Earth and Space Launch (Grades 8-12)

This curiosity-building earth science curriculum homeschool bundle of nine Launch-level Science Unlocked kits will engage your student in hands-on science activities and learning for an entire school year. This full-year Earth science curriculum homeschool bundle includes:

• Full-colored student workbook
• Student assessments
• Supplies and equipment needed for experiments
• Real-world application

No prior teaching or science experience is needed! Teachers and parents, you will be well-equipped. Science Unlocked earth and space high school curriculum's detailed teacher guides will help guide you through assisting with hands-on learning experiences with:

• Context and answers to student questions
• Options for including children of different ages and abilities
• Step-by-step experiment instructions
• Lesson planning timeline

The Earth and Space Launch (Grades 8-12) Science Unlocked bundle meets all 19 NGSS HS-ES standards plus 1 additional HST science goal to fill earth & space gaps we see in NGSS. It includes the following kits:

Unit 1: Matter Moving in the Environment (4 Kits)

Danger Zone

Human Impacts and Climate Change

Investigate the challenging problem of climate change and how it connects people and living things around the world.

Working With Watersheds

Human Impact on Natural Resources

Model relationships between humans, watersheds, and natural resources to learn how people affect ecosystems, biodiversity, and human health.

Going in Circles

Cycling Matter Through Earth’s Systems

Follow carbon through the carbon cycle, water cycle, nitrogen cycle, phosphorus cycle, and rock cycle.

Reducing Reliance on Rarity

Technological Devices and Natural Resources

Discover how technology development relates to our environment by testing how materials from the Earth are used in technology.

Unit 2: Changes to Earth's Surface (3 Kits)

Reading the Rocks

Digging Into Earth’s Oldest Mysteries

Learn how geologists decipher clues hidden in rock layers, how those layers form, and see how oxidation can solve puzzles of the past.

Unusual Structures

How Erosion and Weathering Change Landscapes

Build, grind, and wash away dirt and rocks to discover the fascinating effects of erosion and weathering.

Restless Rocks

Earth’s Interior and Plate Tectonics

Use models of Earth's interior and the ocean floor to explore how earthquakes, volcanoes, and island formation are connected.

Unit 3: More than Earth (2 Kits)

Searching the Sky

Movement in the Solar System

Uncover the secrets of the Solar System by using ancient calendars and observations of planets, stars, and more.

Secret Lives of Stars

Observing Stars and Galaxies From Earth

Use magnetism to affect electricity, view colorful spectra, and expand a balloon to find out how stars form, release energy, and change.

More information about the learning objectives in each kit can be found in the contents section below. This NAPPA award winning earth science curriculum homeschool bundle is based on NGSS science standards for 8th through 12th grade science education. Read below in the contents section to learn more about the standards met in each kit. 

More Information

• Danger Zone Safety Information (SDS)
• Working With Watersheds Safety Information (SDS)
• Going in Circles Safety Information (SDS)
• Reducing Reliance on Rarity Safety Information (SDS)
• Reading the Rocks Safety Information (SDS)
• Unusual Structures Safety Information (SDS)
• Restless Rocks Safety Information (SDS)
• Secret Lives of Stars Safety Information (SDS)

This Launch level Science Unlocked bundle includes:

• Danger Zone
• Working With Watersheds
• Going in Circles
• Reducing Reliance on Rarity
• Reading the Rocks
• Unusual Structures
• Restless Rocks
• Searching the Sky
• Secret Lives of Stars

