Educational resources in astronomy
What kinds of constellations are there in different cultures? How did they get their names? In this assignment, pupils listen to stories about constellations and can then come up with and name their own constellation.
Keywords: night sky, stories, constellation
Welcome on a trip to our neighbourhood, the Solar System! How far away are the other planets from Earth? And how small is our home planet compared to the other objects that orbit our Sun?
Keywords: Solar system, planets, scale
Become a space researcher by studying a very familiar object in the sky! Our Moon orbits the Earth and always looks different: its shape and position vary at different times over the month.
Keywords: Moon, Moon phases
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
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
In this exercise we will observe the phases of the Moon over time or using Stellarium. Afterwards we draw each phase in to a series of cards, which we use to make our very own moon-book, which you can flip through to remind and entertain you.
Age Range: all ages, younger children will need help with scissors.
Prep. Time: 5 minutes
Activity Time: 20 minutes
Cost per activity: Low
Materials: Scissors, Stapler, Pencil / colours, Thicker paper
This lesson begins with a presentation on Constellations. Students are introduced to the Northern sky and discus topics such as: What is a constellation? What are the names of some constellations? Why are some stars brighter than others? and How do we label stars?
The activity of this lesson involves students choosing a constellation and using metal food foil and a mobile phone (or other torch) to project it onto the ceiling of the classroom.
Age Range: 7-9 years
Prep. Time: 20 mins
Lesson Time: 20 mins
Cost per activity: Printing of student’s worksheets
Includes the use of: Northern star map, mobile phone or torch, white sheet of paper, shirt button, 20 x 20 cm food foil, laptop.
Turn an old wall calendar into a timeline of the universe!
In this assignment, you will try to fit the entire history of the universe from the Big Bang to present day into one calendar year from January to December. Were you surprised to see how late humans enter the picture?
This material is also available in:
Keywords: calendar, timeline, universe
Have you ever wondered what your body is made of? Or how much of each element you contain? Use this calculator to find out! Every element you contain that is heavier than hydrogen and helium was created over billions of years during the various developmental stages of stars. So we are made of star stuff!
This material is also available in:
Keywords: elements, stellar evolution, human body
The orbits of the planets and moons affect each other all the time, through minor gravity pulls whenever the objects are at their closest through their orbits. When these tiny pulls happen often and on a regular basis, we get something called orbit resonance. That creates simple harmonics, or ratios, where you can model the motions of e.g. Jupiters inner moons with ratios like 1:2:4.
