Astronomy4all
Image taken from: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/the-aurora-named-steve
Do you want your students to take a picture like this on their own? Do you want to arouse curiosity and interest in astronomy studies for all your students?
If you answered yes to these questions, you should read the following article very carefully.
Astronomy is part of human curiosity for thousands of years. Astronomy encompasses culture and history, mathematics and physical science, myth and imagination, and more. For both pure and applied science, astronomy is becoming a constantly evolving field as exploration reaches farther into space, as technology for telescopes and space travel develops, and as the search for life beyond our own planet accelerates. The many aspects of astronomy offer a variety of fascinating career possibilities; it can be a lifelong passion and hobby, and it is always a continuous education.
Nowadays, there are multiple ways for individuals to get a taste of astronomy. As the educational environment is going through changes, many of which involve digital components, such as: web sites that enhance book content, citizen science projects, online courses, social media channels, venues for digital video, blogs, simulations, applications and much more, it becomes easier for both adults and young learners to get in touch with Astronomy.
This guide lists a selection of Scientix Resources about teaching astronomy, (such as: online videos, lesson plans, apps, science projects and even a way to observe with NASA telescopes) that can offer new and exciting ways to teach, as well as to stay informed about the subject.
Examples
The following examples are based on an open access platform for peer-reviewed astronomy education activities. They can help teachers and educators to discover, review, distribute, and remix teaching and learning materials in astronomy. The platform ensures of scientific accuracy and quality pedagogical content.
Our Planet
These activities allow pupils to learn the difference between diurnal and nocturnal animals and understand day and night switching. At the end, pupils build a model of the Earth and can experiment with day and night.
This activity helps pupils to understand seasons by building a model of the Earth, with its spin-axis, and a lamp as the Sun to demonstrate the concept of seasons.
If you are interested in watching additional videos, we recommend cosmic voyage to elsewhere: The scale of the Universe.
Planets and Moons
In this activity pupils can build a model of the Sun-Earth-Moon system, exploring their movements and they can also play a memory card game and learn some characteristics of them.
The students will paint and arrange spheres to form a model of the solar system using several materials and then organize them in the right order from the Sun.
C. Stars
This activity lets the students explore the life cycle of stars. It animates stars with different starting masses, size, brightness and temperature as they change during their lives.
In this activity, students build a physical model of a black hole to demonstrate its characteristics. The activity includes images of the demonstration.
Our Universe
In this activity pupils investigate how old the universe is and when important events took place in the universe and on Earth.
During this activity, pupils build a model of the Milky Way and understand the objects contained in the Milky Way.
Other fascinating resources:
With the apps you learn using at the fascinating webinar: MOBILE APPLICATIONS FOR STEM EDUCATION: HOW TO USE THEM IN CLASS every lesson will Keep the students curious! (You need to watch only 5 minutes from 15.30 to 20.18!)
Your students can observe with NASA telescopes if you use the resource UNISCHOOLABS: THE CHALLENGE!
If you would like to involve parents in the scientific education of their children, you should use the resource AERONAUTIC SPACE AREA PRACTICE – SPACE. First, First parents receive a short briefing and then perform a number of tasks with their children. The workshop is designed to represent the story of a flight from the Earth to another planet.
To create meaningful learning, we recommend to use a variety of teaching methods.
Have a productive work!
PLEASE SHARE WITH US Pictures of models built by students, photos taken by students using the NASA telescope and everything else using the Scientix social network portals.
Authors: Limor Ben Shitrit Haimi and Nektarios Farassopoulos
Tags: art, astronomy, primary education, Scientix