Educational resources in astronomy
Students will explore the moon through a comprehension activity. Reading the document provided to them and answering a set of questions. They will need to analyse text to pick out the key, relevant, information and then use this to fill out the work sheet in the student guide.
Age Range: 12-16
Prep. Time: 0
Lesson Time: 1 hour
Cost per activity: Low (printing costs)
Includes the use of: Pen/pencil, printouts
Did Man land on the Moon, or was it faked?
In this activity, students will be given a range of pieces of evidence including a short video of the Apollo 11 lunar landings. They will examine 21 different pieces of evidence arranged around the classroom. Approximately half of the evidence suggests that the Moon landings were faked, the other half indicate they were real. The students are given a worksheet to fill in as they tour the evidence, forming their own opinions.
Age Range: 9-12
Prep. Time: 10 minutes
Lesson Time: 1 hour
Cost per activity: Low (print costs)
Includes the use of: Printouts, post-it notes
The moon is Earths natural satellite and a key element of our night sky. This activity starts with an overview of the moon and will deepen understanding of the phases of the lunar cycle and their names. Students will then complete an investigation to discover why the moon appears to us the way it does.
Age Range: 9-11
Prep. Time: 10 minutes
Lesson Time: 1 hour
Cost per activity: Medium
Includes the use of: Balls, printouts, markers
This activity makes use of a simulator to help visualise the concepts for each of Kepler’s Laws of planetary motion and Newtonian features. It could either be used as an introduction to Kepler’s Laws, or as a revision task to check understanding.
Age Range: 16-17
Prep. Time: 0
Lesson Time: 40 minutes – 1 hour
Cost per activity: Low (print costs)
Includes the use of: Internet Access
How to Jupiter’s moons compare?
Using reference images, students will compare the surface of Ganymede and Europa, two of Jupiter’s moons. They will explore aspects such as the moons’ geologies and the age of features. A peer review process can be used to mark the work.
Age Range: 12-16
Prep. Time: 0 minutes
Lesson Time: 40-50 minutes
Cost per activity: Low (printing costs)
Includes the use of: Printout, pens/pencils
What is a ‘Goldilocks Zone’? Can you plot the orbits of planets in our own and distant solar systems?
In this activity, students will become galactic astronomers, using mathematical skills and key facts to plot the orbits of Earth and planets in our solar system before plotting the orbits of exoplanets around their stars. By plotting the orbits of Earth and other planets in our solar system, they can then learn about and calculate the position of the Goldilocks Zone and discover which of these exoplanets are potentially habitable.
Age Range: 9-11
Prep. Time: 20 minutes
Lesson Time: 1 hour 45 minutes
Cost per activity: Medium
Includes the use of: Calculator, scissors, paper, rulers, coloured pens/pencils, star system info sheets
In this session, students will learn about exoplanets. Working together in groups to design their own planets, students will use their imagination and creativity to decide on what sort of conditions would be present. This session also has opportunities for groups to present to the rest of the class. This session also covers themes of adaptation and evolution as they create their own unique life form to survive the conditions on one of the planets.
Age Range: 7-11
Prep. Time: 15 minutes
Lesson Time: 2 hours 15 minutes
Cost per activity: Medium
Includes the use of: Arts and crafts supplies, computer or tablets with internet access, books
What makes something a planet? Is Pluto a planet?
This set of resources introduces students to the story of Pluto and its history. Through the accompanying slide pack and activities, students will be encouraged to try and define a planet and decide which statements might apply to other space objects. They will then apply this learning to the five dwarf planets in our solar system and the Kuiper belt.
Age Range: 10-13
Prep. Time: 5 minutes
Lesson Time: 1 hour 35 minutes
Cost per activity: Low
Includes the use of: Internet (optional)
This activity follows on from Locating Objects on a Planisphere.
In this activity, you will continue to familiarise yourself with a planisphere and discover the impact of the motion of the Earth on where stars appear in the sky.
Keywords: planisphere, observing the sky, sidereal time, co-ordinates
The positions of stars are found using their celestial co-ordinates just as objects on Earth can be located by latitude and longitude.
Depending on where you stand on Earth, what you see in the sky will vary. Using a planisphere allows us to work out what is above us and where it has been or will be.
This activity will help you understand how a planisphere works. You will learn to locate constellations and stars on a planisphere, and to assign celestial co-ordinates to stars. The activity also explores the visibility of objects in the sky throughout the year.
Before beginning the activity, you may wish to look at the ‘Calibrating the Planisphere’ activity first and also be aware of which latitude planisphere you are using:
Keywords: planisphere, observing the sky, mapping, co-ordinates