The KaAMS lesson plans harness a multitude of existing NASA, and other science-related, resources for both teachers and students. This science and technology-rich, web-accessible environment for teachers is designed using the Web-Enhanced Learning Environment Strategies (WELES) framework. The WELES framework enables teachers to integrate web resources purposefully and appropriately into the science curriculum. See Using KaAMS for more on the lesson plan structure and integrating Internet resources into your teaching.

The KaAMS lesson plans are organized in six major steps aligned with the processes of scientific inquiry, including: (1) identifying the problem scenario, (2) iterations of proposing ideas to explore problems and (3) searching for key information to support their planned explorations, (4) collecting data, (5) analyzing data, and (6) going public with their solutions. Throughout the entire process students are prompted to reflect on what they have learned and what they still need to know, similar to the process scientists go through during their scientific explorations. The use of these inquiry-oriented steps helps students become familiar with scientists' reasoning processes while they fill in gaps in their own knowledge during investigation of the mission problem. Students then use their newly acquired knowledge to refine or discard their ideas and generate new ideas based on their learning.
See figure 1.