Teachers, are you interested in on-demand content for your classrooms?
Below, find unique opportunities for you and your students to engage with the Museum’s content online. Our Anytime Expeditions are standards-aligned and provide a suite of materials surrounding the content area aimed at engaging students through:
- content deep-dives ready for instructional use
- hands-on experiences that include adaptations for completion at home
- artifact immersions that connect our collection to your content
These experiences include ready-to-go resources for teachers to implement in their classrooms; they do not include a live interaction with Smithsonian staff. If interested in live school programs, please check out our Virtual Planetarium Shows.
What do Anytime Expeditions include and how do I access them?
To access resources, expand the "Related Resources" tab below the expedition you're interested in. Each expedition includes:
- A Content Guide: We provide a content guide to navigate through the resource provided for educators and students. It contains a standards-aligned lesson and provides in-depth guidance on to effectively implement each of the expedition's components.
- Hands On Activities: Activities learners can enjoy at home or in the classroom.
- Artifact Immersions: Connect to the ideas in an Anytime Expedition through the objects in our collection.
- Class-wide Activity: A virtual game or activity learners can enjoy together.
One of our most popular class-wide activities are Anytime Scavenger Hunts. These competitions align with our Anytime Expedition content and challenge participants to demonstrate what they know about the topics in a way that embraces creativity and multiple learning styles.
Puruse the list below to discover if an Anytime Expedition has a related scavenger hunt, or review a complete list of all the scavenger hunts we currently offer.
The Expeditions
Earth and Its Place in the Universe
Grades: 5-12
What is in our universe, and what is Earth’s place within it? Investigate the tools, objects, and phenomena that teach us more about the Universe and explore a variety of readings sharing different peoples’ experiences observing the sky.
Standards:
Content Deep-Dive: Learn about Earth and its place in the universe through a meteorite exploration and engage in a sorting activity that challenges students’ knowledge of size, distance, and age of different objects in our universe.
Content Guide
Hands-on Activities: Students use their observation skills to compare Earth rocks with meteorites and engage in a hands-on cratering activity that can be done in the classroom or at home. Students can also complete the Cosmic Survey sorting activity.
Cratering Activity Cosmic Survey
Artifact Immersion: Students explore astronomy tools from the museum's collection and their contribution to our understanding of the universe.
Artifact Immersion
Class-wide Activity: Reserve the Mystery of the Shrinking Moon GooseChase Anytime Scavenger Hunt competition that challenges students to demonstrate what they have learned about the relationships between Earth, the Moon, and the Sun and solve the mystery of the shrinking moon.
Reserve this Anytime Scavenger Hunt
Finding Our Way (Geography & GIS)
Grades: 6-8
How do we know where we are? Through this expedition, students will better understand maps as rich visual resources.
Standards:
Content Deep-Dive: Learn about the history and uses of navigational technology while determining imaging most helpful in locating a fallen drone.
Content Guide
Hands-on Activities: Students learn about GIS maps and engage in a hands-on challenge to create their own GIS map inspired by a flipbook of their own neighborhoods.
Hands-On Activity
Artifact Immersion: How do you plan a trip? Through this Artifact Immersion, students can explore different ways to navigate journeys through items highlighted from our collection and contribute to our ability to understand and navigate the world around us.
Hands-On Activity
Class-wide Activity: Reserve the Finding Our Way GooseChase Anytime Scavenger Hunt competition that challenges students to locate different elements of their own community that are important for GIS mapping.
Reserve this Anytime Scavenger Hunt
Living and Working in Space
Grades: 3-12
The more we know about the universe, the more we learn about ourselves. Every NASA mission embodies the spirit of discovery. While living in space might appear to be nothing but fun; some of the known and unknown effects of space can spoil the party. This expedition will provide a glimpse into astronauts' daily lives while in space and the impact on the human body.
Standards:
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NGSS: 3-LS1-1, 3-LS4-1, 3-LS4-3, 3-LS4-4, 4-LS1-1, 4-LS1-2, 4-ESS3-2, 5-PS1-1, 5-PS2-1, 5-PS3-1, MS-LS1-1, MS-LS1-3, MS-LS1-7, MS-LS4-5, MS-ETS1-1, HS-PS3-1, HS-LS2-7
Content Deep-Dive: Learn about the number of biological and psychological hazards astronauts encounter that can impact the success of the mission as well as the long term health of the astronaut.
