The spring 2017 syllabus for the General Astronomy Course (AST 110), developed as part of the textbook free courseware initiative at Borough of Manhattan Community College.
This is a set of four, one-page problems about the distance craft travel on Mars. Learners will use the Pythagorean Theorem to determine distance between a series of hypothetical exploration sites within Gale Crater on Mars. Options are presented so that students may learn about the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission through a NASA press release or by viewing a NASA eClips video [6 min.]. This activity is part of the Space Math multi-media modules that integrate NASA press releases, NASA archival video, and mathematics problems targeted at specific math standards commonly encountered in middle school.
The purpose of this lesson is to teach the students about how a spacecraft gets from the surface of the Earth to Mars. The lesson first investigates rockets and how they are able to get us into space. Finally, the nature of an orbit is discussed as well as how orbits enable us to get from planet to planet specifically from Earth to Mars.
This activity is an investigation of the Earths Moon phases and its position in the sky.
In this activity, students examine a photo and map of Manhattan, New York, to determine the date the photo was taken. The activity provides opportunities for discussing seasons, equinoxes, and the apparent position of the Sun throughout the year. Links to additional information are embedded in the text.
Portland Public Schools has developed this unit. Their hope is that ALL K-5 students will be able to access rigorous, standards-aligned science instruction that engages them in hands-on experiences and sense-making through student discourse. They want to encourage all students to be critical thinkers and lifelong learners. To that end, the science and ESL departments at Portland Public Schools, in consultation with NGSS writer Rita Januszyk, have developed units that are aligned with both Next Generation Science Standards and Oregon’s English Language Proficiency standards.
In this unit, students investigate how gravity affects a variety of objects. They make and support a claim that the sun is a star and that the brightness of stars is related to their distance from Earth. Students use models to support a claim that the Earth’s movement is responsible for the patterns of movement that we see in the sky.
This video segment adapted from NOVA features the youngest rock formations in the Grand Canyon, lava dams, and how they are subject to the eroding power of water.
Students will learn about NASA's Radiation Belt Storm Probes (RBSP), Earth's van Allen Radiation Belts, and space weather through reading a NASA press release and viewing a NASA eClips video segment. Then students will use simple linear functions to examine the scale of the radiation belts and the strength of Earth's magnetic field. This activity is part of the Space Math multimedia modules that integrate NASA press releases, NASA archival video, and mathematics problems targeted at specific math standards commonly encountered in middle school textbooks. The modules cover specific math topics at multiple levels of difficulty with real-world data and use the 5E instructional sequence.
We owe our lives to gravity. It holds the atmosphere to Earth and keeps us all from falling off into space. Not to mention that without gravity, the stars and planets—including Earth—wouldn't even exist! This Moveable Museum article, available as a nine-page printable PDF file, introduces the key concepts of gravity, orbits, weight, and weightlessness.
An introduction to Newton's theories and calculations for Universal Gravitation.
Move the sun, earth, moon and space station to see how it affects their gravitational forces and orbital paths. Visualize the sizes and distances between different heavenly bodies, and turn off gravity to see what would happen without it!
Move the sun, earth, moon and space station to see how it affects their gravitational forces and orbital paths. Visualize the sizes and distances between different heavenly bodies, and turn off gravity to see what would happen without it!
This video segment, adapted from NOVA, traces the evolving history of theories about gravity and a force that may oppose it, along with our understanding of the impact of both of these forces on our expanding universe.
This free, illustrated book features instructions and information for how to use your smartphone to take photographs of the night sky and numerous astronomical objects. .
This resource was created by Terresa Greenleaf, in collaboration with Dawn DeTurk, Hannah Blomstedt, and Julie Albrecht, as part of ESU2's Integrating the Arts project. This project is a four year initiative focused on integrating arts into the core curriculum through teacher education, practice, and coaching.
The Hawaiian Islands formed primarily as a result of volcanic activity. While most islands form near tectonic plate boundaries, the Hawaiian Islands are nearly 2000 miles away from the nearest plate margin. Therefore, scientists believe that the islands formed due to the presence of the Hawaiian "hot spot," a region deep in the Earth's mantle from which heat rises. This heat produces melted rock (magma), which then pushes through the crust and solidifies. Created by Sal Khan.
This series of activities provides a sample of possibilities for using the Digital Universe with your students. The activities were drafted in consultation with classroom teachers and museum experts, but have yet to be pilot tested in classrooms. They are an initial exploration into the educational possibilities for using the Digital Universe data set in the classroom.
Children use binoculars to search for small items that an astronaut lost while walking on the Moon.
A Mini book that is an overview of the US Space Race and how it evolved. Listed in the Index is the State of Texas TEKS for the EOC Grade 11 Exit Test. Some of these TEKS cross over into WW1 and WW2 as well. It is not meant as a definitive resource, but rather a jumping-off point for young teachers of Social Studies, Science, STEM, or STEAM-related courses to inject some cross-curricular reading and writing and to promote critical thinking and a source of context for those courses aforementioned. It is also a starting point for activities (graphic organizers) and videos for classroom use or online learning purposes. It can be adapted to as low as 5th grade but only for supplemental purposes as their TEKS do not address this period.
The sizes and distances of things in space are awe-inspiring, but hard to fathom. Things that are unimaginably massive can look tiny to us from Earth, and things that appear very large to us may be among the smallest in the sky. Although students can learn names and features of objects in the night sky, scale is one of the biggest stumbling blocks they need to overcome to actually understand what they’re looking at and to understand astronomy in general. But students have lots of daily life experience with bigger things looking smaller because of relative distance (and visa versa). How Big & How Far takes this experience of observing relative sizes and distances here on Earth and challenges students to apply it to night sky objects.
In this Night Sky Activity, the group measures how many fists tall a volunteer is. Then, students scatter and measure again, this time with outstretched fists and with much smaller and varied measurements. Students discuss how the distance you are from an object can make it appear larger or smaller. This activity sets them up to apply this idea afterwards as they observe night sky objects and attempt to better understand the actual sizes of the objects they see.