A simple zero-based course design process enables you to better organize your Astro 101 course and make it more understandable to students. This process covers establishing teaching goals, developing core ideas, determining student outcomes, and assessing learning.

This interactive activity produced for Teachers' Domain shows the relationship between tectonic boundaries and the locations of earthquake events and volcanoes around the world.

It probably comes as no surprise that telescopes do a better job of collecting light and observing outer space than your eyes. But do you know why? (Hint: the answer is NOT magnification!) This Moveable Museum article, available as a nine-page printable PDF file, offers a thorough, kid-friendly look at telescopes. It discusses how different types of telescopes work and provides some suggested additional resources for further research.

An introduction to the relationship between energy, heat and temperature. This lesson compares the 3 major temperature scales.

This OLogy activity uses the traditional Japanese art of paper-folding to help kids understand dimensions. The activity begins with a brief introduction to both dimensions and origami. The kids are then given instructions, included as printable PDFs, for morphing 2D paper into 3D models (a simple box and a waterbomb.) The activity ends with an illustrated look at dimensions, from the zero dimensions of a point to the fourth dimension of time.

This OLogy activity uses the traditional Japanese art of paper-folding to help kids understand dimensions. The activity begins with a brief introduction to both dimensions and origami. The kids are then given instructions, included as printable PDFs, for morphing 2D paper into 3D models (a simple box and a water bomb).The activity ends with an illustrated look at dimensions, from the zero dimensions of a point to the fourth dimension of time.

This new astronomical calendar, compiled by textbook lead author, Andrew Fraknoi lists, month by month, 158 astronomical anniversaries and birthdays that are important for the history of our understanding of the universe. While many such calendars exist, this one differs by focusing on real astronomical research (and not so much on anniversaries of human space flight.) And it includes a more diverse group of scientists, including more women and more people of color.  The calendar is available without charge at: http://bit.ly/astrodates  

This illustrated essay from the NOVA Web site answers questions about irregularities in the tides.

In this exercise, students use online data, spreadsheets, and graphs to analyze tidal fluctuations at the Battery in New York. They will be asked to examine and compare the observed and predicted tides, and then make their own predictions.

In this activity, students play the roles of time travelers and travel to the Archaean era to learn what early Earth was like during that time. They collect information on the Archaean atmosphere, life forms, and landscape, and write a report that summarizes its characteristics. A scoring rubric for the report is provided.

In this activity, which can be performed as a demonstration by the teacher or by the students themselves, carbon dioxide is generated in a fish tank using sodium bicarbonate and vinegar. The students can observe as the accumulating carbon dioxide extinguishes candles of different heights, marking rising levels of CO2 in the tank. They can also blow soap bubbles (which contain air) into the tank and observe them floating on the denser CO2 at first, then sinking as the gas diffuses through the soap film that forms the bubbles.

In this activity, students create two- and three-dimensional maps by using a data grid of an imaginary section of Earth's surface. They are challenged to create six different maps of various surface features and answer questions about them.

This subject traces the evolution of ideas about nature, and how best to study and explain natural phenomena, beginning in ancient times and continuing through the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. A central theme of the subject is the intertwining of conceptual and institutional relations within diverse areas of inquiry: cosmology, natural history, physics, mathematics, and medicine.

This OLogy activity first introduces kids to the idea of thought experiments. Then it puts their scientific creativity to work with two mind-bending experiments that rely solely on imagination. Both thought experiments have background information, plus concrete examples of how to approach the experiment. Specifically, they ask:Can you throw a ball so hard it never falls to Earth?What if light could only travel one foot/second?

In this activity, students play the roles of consultants in developing a geologic 'tour' south od Rochester, New York, near the Pennsylvania border. They will gather information on the local rock types and underlying geology, examine an assemblage of fossils from the bedrock and from glacial erratics, and prepare a report detailing the geology with cross-sections and a timeline based on the fossil occurrences. They will also develop a plan for a walking tour highlighting the geology of the area.

The Story of Creation (according to the Big Bang). A mythical trek through the last 15 billion years.

This video segment from Swift: Eyes through Time covers gamma ray bursts; geocentric and heliocentric models; and, cultural interpretations of scientific data.

I provide a major update to materials I had previously posted on OER Commons, providing lecture slides, recorded video, and lecture notes. All files are available through Google Drive and YouTube. The new materials are organized into six modules: 1) The History of Astronomy and Sky Motions, 2) The Moon, Earth, and Solar System, 3) The Astronomer’s Toolkit, 4) Properties of the Sun and Stars, 5) The Lives and Deaths of Stars, and 6) The Milky Way Galaxy and Beyond.

This user's manual describes the steps for using Google Earth tours. Topics include downloading and installing Google Earth software, selecting a tour file, and playing the tour. There are also instructions on how to use some of Google Earth's additional features. A downloadable, printable version is provided.

Carbon isotopes are used in many different ways by scientists to reconstruct Earth's past. For example, we can use carbon isotopes to determine when life first evolved on Earth, and to learn more about what types of foods ancient animals ate. We can use carbon isotopes this way because of one simple fact - when photosynthetic organisms like algae and plants take up carbon dioxide and change it into organic matter (i.e., their bodies), they fractionate carbon, leaving behind a chemical fingerprint of their work. This activity will walk students through a model of stable carbon isotopic fractionation using bingo chips (or similar) and then ask them to apply their new understanding to data on the origin of life on Earth, then think more broadly about the role of isotopes in astrobiology.