Prepared from Richard Styner’s surviving Solar Flare Curriculum outline, this section expands each of the 17 units into a classroom-ready UDL lesson plan while preserving the original instructional sequence and named activities.
Download all 17 UDL lessons (DOCX)
On this day, students are introduced to the four forces: strong and weak nuclear, gravity and electromagnetic. They focus on light and its particle and wave properties, the relationship between frequency and wavelength, and the electromagnetic spectrum from radio through visible light to gamma rays.
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Students construct spectroscopes and use various light sources to investigate the importance of spectroscopy in determining the nature of the Sun’s composition. They also investigate what chemicals are used to make fluorescent light tubes glow.
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The original outline includes a demonstration of why the Sun turns red as it sets and a coin-in-water investigation of how light changes direction in water. The source calls this the “Defraction of Light” lab.
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The curriculum connects E = mc² to stellar fusion and the production of elements. It explains that matter beyond hydrogen and helium is created through stellar processes and includes a dust-cloud activity connecting stellar material to the Solar System.
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Students compare the Sun with other stars and use data for observable stars to reconstruct a Hertzsprung–Russell diagram. The outline connects stellar color or temperature with brightness or size and introduces parallax as a way to estimate distance.
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The original curriculum uses balloons to represent stars of different relative sizes and connects stellar size to the H–R diagram and stellar life cycles. It also mentions a dramatic hydrogen-balloon demonstration.
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Using Hubble Deep Field images, students correlate galaxy color with galaxy shape and use the images to estimate how many objects exist in the visible universe.
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The Sun is treated as an almost perfect blackbody. Students use the Stefan–Boltzmann relationship and Wien’s law to investigate solar radiation and determine the wavelength of maximum emission.
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The outline explains that photons are born deep within the Sun and can take extremely long periods to reach the surface. A “Photon game” demonstrates why repeated interactions make the journey so long.
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Students examine the historical importance of the Sun to human civilization using examples such as Chaco Canyon, Stonehenge, and Maya astronomy. The lesson also explores how Earth’s axial tilt governs the seasons.
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Students learn about solar flares and examine SOHO views of sunspots at different wavelengths. The original plan includes construction of a simple sunspot viewer and comparison of online imagery with telescope observations.
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Students use a series of SOHO images to calculate the velocity and acceleration of a solar ejection as it leaves the Sun. The curriculum also includes a demonstration of how to calculate the mass the Sun loses per second to the solar wind.
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Students learn how the ozone layer protects Earth from harmful ultraviolet radiation and use UV-sensitive beads with different sunscreen brands and SPF values in the first part of the two-day “Give Me Shelter” lab.
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Students use iron-fortified cereal and magnets to model how Earth’s magnetosphere protects us from harmful solar radiation and charged particles.
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Students use monthly sunspot data extending back to 1750. Each student receives a different 12-year period, graphs it by year and month, investigates whether the pattern is yearly or monthly, and calculates standard deviation. The outline allows hand graphing when computers are unavailable.
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Students use Excel, NOAA data, and SID observations to graph a day of sunspot or solar activity, compare results with online data, label events, convert Universal Time, and determine why the SID monitor detects activity only during certain hours.
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The culminating three-day project asks students to predict an effect associated with sunspot activity, collect data from periods of high and low solar activity, and communicate findings in a poster and paper.
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Electromagnetic radiation, spectroscopy, optics, fusion, stellar properties, and solar structure establish the science students need.
Students work with Hubble and SOHO imagery, solar observations, equations, graphs, statistics, and historical datasets.
The sequence culminates in SID data analysis and a student-designed investigation comparing periods of high and low solar activity.