will be able to open the box and start within minutes. 

In this kit, the student will engage in these hands-on activities:

• Learn how weather from space affects people on Earth.
• Find out what the Sun is and how it releases radiation to Earth.
• Compare the properties of our Sun to those of other stars.
• Get hands-on with the many ways people see stars with eyes, telescopes, and more.
• Go beyond the stars to learn about the rest of the universe.

Use the Secret Lives of Stars kit to answer questions such as:

• How does space weather affect things on Earth?
• How is energy produced by and released from stars?
• How do stars change?
• How do people observe stars?
• What is the universe like? 

Your student is ready for this kit when:

• They know Earth orbits the Sun, which is a star.
• They have some experience with studying waves.

The following are Science Unlocked kits we suggest your student has completed prior to doing this kit:

• The Dark Side
• Wave Wisdom

The Secret Life of Stars kit is a part of the Science Unlocked Launch series and is recommended for middle and high school students in grades 8-12.

Interested in learning more? Check out our Student Workbook Sample and Teacher Guide Sample!  

More Information

• Safety Information (SDS)

Items included in the kit:

• 1 Aluminum Foil Sheet
• 1 Balloon
• 2 Bar Magnets
• 1 Marker
•  Colorflame Candles
• 1 Copper Wire
• 1 Galvanometer
• 1 Graph Paper
• 1 Matches
• 1 Cup
• 1 Ruler
• 1 Sand
• 1 Spectroscope

• Colored pencils (optional)
• Cup of water
• Scissors
• Various light sources (natural and artificial)

• Learning outcome: Use magnetism to affect electricity, make star property graphs, view colorful spectra, and expand a balloon to find out how stars form, release energy, and change.
• NGSS science standards alignment
• HS-ESS1-1 Develop a model based on evidence to illustrate the life span of the sun and the role of nuclear fusion in the sun’s core to release energy that eventually reaches Earth in the form of radiation.
• HS-ESS1-2 Construct an explanation of the Big Bang theory based on astronomical evidence of light spectra, motion of distant galaxies, and composition of matter in the universe.
• HS-ESS1-3 Communicate scientific ideas about the way stars, over their life cycle, produce elements.