Presentation Slides

Four decks for four courses. Use these page-by-page outlines to build PowerPoint or Google Slides. Each page gives a title, key points, visual suggestions and speaker notes.

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Deck A · Tour of the Solar System (Grades 5–8, 14 slides)

1. Opening: How many members does the solar system have? 8 major planets + dwarf planets + asteroid belt + Kuiper belt | Visual: overhead view of the solar system | Note: Ask students to guess the number of planets first.
2. The Sun: makes up 99.8% of the system's mass | Visual: Earth-Sun scale diagram | Note: Light reaches Earth in about 8 minutes 20 seconds.
3. Terrestrial Planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars: rocky worlds | Visual: four planets side by side | Note: Venus's surface is about 465°C, hotter than Mercury.
4. Earth: the only known cradle of life | Visual: Blue Marble photo | Note: 71% ocean coverage.
5. Mars: red iron oxide + humanity's next stop | Visual: Jezero crater image | Note: Perseverance landed in 2021, powered by a nuclear battery (MMRTG).
6. Gas Giants: Jupiter and Saturn: gas and rings | Visual: close-up of Jupiter's Great Red Spot | Note: Jupiter could hold about 1,300 Earths.
7. Ice Giants: Uranus lies on its side, Neptune has strong winds | Visual: tilted rotation diagram | Note: Neptune's winds can reach supersonic speeds.
8. Asteroid Belt: Why is there no planet there? | Visual: density diagram of the belt | Note: Jupiter's gravitational perturbations.
9. Scale Impact: preview of the fruit solar system activity | Visual: long scale-comparison image | Note: pair with WS-1 worksheet.
10. Gravity Is the Glue: orbit = falling + moving forward | Visual: Newton's cannon diagram | Note: recall the "orbit concept" from the first lesson.
11. Human Footprints: family of probes | Visual: Voyager/New Horizons trajectory map | Note: Voyager 1 has left the heliosphere.
12. Classroom Activity: teams create "planet dossiers" | Visual: task-card example | Note: groups of 4, rotate every 6 minutes.
13. Common Misconceptions: Planets line up? The "dark side" is cold? | Visual: myth-busting cards | Note: Moon phases are not Earth's shadow.
14. Summary & Extensions: three-sentence review + book/video recommendation links | Visual: screenshot of the site education page | Note: assign WS-4 observation homework.

Deck B · How Rockets Work (Grades 9–12, 14 slides)

1. Opening: Why rockets can reach space (the third law does not mean "pushing against air")
2. Three diagrams showing Newton's three laws applied to rockets
3. Thrust equation F = ṁ·ve: what each variable means (pair with WS-2 question 1)
4. Specific impulse Isp: the fuel "odometer" (solid ~250 s / kerosene 300–340 s / liquid hydrogen ~450 s)
5. Tsiolkovsky rocket equation: Δv = Isp·g₀·ln(m₀/mf) (pair with WS-2 questions 3 and 5)
6. The harsh mass ratio: why ~90% is fuel
7. Staging: the art of throwing away "empty cans" (Saturn V ~3,000 tonnes, three stages)
8. Delta-v budget 9.4 km/s vs. orbital speed 7.8 km/s: where do the losses go?
9. Escape velocity 11.2 km/s: the ticket to leave Earth
10. Modern reuse: Falcon 9's ~550-ton reusable path
11. Water-rocket mini-lab: classroom rocket equation (pressure, water volume, center of pressure)
12. Launch-calendar task: check recent launches on this site, pick one and analyze stages and fuel
13. Common misconceptions: no propellant needed in a vacuum? Rockets "push against air"?
14. Summary + assign Assessment Tools Quiz C

Deck C · Life on the ISS (Grades 6–10, 12 slides)

1. Opening: a "space house" 400 km up
2. Orbit and speed: 7.7 km/s, ~92 minutes per orbit, ~16 sunrises per day
3. "Weightlessness" is not "no gravity": continuous free fall
4. Body changes: bone density up to ~1% per month, muscle loss
5. Two hours of daily exercise: treadmill + resistance device
6. Food: tortillas replace bread (to prevent crumbs)
7. Drink: closed-loop water recycling over 90%
8. Sleep: sleeping bag attached to the wall
9. A day's schedule (pair with WS-6 task)
10. ISS comparison: a "space home" for U.S. classroom contexts
11. Live connection activity: use Spot the Station to schedule an observation
12. Summary + team "space-life designer" task

Deck D · Our Amazing Earth (Grades K–5, 12 slides)

1. Opening: Our home in space | Visual: Blue Marble panorama | Note: Ask students to name something "only Earth has."
2. Earth Is Spinning: 24-hour rotation creates day and night | Visual: Earth rotation animation | Note: Demonstrate with a flashlight and globe.
3. The Sun's Energy: light and heat come from the Sun | Visual: sunrise photo | Note: Light reaches Earth in about 8 minutes 20 seconds.
4. The Secret of Seasons: Earth's axis tilts about 23.5° | Visual: tilted Earth orbit diagram | Note: correct the misconception that seasons come from Earth-Sun distance.
5. The Invisible Blanket: atmosphere 78% nitrogen + 21% oxygen | Visual: atmospheric-layer diagram | Note: the atmosphere blocks harmful rays.
6. Planet Water: 71% of the surface is ocean, about 97% of Earth's water is saline | Visual: water-distribution chart | Note: fresh water is precious.
7. The Moon: neighbor about 384,000 km away | Visual: moon-phase sorting cards | Note: Moon phases are not Earth's shadow.
8. Weather and Climate: how clouds, warmth and cold happen | Visual: cloud image | Note: observe and record the weather for a week.
9. Protecting Earth: turn off lights, save water, sort trash | Visual: children-in-action illustration | Note: connects to K-ESS3-3.
10. Classroom Activity: Shadow Clock (outdoor) | Visual: shadow-record photo | Note: never look directly at the Sun.
11. Quiz Time: WS-4 quick three-question quiz | Visual: raise hands to answer | Note: answers are in the teacher version.
12. Summary: three-sentence review + site extension link (The Solar System course card) | Visual: education page screenshot | Note: assign home observation homework.

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Deck-to-Course Mapping: Deck A → the-solar-system; Deck B → rocket-science-basics; Deck C → life-in-space; Deck D → our-amazing-earth.