This web page contains a complete collection of books and other Space Math products in PDF format, which are available to download. Note the large file sizes! Also, these documents are full-color, and contain additional explanatory materials about the content and how the topics align with national mathematics and science standards identified by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics and the National Science Teachers Association.
These books include most of the weekly math problems assembled by year or by special topic area, in a format that may be more
convenient for the teacher than the individual weekly problem downloads. All books contain problems for a
mixture of grade levels from 4th through 8th and beyond. Please consider taking the following surveys so that we can collect data for presentations to NASA, and continue to be funded to maintain this resource. The five questions will ask you specifically about the use of these books so that we can gauge whether this format is useful to you and your students.
For Teachers visit: Teacher Survey
For Students visit: Student Survey
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The links below take you to the PDF files.
Annual Math Problem Collections
| Exploring Space Math (2003) - [5.7 Mby, 15 Problems] |
| Space Math I (2004) - [7.2 Mby, 20 Problems] |
| Space Math II (2005) - [13.8 Mby, 24 Problems] |
| Space Math III (2006) - [13.6 Mby, 36 Problems] |
| Space Math IV (2007) - [11.7 Mby, 31 Problems] |
| Space Math V (2008) - [11.1 Mby, 87 Problems] |
Special Topic Guides
| Radiation (2007) - [11.7 Mby, 19 Problems] - An introduction to radiation measurement, dosimetry and how your lifestyle affects how much radiation your body absorbes. Detailed discussions of radiation units, and the affects of space radiation on living and working in space |
| Black Holes (2008) - [3.8 Mby, 11 Problems] An introduction to the basic properties of black holes using elementary algebra and geometry. Students calculate black hole sizes from their mass, time and space distortion, and explore the impact that black holes have upon their surroundings. |
| Solar Science I(2008) - [3.6 Mby, 15 problems] Exploring solar storms and solar structure using simple math activities. Calculating speeds of solar flares from photographs, and investigating solar magnetism. |
| Image Scaling (2008)- [7.3 Mby, 11 Problems] Students work with a number of NASA photogrphs of planets, stars and galaxies to determine the scales of the images, and to examine the sizes of various features within the photographs using simple ratios and proportions. |
| Lunar Math (2008)- [3.8 Mby, 17 Problems] An exploration of the moon using NASA photographs and scaling activities. Mathematical modeling of the lunar interior, and problems involving estimating its total mass and the mass of its atmosphere. |
| Magnetic Math (2009)- [9.5 Mby, 37 Problems] Six hands-on exercises, plus 37 math problems, allow students to explore magnetism and magnetic fields, both through drawing and geometric construction, and by using simple algebra to quantitatively examine magnetic forces, energy, and magnetic field lines and their mathematical structure. |
| Earth Math (2009;Draft1)- [4.2 Mby, 40 Problems] Students explore the simple mathematics behind global climate change through analyzing graphical data, data from NASA satellites, and by performing simple calculations of carbon usage using home electric bills and national and international energy consumption. |
Additional math resources are available from the
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- Exploring Magnetism (Grades 6-8)This book contains hands-on problems involving the properties of magnets and magnetism. Although no mathematics is involved, it features problems that require careful observation, recording data, and drawing conclusions from data. [8.9 Mby, 7 Problems]
- Magnetism and Electromagnetism (Grade 6-8) This guide features hands-on activities in learning about magnetism. Although no mathematics is involved, it emphasizes careful observation and data-taking activities. [1.0 Mby, 4 Problems]
- Space Weather (Grade 9-12) Students learn about solar storms and space weather while performing calculations involving time, time zones, creating a chronology of events from eye-witness accounts, tallying data and working with simple bar graphs. [4.3 Mby, 6 Problems]
- Earth's Magnetic Personality (Grade 9-12) Students learn about vectors in 2 and 3-dimensions, vector components, representing magnetic fields as 3-D vectors, analyzing line graphs and bar graphs derived from actual data. [3 Mby, 6 Problems]
- Northern Lights and Solar Sprites (Grades 1-5) Many different areas in solar and space science are covered in highly interactive exercises. These include studying convection on the Sun, solar flares, how to design a rocket payload, and the general subject of how the Sun affects the Earth. It was specifically designed to fill a well-known gap in NASA's offerings for the lower grades, and to do so in a way that is both fun, and well-integrated with national science benchmarks and standards.
