NASA Helio Club

NASA Helio Club is a collection of six lessons that complete a comprehensive module created for a middle-school audience (ages 10-14) to introduce basic heliophysics concepts to learners. Each club session explores at least one NASA mission.

This resource bundle is designed to be flexible to meet the needs of different educators in a variety of settings. Sessions and activities can be applied to an afterschool club or can be used as lesson plans for a formal classroom setting. Materials are intended to be affordable and easily accessible.

Each session takes approximately two hours, which includes a pre and post assessment, warm-up activity, and three main hands-on activities, each taking about twenty five minutes. If you don’t have the time to do an entire two hour session, the activities can also be used independently to engage students in learning specific concepts or to practice the application of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) skills. Sessions build upon one another but can exist independently.

For formal educators, sessions are connected to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and resources are designed so that they can be integrated into Google Classroom. To modify the sessions for different audiences, educators can make a copy of the Google Docs to edit and customize the session for their specific program or curriculum.

Each session folder (links below) includes educator instructions, learner handouts, and assessment tools. If you plan on running the entire club, the NASA Helio Club Youth Guide includes the handouts for all six sessions, plus additional resources for a capstone project. Other resources include Educator Background Information and a complete Materials Checklist for all six sessions. Find the entire set of resources for all sessions in the NASA Helio Club Public Folder.

Session 1: Heliophysics 101

The full session defines heliophysics and gives an overview of the topics that heliophysicists study. Missions introduced in this session are the Interstellar Boundary EXplorer (IBEX) mission and the Voyager mission. Activities in this session include:

[1] Modeling the Heliosphere

[2] Cosmic Return Address

[3] Building an Earth-Sun Scale Model

Session 2: Observing the Sun

The full session explores ways to safely observe the Sun. Missions introduced in this session are the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) mission, the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), and the Hubble Space Telescope. Activities in this session include:

[1] Safely Observing the Sun

[2] What Color is the Sun?

[3] How NASA Studies the Sun

Session 3: Parker Solar Probe Engineering Challenge

The full session includes two engineering challenges inspired by NASA’s Parker Solar Probe mission. Activities in this session include:

[2] Engineering Challenge: Speed

[2] Engineering Challenge: Insulation

[3] Comparing Ways to Study the Sun (includes solar eclipse content)

Session 4: Predicting Space Weather

The full session introduces the concept of space weather. Missions introduced in this session include the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission, the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), the Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms (THEMIS) mission, and the Artemis Mission. Activities in this session include:

[1] Modeling Magnetic Fields

[2] Predicting Space Weather

[3] MMS Spacecraft Model

Session 5: Aurora: The Beauty of Space Weather

The full session explores the science behind aurora. Missions introduced in this session include the Ionospheric Connection Connection Explorer (ICON) mission and the International Space Station. Activities in this session include:

[1] Learning from Light

[2] Predicting the Aurora

[3] Aurora Art

Session 6: Beyond the Heliosphere

The full session compares our Sun to other stars and planetary systems and explores how NASA looks for exoplanets. Missions introduced in this session include the Transit Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) mission, the Kepler mission, the Spitzer mission, the Chandra X-ray observatory, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), and the International Space Station (ISS). Activities in this session include:

[1] Life Cycle of Stars

[2] Finding Exoplanets

[3] The Search for Extraterrestrials

Capstone Project: Mission Proposal

In this optional capstone project learners are challenged to use what they learned about NASA missions throughout the club sessions to design their own mission. This project introduces even more NASA missions, examines the different ways of collecting data on missions, and models the steps that scientists and engineers take to conceptualize and execute a mission.

If you have questions or feedback about the activities in NASA Helio Club or about other NASA resources for educators, or questions about heliophysics or space science topics, connect with a NASA HEAT educator or scientist by filling out this form.

This resource was developed by the NASA Heliophysics Education Activation Team (NASA HEAT), in collaboration with Maryland 4H. NASA HEAT is based at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and funded by the NASA Science Mission Directorate. Publication number NP-2023-6-077-GSFC.