Content Guide
Hands-on Activities: Students will engage in two hands-on activities: a STEM challenge to build their own space suit and a science experiment that mimics the effects of microgravity on the body. Both activities can be done in the classroom or at home.
Build Your Own Space Suit Microgravity On The Body
Artifact Immersion: Students examine spacesuits in the museum's collection and how they keep astronauts safe in space.
Artifact Immersion
Class-wide Activity: Reserve the Living and Working in Space GooseChase Anytime Scavenger Hunt competition that challenges students to identify the different ways that being in space can affect the body and the different precautions that astronauts take to protect themselves.
Reserve this Anytime Scavenger Hunt
Living Through History
Grades: 1-8
What does air and space have to do with pandemics and protests? Explore connections between student experiences at home during the COVID-19 pandemic and astronaut experiences during space exploration.
- NGSS: ESS3.C; MS-ESS3-3
- Health: 1.2.1, 1.5.1, 1.8.1; 1.12.3
- CCSS: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.6-8.1.C; CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.6-8.1.D; CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.6-8.7, CSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.11-12.4; CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.9-10.1d
- C3: D2.Geo.4.6-8; D2.His.4.6-8; D2.Civ.10.K-2; D2.His.4.6-8; D2.His.7.9-12; D2.His.6.6-8
Content Deep-Dive: Learn about how astronauts experience quarantine and isolation during long term space travel and ways that NASA mitigates the associated biological and psychological impacts.
Content Guide
Hands-on Activities: Using the astronaut hygiene and personal preference kits as models students engage in a hands-on activity making their own Personal Preference Kit that can be done in the classroom or at home.
Personal Preference Kit
Artifact Immersion: Students will explore the Living Through History: Apollo 11 artifact immersion to examine what quarantine, isolation, and protests around Apollo 11 looked like using artifacts at the museum and make connections to today.
Artifact Immersion
Class-wide Activity: Have your students participate in the COVID-19 from Space virtual breakout room to first learn more about satellites and what their images can tell us, and then answer three questions using satellite images from the dashboard to study night lights, water quality, and air quality.
COVID-19 from Space
Mission to Mars
Grades: 6-12
From Mariner's first pictures of Mars in 1964 to Perseverance's landing in February of 2021, humans have been on a mission to learn more about the red planet. Students will explore the climate and geology of Mars, along with the challenges of robotic exploration in space.
Standards:
Content Deep-Dive: Students will explore the climate and geology of Mars, along with the challenges of robotic exploration in space.
Content Guide
Hands-on Activities: Students engage in Marsbound and Explore Mars with Scratch hands-on activities that can be done in the classroom or at home.
Marsbound Explore Mars with Scratch
Artifact Immersion: Spacecraft from our collection are highlighted and show the evolution of technology we have used to explore Mars. Students explore artifacts that are part of NASA's Mission to Mars and how design adapts to each mission's objectives.
Artifact Immersion
Class-wide Activity: Reserve the Mission to Mars GooseChase Anytime Scavenger Hunt competition that challenges students to incorporate what they know about Mars into their answers.
Reserve this Anytime Scavenger Hunt
Paper Airplane Design
Grades: 3-8
How do airplanes fly? Control surfaces, forces of flight, and center of gravity are all things that impact how an aircraft flies whether they are made out of paper, fabric, aluminum, or carbon fiber. Paper airplanes are a great way to experiment with aircraft design. This field trip uses paper airplanes and the scientific method to explore the relationship between an airplanes center of gravity and flight stability.
Standards:
- NGSS: 3-5.Engineering Design, MS.Engineering Design, 3-PS2.A, 5-PS2.A, MS-PS2-2
Content Deep-Dive: Students will explore the relationship between an airplane's center of gravity and flight stability and how control surfaces affect how an aircraft flies.
Content Guide
Hands-on Activities: Students participate in the Drag Challenge and Control Surfaces Challenge to experiment with the center of gravity on a paper airplane and collect data to make conclusions about aircraft stability and manipulate control surfaces to get their paper airplane to meet several challenges.