- Solar Storms and You! (Grades 7-9) This series of six workbooks has been adopted in a number of school districts in Maryland, California and Illinois. POETRY has also participated in numerous conferences and workshops, presenting selected activities to teachers. The six chapters are: Solar Activity | The Solar Wind | Magnetic Storms | Aurora | Satellite Design | Human Impacts
- Blackout: The Video (Grades 7-9)A middle school-level science module in the Event-Based Science program supported by the National Science Foundation. The workbook I will be published by Addison-Wesley in early 2000. It is a role-based curriculum package that lets students operate as engineers, scientists and technicians to understand the cause of a simulated electrical power blackout patterned after the March 1989 Quebec blackout which affected 6 million people. Students read news stories about the impacts of blackouts, their scientific causes, and conduct hands-on experiments in electricity and magnetism.To order a copy, contact: Request Coordination Center , Code 633, Goddard Space Flight Center , 301) 286-6695 (Email) request@nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov Cost = $10.00 Length: 20 minutes The Video may also be ordered through NASA/CORE by visiting their Web Page
- IMAGE Explores... (Grades 7-10) A series of 1-page NASA Education Briefs that contain information about a specific IMAGE instrument or technology issue on the front page. On the back of the page, there is a classroom activity that students can work on that picks up on some aspect of the main essay. Typical activities may exercise geometric skills, algebraic manipulation, or graphing. The Plasmasphere | The Aurora | The Magnetosphere | The Ring Current
- Exploring the Earth's Magnetic Field(Grades 9-11)This is a workbook of 23 activities spanning the needs of K-12 teachers who want to discuss Earth's magnetism in varying degrees of detail. In includes web-based activities, and a variety of hands-on experiments with magnets and electromagnetism.
- The Classroom Magnetometer (Grades 7-10)Students will build and operate a simple magnetometer using a soda bottle and a bar magnet. They will use it to monitor changes in Earth's magnetic field. They will study magnetic storms and investigate their properties in time and space. They will make measurements and perform simple statistical analysis.
- The Instruments of IMAGE(Grades 10-12)This is a pair of high school-level workbooks featuring advanced problems in mathematics and science that are based on experiments being performed with the IMAGE satellite. Introduction Guide | Spacecraft and Data
- Tracking a Solar Storm(Grades 10-12)This is a pair of high school-level workbooks featuring advanced problems in mathematics and science that are based on experiments being performed with the IMAGE satellite. Part 1 | Part 2
- The Northern Lights(Grades 7-8)This is a workbook of 10 activities targeted at Grade 7-8 that explores the Northern Lights. The activities include essays, triangulation, parallax, geometry, calculator mathematics, graph analysis, prediction and forecasting.
- Exploring Space Science Mathematics(Grades 7-9)This series of math activities will help students understand some of the real-life applications of mathematics in the study of the Sun and Earth as a system.
- Calculating the Distance to the Sun During a Transit of Mercury using Satellite Observations of Parallax (Grades 9-10)This is a geometry problem that teaches students about the parallax effect and how it is used to determine distances in space. In this example, we use images from the TRACE satellite taken during the Transit of Mercury to measure the parallax angle, and determine the distance from Earth to the Sun.
- Calculating the Distance to the Sun During a Transit of Venus using Satellite Observations of Parallax (Grades 9-10)This is a geometry problem that teaches students about the parallax effect and how it is used to determine distances in space. In this example, we use images from the TRACE satellite taken during the rare, 2004 Transit of Venus to measure the parallax angle, and determine the distance from Earth to the Sun.
