Comet on a Stick

National Science Education Standards addressed:

Grades K–4
Science as Inquiry:
       Ask a question about objects, organisms, and events in the environment
       Plan and conduct a simple investigation
       Use data to construct a reasonable explanation
       Communicate investigations and explanations

Earth and Space Science:
       Changes in the Earth and Sky
       • Objects in the sky have patterns of movement

Grades 5-8
Science as Inquiry:
       • Identify questions that can be answered through scientific investigations
       • Think critically and logically to make the relationships between evidence explanations
       • Develop descriptions, explanations, predictions and models using evidence
       • Recognize and analyze alternative explanations and predictions

Earth and Space Science:
       Earth in the Solar System
       • The Earth is the third planet from the sun in a system that includes the moon, the sun, eight other planets and           their moons, and smaller objects, such as asteroids and comets
       • Most objects in the solar system are in regular and predictable motion

AAAS Atlas Concept Map:
Grades 3-5
Scientific Inquiry: Scientific Investigations
Scientific Investigations may take many different forms, including observing what things are like or what is happening somewhere, collecting specimens for analysis, and doing experiments.

Grade 3-5
Scientific Inquiry: Evidence and Reasoning in Inquiry
Offer reasons for their findings and consider reasons suggested by others.

Grade 6-8
The Universe: The Solar System
...Other chunks of rock mixed with ice have long, off-center orbits that carry them close to the sun, where the sun's radiation (of light and particles) boils off frozen materials from their surfaces and pushes it into a long illuminated tail.