Drag Challenge Control Surfaces Challenge
Artifact Immersion: Students explore aircraft at the National Air and Space Museum and how their wing design contributed to their functionality.
Artifact Immersion
Class-wide Activity: Reserve the Airplane Design GooseChase Anytime Scavenger Hunt competition that challenges students to apply aviation concepts to the world around them.
Reserve this Anytime Scavenger Hunt
To the Moon and Beyond
Grades: 3-12
The Moon has fascinated people throughout time. The 1969 Apollo 11 mission was the first-time humans set foot on a celestial body. This expedition will discuss the science of landing humans on the Moon and its lifeless environment. Content is scaffolded to explain how the moon affects us here on Earth, NASA’s fight for first place in the space race, and today’s journey to produce future missions to explore the Moon and Mars.
Content Deep-Dive: Explore the phases of the Moon, its relationship to Earth and the story of the Apollo missions.
Content Guide
Hands-on Activities: Students engage in a hands-on activity to create a Lunar Rover that can be done in the classroom or at home. Students can also complete NASA’s Lunar Rover Coding Challenge.
Create a Lunar Rover Coding Challenge
Artifact Immersion: Students examine artifacts at the National Air and Space Museum and their role in getting us to the moon.
Artifact Immersion
Class-wide Activity: Have your students participate in this To the Moon and Beyond virtual breakout room to crack the code and learn about the first human journeys into space. Using their combined knowledge from the lesson and activities students will crack the codes from the different NASA missions to gain the final passcode for the Artemis future missions to Mars!
Virtual Breakout Room
Weathering and Erosion
Grades: 3-12
Mountains, valleys, peaks, and crevasses our rockiest terrain has been built and demolished by the powerful effects of weathering and erosion. But Earth isn’t the only planet to experience these phenomena, Mars has also been shaped by these natural forces. In fact, Mars’ mysteries are slowly being uncovered as weathering and erosion takes its toll. Hidden ice caps and moving boulders are slowly telling the story of Mars’ existence. Join us as we explore the processes of weathering, erosion, and deposition and how they appear on Earth and Mars.
Content Deep-Dive: Students will apply what they know about the processes of weathering, erosion, and deposition and how it creates soil on Earth and use it to understand the geologic history of Mars.
Content Guide
Hands-on Activities: Students engage in a hands-on activity to complete the Soil Erosion Lab that can be done in the classroom or at home. Students can also complete NASA’s Mars Helicopter Coding Challenge.
Soil Erosion Lab Coding Challenge
Artifact Immersion: Students explore artifacts at the National Air and Space Museum and their connections to Weathering and Erosion to discover how NASA uses satellites and rovers to capture evidence of landscape changes. Items highlighted detect, prevent, and explain weathering and erosion.
Artifact Immersion
Class-wide Activity: Have your students participate in this Weathering & Erosion virtual breakout room to crack the code and learn about how NASA detects changes in landscapes on Earth, Mars, and beyond!. Using their combined knowledge from the lesson and activities students will crack the codes from the different NASA missions to gain the final passcode for the final breakout!
Virtual Breakout Room
World War II
Grades: 3-8
This year is the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II. Explore the history of World War II, pioneering events during this period, and the legacy of the people that served.
Content Deep-Dive: Learn about the contributions women and African Americans made to the Army Air Force, and how they impacted the development of the armed forces for the future.
Content Guide
Hands-on Activities: Students complete a Triple Nickle engineering challenge where students recreate Triple Nickles’ jumps, figuring out the best method for their “paratrooping potato” to land safely on target.
Triple Nickle Challenge
Artifact Immersion: Students examine aircraft at the National Air and Space Museum and how their design contributed to their role in World War II.
Class-wide Activity: With this World War II breakout activity students will navigate (either individually or as teams) the National Air & Space Museum website to obtain the information needed to answer the questions. As they complete each challenge page, they will be given code words on each submission page that they will need to use to complete the final breakout challenge page. Reserve the World War II GooseChase Anytime Scavenger Hunt competition that challenges students to remember what they have learned about World War II.
Breakout Room Activity Reserve this Anytime Scavenger Hunt
Anytime Expeditions are made possible by the generous support of Barron Hilton and the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation and the Hillside Foundation - Allan and Shelley Holt.