The Center for Astronomy Education is a NASA site dedicated to the professional development of instructors who teach introductory astronomy courses. This rich resource includes information about NASA-sponsored "Teaching Excellent Workshops," monthly teaching strategies, ideas for classrooms, a discussion board, and links to a variety of resources for post-secondary school astronomy instructors.
This student guide contains four hands-on activities: Looking for Planets Without Seeing Them; Measure a Tree; Measure the Earth; and Measure the Galaxy. Each activity includes both a student page and a teacher page. (PDF file)
Interactive companion website to the traveling Alien Earths exhibit, which was developed by the Space Science Institute, in Boulder, Colorado, and sponsored in part by NASA's Navigator Program. The exhibit presents research and discoveries to students and the general public about the search for planets around distant stars and for life beyond Earth.
These two activities describe how interferometric fringes can be observed at home or in a classroom, using a laser and a slit that is easy to construct, or through a telescope equipped with a simple, two-holed mask.
This NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory poster and its activities are related to the Space Interferometry Mission (SIM). The content is geared for students in grades 6-12 and is designed to make the use of measurement and computation in mathematics visible to students. (PDF file)
This activity lets students measure distances in the classroom using parallax. The exercise can be done either at a high school level using trigonometric functions, or at a middle school level using simple arithmetic approximations to the trigonometric functions. A work sheet is provided for the middle-school-level activity.
A hands-on classroom activity that allows students to graphically represent the influence of an extrasolar planet on its star. This activity enables students to collect, represent, and interpret data using spreadsheets and its graphing feature. Aligned with NCTM standards for grades 6-12. (PDF file)
The Education Forum is the public gateway to the research results, the data, the information, and the human expertise behind NASA's Origins Program. Origins is the scientific study of the long chain of events from the birth of the universe in the Big Bang, through the formation of galaxies, stars, and planets, and the chemical elements of life to the profusion of life on Earth and possibly elsewhere.
Covers formal and informal opportunities for students and teachers at all levels. This site contains JPL's Educator Resource Center, an extensive catalog of teaching materials that are available to educators, including booklets, lithograph pictures, posters, videotapes and curriculum materials, all produced by NASA/JPL.
The goal of the Michelson Fellowship Program is to gather support from the scientific community to build expertise in optical and infrared interferometry. The program has recently been expanded from an only post-doctoral only to include graduate and undergraduate students in a summer school program.
A convenient way to find NASA space science products for use in classrooms, science museums, planetariums, and other settings. Searchable by topic or grade/subject.
Searching for a fictional planet on which people could live is one of the student activities available at this website produced by NASA's Ames Research Center. "Astro ferret," a cartoon character, guides students in grades 5-8 through a series of role-playing steps in a multi-media, interactive learning experience.
The Universe Forum is a national center for teaching and learning about the scientific study of the Structure and Evolution of the Universe (SEU). With the help of NASA SEU mission and research partners, the forum creates exciting and substantive learning experiences for students, teachers, and the public.
A site created by the Laboratory for High Energy Astrophysics at NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center is intended for students age 14 and up or anyone interested in learning about our universe. It covers such topics as black holes, gamma rays and cosmology and includes a multimedia theatre.
A set of Web-based activities from the Space Telescope Science Institute. These are primarily designed for classroom use, but made available for all to enjoy.
Comprehensive site for NASA educational activities for students and teachers at all grade levels. Includes an event calendar, lists of regional services, and useful links.
The Astronomical Society of the Pacific offers wide variety of educational resources and Internet links of interest to teachers. Visit this page for an overview of the extensive programs and materials the ASP has to offer.
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