• Danger Zone
  • Learning outcome: Climate change connects people and living things around the world. In this kit, you will dive deeper into these changes and tackle challenging problems affecting the world.
  • NGSS science standards alignment
    • HS-ESS2-4 Use a model to describe how variations in the flow of energy into and out of Earth’s systems result in changes in climate.
    • HS-ESS3-5 Analyze geoscience data and the results from global climate models to make an evidence-based forecast of the current rate of global or regional climate change and associated future impacts to Earth systems.
    • MS-ESS3-5 Ask questions to clarify evidence of the factors that have caused the rise in global temperatures over the past century.
  • Additional science standards alignment
    • Use evidence to explain how the offurrence of natural hazards, and changes in climate have affected human activity.
• Working With Watersheds
  • Learning outcome: Model the relationships between humans, watersheds, and natural resources to show how the activities of people affect ecosystems, biodiversity, and even human health.
  • NGSS science standards alignment
    • HS-ESS3-3 Create a computational simulation to illustrate the relationships among management of natural resources, the sustainability of human populations, and biodiversity.
    • HS-ESS3-4 Evaluate or refine a technological solution that reduces impacts of human activities on natural systems.
    • HS-ESS3-6 Use a computational representation to illustrate the relationships among Earth systems and how those relationships are being modified due to human activity.
• Going in Circles
  • Learning outcome: Follow carbon through the carbon cycle, water cycle, nitrogen cycle, phosphorus cycle, and rock cycle with experiments and models to find out how they are connected.
  • NGSS science standards alignment
    • HS-ESS2-6 Develop a quantitative model to describe the cycling of carbon among the hydrosphere, atmosphere, geosphere, and biosphere.
    • MS-ESS2-1 Develop a model to describe the cycling of Earth’s materials and the flow of energy that drives this process.
• Reducing Reliance on Rarity
  • Learning outcome: Work through the processes of uncovering and using materials to make a smartphone.
  • NGSS science standards alignment
    • HS-ESS3-1 Construct an explanation based on evidence for how the availability of natural resources, occurrence of natural hazards, and changes in climate have influenced human activity.
    • HS-ESS3-2 Evaluate competing design solutions for developing, managing, and utilizing energy and mineral resources based on cost-benefit ratios.
• Reading the Rocks
  • Learning outcome: Learn how geologists decipher the clues hidden in rock layers, get hands-on with how those layers form, and see for yourself how oxidation can solve the puzzles of the past.
  • NGSS science standards alignment
    • HS-ESS1-6 Use evidence from rocks and minerals to describe the formation of Earth and its early history.
    • HS-ESS2-7 Use evidence to argue for the simultaneous co-evolution of Earth's systems and life on Earth.
    • MS-ESS1-4 Use evidence from rock strata to explain how the geologic timescale is used to describe Earth's 4.6-billion-year history.
• Unusual Structures
  • Learning outcome: Build, grind, and wash away dirt and rocks to discover the fascinating effects of erosion and weathering.
  • NGSS science standards alignment
    • HS-ESS2-2 Analyze geoscience data to make the claim that one change to Earth’s surface can create feedbacks that cause changes to other Earth systems.
    • HS-ESS2-5 Plan and conduct an investigation of the properties of water and its effects on Earth materials and surface processes.
    • MS-ESS2-2 Construct an explanation based on evidence for how geoscience processes have changed Earth’s surface at varying time and spatial scales.
• Restless Rocks
  • Learning outcome: Use models of Earth’s interior and the ocean floor to explore how earthquakes, volcanoes, and island formation are connected.
  • NGSS science standards alignment
    • HS-ESS1-5 Use evidence to explain how the ages of crustal rocks are affected by past and current movement of tectonic plates.
    • HS-ESS2-1 Use a model to explain how Earth's surface features are formed by internal and surface processes.
    • HS-ESS2-3 Use evidence of Earth's interior to develop a model that shows cycling of matter through mantle convection.
• Searching the Sky
  • Learning outcome: Uncover the secrets of the Solar System by using ancient calendars and observations of planets, stars, and more.
  • NGSS science standards alignment
    • HS-ESS1-4 Use mathematical or computational representations to predict the motion of orbiting objects in the solar system.
    • MS-ESS1-2 Make a model to show how gravity affects motion within galaxies and the solar system.
    • MS-ESS1-3 Use data to determine the size, surface features, and orbital radius of objects in the solar system.
• Secret Lives of Stars
  • Learning outcome: Use magnetism to affect electricity, make star property graphs, view colorful spectra, and expand a balloon to find out how stars form, release energy, and change.
  • NGSS science standards alignment
    • HS-ESS1-1 Develop a model based on evidence to illustrate the life span of the sun and the role of nuclear fusion in the sun’s core to release energy that eventually reaches Earth in the form of radiation.
    • HS-ESS1-2 Construct an explanation of the Big Bang theory based on astronomical evidence of light spectra, motion of distant galaxies, and composition of matter in the universe.
    • HS-ESS1-3 Communicate scientific ideas about the way stars, over their life cycle, produce elements.