Middle School Earth/Space Science
Big Kid Science is excited to announce the availability of our FREE, online textbook/curriculum for Middle School Earth and Space Science. We encourage all middle school science teachers to consider using it as a replacement for your current curriculum materials. We think you’ll love it! Click here to go directly to the online text, or click here for a pdf info sheet.
Earth & Space Science
National Free Visit Program
Big Kid Science author Jeffrey Bennett offers programs for all ages, as well as teacher workshops and public talks. Now, for communities across the U.S., Dr. Bennett offers a limited number of completely free community visits, including paying his own travel expenses. Click here for details on his free visit program.
Note: In Colorado, particularly within an hour or so drive of Boulder, Dr. Bennett offers a larger number of free school visits. Contact Dr. Bennett directly with requests.
Big Kid Science in Space!
- All seven children’s titles from Big Kid Science author Jeffrey Bennett have been selected for the Story Time From Space program, in which astronauts read the books from the International Space Station. Learn more and watch the videos posted at the Story Time From Space web site.
- Learn how the Dr. Bennett’s books became part of the Story Time From Space program, or watch this video of astronaut Alvin Drew reading Max Goes to the Moon from the Space Shuttle Discovery.
- Read Dr. Bennett’s post on climate change education.
The Max Goes to the Moon Movie/Planetarium Show
- Max Goes to the Moon is now a great movie and planetarium show for kids, families, and school groups. You can now stream it online for your classroom (available in both English and Spanish)!
Activities for Classroom Use
- Check out our set of interdisciplinary eclipse-related activities, which you’ll find especially useful for the total eclipse of 2017, but also useful at other times.
- This set of activities on scale of the universe (pdf format) is suitable for use in middle school and up. (If you’d like background reading on the scale of space and time, you may download this sample chapter from one of my textbooks. Please do not copy or distribute.)
- This article on the science of the movie Gravity includes a set of activities for the classroom.
- Take a virtual Tour of the Solar System, based on Dr. Bennett’s work in creating scale model solar systems.
More Fun Stuff
- View Max’s Famous Merry-Go-Round Trick
- Videos of Dr. Bennett’s school presentations
- Additional Videos with Dr. Bennett
- Read Dr. Bennett’s blog
Links from the Books
- Max Goes to the Moon: Answer to Challenge Question (p. 31)
- Max Goes to the Moon: “Secrets of the paintings” and other page-by-page notes
- Max Goes to Mars: “Secrets of the paintings” and other page-by-page notes
- Max Goes to Jupiter: Carl Sagan Full Quotation & Finding Jupiter in the Night Sky
- Max Goes to Jupiter: “Secrets of the paintings” and other page-by-page notes
- Max Goes to the Space Station: “Secrets of the paintings” and other page-by-page notes
Max Loves Math!
- Go to our YouTube site to see videos covering key mathematical skills for science; the videos are narrated by Dr. Bennett. Although designed as a review for high school and college students, these videos may also be of interest to younger students. Note: College instructors can access a set of in-depth, interactive tutorials based on these videos on the Mastering Astronomy site; be sure to choose one of the textbooks on which Dr. Bennett is lead author.