This material is an annotated list of some of the best hands-on activities for teaching astronomy that are available without charge on the web. Originally put together for the Timothy Ferris PBS special "Seeing in the Dark", this listing remains available on the PBS web site and can be a good starting point for a K-12 teacher (or even a community college instructor) wishing to get started with some fun activities for helping students understand the sky and the objects in it. The annotated list is linked to lessons in a PDF format, e.g.,your galactic address and toilet paper solar system and interactive web sites, e.g., how big is the solar system and birthday moon.
Type of Material:
Collection
Recommended Uses:
The Seeing in the Dark website allows students, teachers and the general public to explore the world of astronomy. Users can design their own course on astronomy complete with reference materials, activities, experiments, and assessment artifacts. Teachers can use it to find specific lesson plans and activities to implement the school districts science curriculum and/or supplement existing science curricula. Students can use the site to help them complete their science assignments with simulations and activities. Parents can use it to help them better assist their children in learning science in school.
Technical Requirements:
Any updated Internet browser; Acrobat Reader or other software to download PDF files; Quicktime or other plug-ins to view movie and animation clips
Identify Major Learning Goals:
The goal of this website is to familiarize science teachers with a collection of astronomy resources.
The resources on this website can also be used to enhance teacher knowledge of astronomy and connect it to state science standards
Familiarize students with a variety of electronic tools to collect and analyze astronomical data
Target Student Population:
K-12 students, K-12 teachers, undergraduate students, undergraduate professors, and the general public
Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:
None
Content Quality
Rating:
Strengths:
This site is indeed the "gateway" to the study of astronomy.
A collection of exemplary resources by world reknowned astronomers and educators.
Concerns:
None
Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool
Rating:
Strengths:
This is an excellent collection of resources that has intriguing, engaging, content rich, challenging activities for learning astronomy.
Concerns:
Since this is a collection of websites, there is no guarantee of continuity or relationships.
Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty
Rating:
Strengths:
Overall, extremely user-friendly; very intuitive.
Concerns:
Two minor concerns:
In Activity 3 of Birthday Moon, the Space Academy link is no longer active. However, the Moon Phases link works just fine.
The Venus Topography Box link takes the user to a lesson plan on the NASA educator website. However, there are no instructions on how to obtain or make these topography boxes.
Creative Commons:
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